Ariadne Stergiou had a day to remember as Gungahlin United moved into the Women’s National Premier League Reserves Grand Final with a 3-1 success over Canberra Olympic at the Riverside Stadium, the Gunners striker netting a sublime hat-trick to seal a win in front of an appreciative crowd.

Olympic weren’t without their opportunities, indeed only the width of the crossbar prevented them from coming from two-nil down to equalise as Alexia Cerne saw her lifted shot crash back off the woodwork with otherwise excellent Gunners’ stopper Gabrielle O’Brien finally beaten.

By then Gunners had worked their way into a position of authority, taking the lead when Stergiou broke the Olympic offside trap to place a slide-rule finish past the advancing Jelena Josipovic and int the far corner of the net.

And the forward was at it again just seven minutes later, taking advantage of excellent approach work involving the silky-skilled Chelsea Hateley and Sophie Burns to clip a finish over Josipovic that span into the back of the net despite the best efforts of the covering Olympic defence.

Gungahlin defenders Charlotte McAvoy and Grace Hanley were peerless under pressure and with O’Brien repelling the Olympic aerial bombardment, they seemed set fair that was until Uma Osborne curled in a free-kick with a quarter of an hour remaining.

That set up the grandstand finale, but it was Stergiou who had the final word, latching onto a pass and lifting a sublime chip from range over Josipovic to seal a personal treble and progression to the Big Dance.

RESULTS

PRELIMINARY FINAL

Sunday 15 September

Gungahlin United 3 (Stergiou 58’, 65’, 90’) Canberra Olympic 1 (Osborne 75’)