Great Southern’s Shelley Thompson and Lumeah Masih sole regional players for WA at National Youth Champs

A pair of rising Great Southern soccer players will represent WA at the National Youth Championships for girls in Victoria this week. Polonia’s Shelley Thompson and Denmark’s Lumeah Masih were each selected for the Gold Fields WA State under-16 girls team alongside some of the best budding soccer talents from across the State. Masih has been outstanding for Denmark in the Great Southern Soccer Association women’s division one competition this season, netting 15 goals in 11 matches including two hat-tricks. Thompson, who plays for both Polonia juniors and Caledonians seniors, does her work at the other end of the pitch playing predominantly as a centre back for both sides. The pair received their State kits at the official shirt presentations at Sam Kerr Football Centre in Perth on June 25 and are the only regional selections in the squad. Gold Fields unit manager of corporate affairs Claire Walker and Football West chief executive Jamie Harnwell presented the players with their shirts. “We always want to assess as many players as possible in the trials, which makes it particularly rewarding that there are two regional players in the U16s in Shelley Thompson and Lumeah Masih, who are both from the Great Southern region,” Football West’s policy and advocacy manager Gareth Naven said. The tournament will be held at the home of the Matildas at La Trobe University from July 3-8 and feature 24 of the best State teams teams from around the nation. WA has both an under-16 and under-15 girls side competing. The under-16s begin their campaign in group A on Wednesday against Northern NSW followed by matches against NSW Metro, Capital Football and Queensland Silver before finals on Sunday.