Sport
29 April, 2026
Great start continues for Lions
THE Corangamite Lions have continued their strong start to the Ballarat Soccer Association’s division one men’s competition with a big win over the Sebastopol Vikings on Sunday.
The Lions dominated right up until the last minute in the 6-1 win at the Scotts Creek Recreation Reserve.
“We started brightly, it was a bit feisty at the very start, but then our boys sort of got a hold of the ball and kept it and scored two goals in the first 20 minutes,” Lions coach Aaron Corrigan said.
“It was four nil at half time; second half they came out and kept the ball, we didn’t press too hard, we just kept the ball and added another two goals and then with the last kick of the game we conceded one.”
Star striker Roman Fachetti scored a hat-trick in the win.
“Roman was very good, he was a class above the rest, his first goal was an indirect free kick from a pass back, it was rolled to the side by Jamie Norton and he smacked it in the bottom left, it was a great finish actually, very powerful, the keeper knew where it was going, but he couldn’t get near it.
“The second one he got a ball just inside their half and he dribbled through and he was taken down in the box for a penalty.
“He then slotted that away, while the third one, he finished a pass by Josh Bateman and chipped it across the goalkeeper.”
Other goals were scored by Matt Lyne, Liam Frost and Ezequiel Ripa.
“Roman assisted Matty Lyne’s goal as well, a little dribble and laid it off and Matty finished it to the bottom corner.
“Ezekiel’s goal was probably the pick of the day, it was about five or six yards outside the box, one touch and he rifled it into the roof of the net, it was a great goal.
“With Liam’s goal, he seized on a poor pass from a defender and he just went through one-on-one with the keeper and lifted across the keeper.”
The Lions conceded a goal from a corner on the very last play of the day.
“Overall every player won his position and we just dominated the whole game.
“I hope there will be a few more games like that, it was pretty stress free to coach.”
This Sunday the Lions take on Ballarat based Victoria Park SC.
“We had a feisty one with them last year, a lot of red cards, we had two or three sent off against them up there last year and it descended into a bit of chaos, but we still won.
“It’ll be interesting to see how this game goes.”
The division two men’s game was called off after 35 minutes with the Lions leading 1-0 after young player Sam Wallace suffered a serious knee injury.
The Lions women’s team had a 3-3 draw against the Vikings who were last season’s premiers and champions.
“They’re a good team, they play really good football, they’ve played together for a number of years,” Lions co-captain Lenise Mantell said.
“They were undefeated last year and then won the grand final, every one of our players did their job properly and it showed, it was a really good, high standard game.”
Mantell scored all three of Corangamite’s goals, praising recruit Lara Graham for her midfield play.
“Lara was able to get the ball and turn it over and gave our forwards the ball on a silver platter.”
Graham played a big role in two of Mantell’s goals.
“The first one came from a great through ball from Lara, I don’t even know how I managed to control it, snapped it off my right to my left and then back to my right.
“The second one was from the corner again, then the third was from a free kick; Lara timed it and kicked it absolutely perfectly, and I was able to just tap it straight in.”
After being 2-1 down at half-time, the Vikings were able to score two second half goals to equalise the game.
“We just lost shape completely a couple of times and it was sloppy, it wasn’t as if they’d done a great run and got through our backline at all.
“They just capitalised off us not finding our own shape for a second, which is ok because we know we can work on that.”
Mantell is positive going into this week’s game against Victoria Park.
“To be able to play good football against other good teams is very enjoyable.
“We were close to Victoria Park on the ladder last year so we are probably looking for a pretty similar match up and another good gauge of where we are at.”