The side beat defending champion Canterbury United Pride 2-1 in its national women’s league match in Christchurch yesterday.
Lara Wall scored two goals in her first start of the season, as Southern made use of a strong wind at its back to dominate early.
It led 2-0 after just 18 minutes and, while it had several other chances, it was unable to add to that total.
Canterbury’s Macey Fraser capitalised on a Southern error midway through the second half to peg one back, but that was all it could manage.
The home team pinned Southern deep in its half for the majority of the final 25 minutes, but the defence did not relent.
That made for a significant result, one which coach Terry Parle said had left the team "over the moon".
"I can’t put it into context in history, what I can put it into is how pleasing it is to go away from home into Canterbury, the local rivals, and actually get a win," he said.‘‘Not only for the team today but for the federation, because we’re always seen as the noisy neighbours but not really that good at football.
"So this has been a really important win in that context."
The first goal came seven minutes in, when Mikaela Hunt put Shontelle Smith into space after a strong tackle to turn the ball over.
Smith counterattacked and put a ball through for Wall to finish with her left foot one-on-one with goal keeper Briar Guyan. Eleven minutes later, Wall was at it again, turning at the top of the box and putting a stunning strike into the top-right corner.
It could have been three for Wall three minutes later, but her shot was blocked as the Canterbury defence tightened.
The wind proved hard to play into after the break bring a a more defensive approach for Southern.
That worked well for it too.
Aside from one poor pass, which allowed Fraser to score from outside the box, it never looked in genuine danger.
Parle agreed and said it was good to see the side pick itself back up after conceding the goal.
He felt Southern controlled the conditions better and had plenty of praise for Wall.
"In this regime that’s her second game for us. She came on as a sub last week.
"She started today because of her performance last week and to be fair she was great.
"Two goals, she took them really, really well and she definitely is a prospect for the future."
With Capital beating WaiBOP 4-1 and Auckland beating Central 4-2, Southern moves into second place on the table with seven points.
Auckland and Capital follow closely with six and each has a game in hand.
Canterbury remains on four, although it also has a game in hand.
Southern will host Northern in a top-of-the-table match at Tahuna Park next week.
National women’s league
The scores
Southern United 2
Lara Wall 7’, 18’
Canterbury United Pride 1
Macey Fraser 65’
Halftime: 2-0 Southern
