Women's U21s head coach Sinead Hogan-Belcher said she felt pure pride after watching her team beat Crawley Wasps for the second successive year and lift the Sussex Women's Challenge Cup.
Following a strong 3-0 win at Culver Road, Lancing, on Thursday the Albion coach was thrilled to see her youngsters lift the trophy in front of their family and friends.
"It feels amazing. I'm really proud of the girls as it's not easy to come into this environment and face this type of pressure and perform the way we did. It makes me so proud," she said.
"Before the game we spoke about the physicality aspect that Crawley Wasps could exploit but the girls are so good technically and handled that exceptionally well.
"There were a lot of aerial balls and headers to be won so that was a different test for them. [Goalkeeper] Frankie [Angel]'s composure and focus from beginning to end was superb, even if things weren't going our way we stayed focused."
The girls also broke their record from last season by fielding the youngest squad in the tournament with two U16s named in the team.
Hogan-Belcher added, "Ninety per cent of the squad are U18s and we had two U16s in there as well, so credit to the academy coaches that flood in these players that you cannot deny for an opportunity too, because it is well deserved. I don't really think age comes into it, if you're good enough you should play."
As celebrations began in the dressing room, Hogan-Belcher said she wanted her players to reproduce their cup form in the league.
She added, "We spoke about making this a tradition that we want to keep going. We want to be the best youth team in Sussex, that's really important for us.
"These will be memories that will stay with them for the rest of their lives, I'm really happy for them and proud. But we've got to replicate that in the league. That's the elite mentality, you have to move onto the next challenge."