Lerums IS keep impressing

After a tough defeat in last year’s final against Hammarby IF FF on penalties, Lerums IS Girls 16 are back in the playoffs, with the aim to once again be able to play for the trophy on Saturday. “We want to make up for last year’s final. We are going for gold” says, Hanna, captain of the team.

Lerum are quite a small municipality located outside of Gothenburg. With around 40 000 inhabitants. To produce a successful team in these conditions you have to have special generation on your hands, and that’s exactly what they have with their Girls 16 team. The team consists of four players who have played for the Swedish youth national team. Something that former Women’s National Team coach Pia Sundhage said was extraordinary, something she wasn’t sure she had seen before, when she visited the club last year. Hanna Wijk is one of the players who is currently playing with the youth national team, and she explains the winning recipe at the club.

“We are training very hard. Everybody in the team want to be successful and the target is to be able to play professionally in the future. That drives us forward”, she says.

The recipe seems to work. The team have had many successes lately, and that the team is very well trained was clear to see in their 1/32 final win against Bollnäs GIF. Where the players showed glimpses of terrific football, showing both their physical prowess and great feet. You could also see that they are a very tightly knitted group. Something Hanna is agreeing with.

“We have very good communication and team spirit. If there any problems, on or off the pitch, we solve them together”, she says.

After their win against Bollnäs GIF they later played Minnesota Thunder Acadamy winning 1-0, taking them yet another step closer to Gamla Ullevi and a new shot at the trophy.