Macarthur Rams celebrate winning the 2024 NPL Women's NSW grand final. Photo: Poletti

The top two sides throughout the NPL Women’s NSW season contested the Grand Final on Saturday, with the Macarthur Rams victorious over APIA Leichhardt on penalties after a frantic, high-action contest.

The result saw the Rams complete the three-peat, having won the 2022, 2023, and now 2024 Grand Finals under departing head coach Stephen Peters, who signed a contract with Perth Glory to be head coach of the clubs A-League Women side.

“Words can’t describe it. Amazing. Unbelievable,” Peters said, whose side also won the NPL Women’s NSW Premiership, defeating APIA Leichhardt 2-1 on the final day of the regular season.

“To do the double and the three-peat is just indescribable to be honest.”

The tone of the match was set after just 63 seconds when Rams forward Kelli Brown slotted the ball past APIA keeper Sally James to give the Rams a 1-0 lead.

Brown, who has lit up the competition since her return from the Wellington Phoenix, scored 14 goals in the regular season and was been instrumental to the sides push to the final.

She said that went she scored the opener, nothing was going through her head.

“The ball came out of nowhere and I just swung at it,” Brown said.

“But it was just a breath of, like, reset and settle into the game because it started really hectic so it was a good way to just switch on and be set.”

Not to be outdone, APIA Leichhardt struck back in the eighth minute from a set-piece, with Charlotte Lancaster delivering the damage, before Madison McComasky regained the lead to make it 2-1.

For the second time, a Lancaster set-piece drew APIA level, as her cross from a corner found Natasha Prior in the box who headed it into an empty net after Teresa Morrissey came out to try and clear it.

Both sides saw improved defences following the equaliser and the Rams came under significant pressure despite some good chances, with the game heading to extra time.

Brown said that the teams belief in the ability to get the job done never wavered despite the pressure.

“The girls, we’ve worked hard, and I trust every single one of them,” Brown said.

“We’re such a tight-knit group. From the start we looked strong and we were able to bring it home which was good.”

The game turned on its head in the 103rd minute in favour of Macarthur, who absorbed quite a bit of pressure over the second half and the beginning of extra time, as APIA’s Paige Hayward was sent off following a foul which was determined to be Denial of an Obvious Goal Scoring Opportunity (DOGSO) by the referee.

APIA found a way to sustain the pressure inflicted by the Rams, with both sides searching for the game winner, as the game headed to penalties following 120 minutes of action.

Brown almost book-ended the game, scoring the third penalty for the Rams, but the winner was scored by Libby Morris, sealing the fabled three-peat.

The striker is also heading to Perth Glory with Peters, and she was full of praise for her coach when asked why she is following him out west.

“He’s just such a genuine person. I’ve never had a coach that has so much belief in me,” Brown said.

“I’m super grateful for how much he’s helped me pursue my career and pick me up when I’m down.

“Why would you give that up?”

Peters was also full of praise for Brown and her work ethic up front.

“You saw her today, she just doesn’t stop,” Peters said.

“I think she took that extra bit of attention she was getting, she took that a bit personally and it lifted her game.”

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