A 6-2 loss to Capital yesterday in Wellington means the team has to take the hard route to the final.
Southern travels north to face Auckland in next week’s semifinal, while Canterbury advances directly to the final.
A win would have enabled Southern to advance directly, but it was not to be.
Southern did get off to the perfect start, though.
Defender Mikaela Hunt, playing against her old team, tapped one in off a free kick to take a 1-0 lead in the second minute.
However, a flurry of three goals, which came from Southern errors, midway through the first half proved key for Capital.
Emma Main equalised in the 18th minute, before Maya Hahn slotted one into the bottom corner four minutes later.
Michaela Robertson added a third in the 35th minute and Libby Boobyer made it 4-1 right on halftime.
It was always going to be a long way back, but Hunt headed in a corner to score her second and peg the difference back one.
However, that was as close as it got.
Boobyer scored another, before Bex Jefferies made it six in a comprehensive win.
Coach Terry Parle was disappointed with the result and he said the players were "gutted".
"Capital came out determined to turn around their poor season and to be fair to them, they gave it to us, really.
"Couple that with a lot of individual errors from our team, which we haven’t been making, the result ended up as it was.
"We scored in the first two minutes, should have kicked on, and we didn’t."
The side had been without captain and key midfielder Elise Mamanu-Gray, as she was away with the Football Ferns.
Parle said that had an impact but he was pleased to see her get her international debut in Thailand during the weekend. With the Ferns to play their second game on Wednesday, he hoped to have her back for next weekend’s semifinal.
For that semifinal the side would take on the same Auckland team it beat in the first game of the season — at the time its first win in four years.
"Look, today is what it is," Parle said.
"The players, as always, are told to go away and analyse their individual game.
"The team shape and how we play is obviously down to the coaches.
"We can’t legislate for individual errors — you can’t coach that.
"So the one thing we’ve got is character and we need now to go away, reassess, come back and make sure that we’re here 100% to win that game next week."
• In the national youth league, Southern United beat the Wellington Phoenix under-17s 2-1. The win was its second in a row.
National women’s league
The scores
Capital 6
Emma Main 18’, Maya Hahn 22’, Michaela Robertson 35’, Libby Boobyer 45’, 65’, Bex Jefferies 74’.
Southern United 2
Mikaela Hunt 2’, 47’
Halftime: 4-1 Capital
