Goalkeepers are supposed to stop goals. Pauline Moitrel decided that, for one afternoon at least, she might as well score them too.
Monaco United maintained their perfect start to the Regional Championship with a hard-fought 1–0 victory away to Saint-Didier-Pernoise, and they did it in extraordinary fashion.
Both teams arrived with two wins from two, making this an early-season battle for first place. On a difficult pitch, the contest quickly became physical and fiercely competitive.
Monaco enjoyed more possession and created several promising opportunities, but Saint-Didier-Pernoise refused to yield. Half-time arrived with the score still 0–0, and as the second half progressed, another breakthrough seemed increasingly difficult to find.
Then Marco Simone had an idea.
Send for the Goalkeeper
Monaco United won a free kick that could be delivered towards the Saint-Didier-Pernoise penalty area. Simone promptly summoned goalkeeper Pauline Moitrel from the other end of the pitch.
Leaving her goal behind, Moitrel came forward to take it herself.
It was certainly unconventional. It was also inspired.
Moitrel struck the free kick superbly and, moments later, the ball was in the back of the net. Monaco United led 1–0 — courtesy of their goalkeeper.
“I asked Pauline to take it because I know the quality of her strike and I believed she could create something from that situation,” Simone explained. “Seeing her score the decisive goal was an exceptional moment.”
Moitrel herself described it rather neatly: “The goal was classic Marco Simone!”
Monaco had opportunities to make the result safer but could not find a second, leaving Moitrel with more conventional goalkeeping duties to perform as the hosts pushed for an equaliser.
And perform them she did.
First came a confident save from a counter-attack. Then, in the closing minutes, a long-range effort appeared destined for the top corner until Moitrel launched herself across goal and tipped it away.
Having scored the goal at one end, she had now preserved it at the other.
Three Games, Three Wins
The final whistle confirmed a precious 1–0 victory and left Monaco United alone at the top of the Regional Championship with three victories from three matches.
There was more reason for celebration elsewhere in the club. For the first time, four Monaco United teams played league matches on the same weekend, and all four won.
The reserve team produced an emphatic 11–0 victory at Fréjus, while both the U15 and U18 sides also won their respective fixtures.
Four teams, four victories and the senior side sitting top of the table.
But there was little doubt about the image of the weekend: Monaco United’s goalkeeper racing forward to score the winning goal, before racing back to make sure nobody cancelled it out.
