Newcastle Olympic are the inaugural Northern NSW Football Women's League Cup champions after beating Maitland 0-0 (5-4) on penalties after an epic battle at Lisle Carr Oval on Sunday night.
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The final, a fantastic showcase of grassroots female football, was uncannily played out simultaneously as the United States were sensationally bundled out of the Women's World Cup by Sweden in a shoot-out of their own in Melbourne with the same scoreline.
The Northern NSW exchange was contested in wet conditions and played end to end with both teams having their chances before the game was decided by penalties.
Tori Johnson hit the woodwork midway through the first half for Olympic in perhaps their best chance of the first half.
Marion Dunbabin headed over Maitland's crossbar from close range early in the second half then Johnson put a shot wide of the right post before Olympic keeper Claire Coelho denied Madison Gallegos from point-blank range after the Maitland centre-back had surged forward.
Olympic midfielder Sophie Walmsley had a shot from the top of the 18-yard box saved by Magpies goalkeeper Annabella Thornton, who produced a superb performance in the absence of injured Imogene Tomasone.
The young shot-stopper then parried away a solo effort from Jemma House with around 15 minutes remaining of regulation time.
Both sides threw everything at each other but defended desperately and still could not be separated after 20 minutes of extra time.
Maitland took a 3-2 lead in the shoot-out when a diving Thornton denied Zoe Horgan after Sophie Jones, Gallegos and Cheslea Greguric had scored for the Magpies and Elodie Dagg and Laura Hall for Olympic.
But Lucy Kell then skied her shot, allowing Alesha Clifford to put Olympic 3-3 after each team had taken four penalty shots.
Maitland captain Sophie Stapleford then Olympic young gun Walmsley both scored with their kicks to have the shoot-out locked at 4-4.
But Lisa Cochrane also skied her shot before Olympic fullback Danielle Nicol buried her attempt into the bottom right corner to seal the win.
Olympic coach Neil Owens felt it was a dominant performance and was pleased to have secured a piece of silverware.
"We had a lot of chances. We got into really good positions. I thought it was a really strong performance," Owens said.
"I would've been disappointed if we got beat on penalties.
"But to their credit, they defended well and they never stopped. They kept on coming."
It was Maitland's second final this year.
The Magpies won the NNSWF Women's State Cup after three days of play at Speers Point in July and have sealed their first ever top-four finish in NPLW with two rounds still remaining.
But coach Keelan Hamilton expected they would need to lift as they eyed Mid Coast then Adamstown to round out the regular season of NPLW before the finals series begins.
"I was a little bit disappointed with our first half," Hamilton said.
"We lost our heads. We didn't pass the ball effectively. We started pushing and shoving with people for no reason, so I think we went away from our process a little bit.
"I was much happier with our second half and I thought we were probably the better side in extra time but they were still a threat.
"Then the penalties, we had our chance. We had that moment and unfortunately we didn't take it, but that's football."
The NPLW resumes next weekend with its penultimate round.