NPL Victoria awards night ends in drama with historic ties in Gold Medals

The NPL Victoria awards night ended in dramatic fashion with the NPL and NPLW Gold Medal both finishing with joint winners. See all the awards here.

The NPL and NPLW Gold Medal were both shared. Picture: Football Victoria

The NPL Victoria awards night has ended in a pair of dramatic ties.

The men’s and women’s Gold Medal was shared as the competition’s return season was celebrated on Monday night.

Heidelberg United striker Kaine Sheppard and Oakleigh Cannons ace Joe Knowles shared the men’s Gold Medal, polling 24 votes apiece, pipping South Melbourne’s Harrison Sawyer by a vote.

Sawyer took home the Golden Boot as the season’s leading goalscorer, while Knowles was voted the Players’ Player.

Box Hill United’s Sofia Sakalis and Sarah Cain from FV Emerging shared the women’s Gold Medal on 21 votes, with Heidelberg United’s Danielle Wise in third.

NPL Gold Medal winners Joe Knowles and Kaine Sheppard. Picture: Football Victoria

Wise won the Golden Boot and Warriors teammate Rebecca Burrows was named the Players’ Player.

The night was the 50th Gold Medal night and the first time the men’s award has been shared since Altona Magic’s Doug Mladenovic and Frankston Pines’ Ricky Diaco tied in 2004.

Sheppard was stunned after seeing his name at the top of the leaderboard.

“This is something I have never won before, despite being a part of these events in the past,” he told the NPL Victoria website.

“I wasn’t expecting it, congratulations to Joe it is a fantastic achievement for the both of us.”

Knowles said he was proud to be recognised by his peers and umpires.

“It is nice to be rewarded for putting in the hard work over the last year and the last three or four years as well,” he said.

“It wouldn’t be possible without my teammates, we have had a really strong team this year, everyone pushed each other. It has been a really rewarding year and hopefully we can go one more.”

The women’s medal has been awarded since 1999 and it’s only the second tie after Box Hill Inter teammates Daniela Digiammarco and Anthea Vardakas in 2008.

NPLW Gold Medal winners Sarah Cain and Sofia Sakalis. Picture: Football Victoria

Cain and Sakalis were honoured to be sharing the award.

“Sarah had an amazing season, I was definitely expecting it to be very close,” Sakalis told the NPL website.

“I am so glad to be sharing this with you.”

Cain paid tribute to her club, which finished seventh.

“It was a courageous season, we put forth great performances, it is an amazing club,” she said.

Having guided Port Melbourne to second place, Adam Piddick was named Coach of the Year, with South Melbourne’s Javier Diaz named Goalkeeper of the Year.

Helen Winterburn was named women’s Coach of the Year for her work with FV Emerging and Calder United’s Alyssa Dall’Oste won Goalkeeper of the Year.

CUP: VICTORIAN MINNOWS STUN A-LEAGUE SUPERPOWER

LEADER: GET YOUR LOCAL SPORT NEWS HERE

TROPHY: NATURAL LEADER GUIDES ROWVILLE TO FINAL

In the night’s other awards, Moreland City’s Corey Thomas took home the NPL2 league best-and-fairest and Players’ Player awards.

North Geelong walked away with three awards, Stuart Begg as Coach of the Year, Hamish Flavell for Goalkeeper of the Year and Caleb Mikulic with the Golden Boot.

Andrew Mullett was named the NPL3 best-and-fairest after a standout season for Nunawading City, while Connor Bell was voted Players’ Player.

In Preston Lions’ return to NPL, coach Lou Acevski was named Coach of the Year, Chris Theodoridis claimed Goalkeeper of the Year and Connor Bell was the Golden Ball winner.