Papua New Guinea created footballing history, scoring their first ever goal at a FIFA tournament, as they bowed out of the Under 20 Women's World Cup with a 7-1 defeat against North Korea in Port Moresby.
After being beaten 9-0 and 6-0 in their opening two group matches against Brazil and Sweden, PNG went into last night's final game determined to find the back of the net.
RI Un Sim had put the North Koreans in front after just seven minutes at the National Football Stadium, making it 16 unanswered goals conceded by the tournaments hosts.
But after 196 minutes of waiting the moment finally came for the PNG team and their more than 9,000 supporters cheering on the sidelines.
Nicollete Ageva (top, third right) lines up before PNG's tournament opener against Brazil) Photo: PNG Football Association
Nicollete Ageva escaped the attention of two defenders and camly lifted the ball past the advancing keeper into the back of the net.
"For me to score a goal in front of my home country I was very excited and also proud of myself," she said.
"It was my dream and also our coach, after having a meeting with us before we played North Korea, she told me that tomorrow (Sunday) will be our game..and I wanted to give all the best to make sure I score a goal and give us our aim for yesterday's game to just score one goal for our country so when I go out there I did all my best.
"I'm really proud of my team, my girls...we did all our best to train so (the girls) gave all our best so when we qualified for FIFA Under 20 we can show everyone that Papua New Guinea can do it too."
Papua New Guinea finished winless from their three group matches but Nicollete Ageva, the only member of the team from Bougainville, believed hosting the first ever FIFA World Cup tournament in the Pacific will have lasting benefits for the women's game.
"This tournament, it will bring the level of football in Papua New Guinea up and also motivate other girls to get playing soccer too," she said.
"My aim is to give back to my home province of Bougainville and influence women's football in my province and the country as a whole."
Nicollete Ageva said, while Papua New Guinea's World Cup campaign is over for this year, the team plans to stay together and keep training so they can beat New Zealand and qualify on merit for the next Under 20 World Cup in 2018.
