Rising teenage star and Grand Final match-winner Kyra Cooney-Cross can add the Westfield W-League Young Footballer of the Year award to her name after being acknowledged for her brilliant 2020/21 campaign at the Dolan Warren Awards on Wednesday night.
The Melbourne Victory playmaker beat Canberra United’s Jessika Nash and Brisbane Roar’s Jamilla Rankin to the top honour this season.
Young Footballer of the Year is drawn from the monthly nominees voted on by technical experts and the media, with the overall winner selected by them and a fan vote.
Cooney-Cross earned her nomination in January after a superb five-game stretch in the Westfield W-League throughout the month.
The 19-year-old played the full 90 minutes in all five games in January, creating six chances, scoring one goal and making 47 ball recoveries as Victory notched two wins, two losses and one draw.
Cooney-Cross produced her best performance of the month in Victory’s 6-0 mauling of local rivals Melbourne City. The teenager scored the sixth of her side’s goals, created three chances and enjoyed a passing accuracy in the final third of 91.7%, highlighting the clinical and creative nature of her attacking play.
Cooney-Cross scored six goals and assisted four in her 14 games for the season. The midfielder created 41 chances and scored the winning goal of the Westfield W-League Grand Final, converting in dramatic fashion delivering the ball into the box from a corner in the 120th minute of play.
It was a statement end to a brilliant individual campaign for the young Aussie star.
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