Arrive Alive NSW Women?s Premier League Round 2 Review

Fortunately, despite a week of rain and thunder, only one Arrive Alive Women?s Premier League game failed to make it to kick off on Sunday. With the Macarthur Rams v Marconi Stallions match postponed until a date to be fixed your intrepid reporter ventured out to ELS Hall Park to watch the match up between two first round winners, the NWS Koalas and the Illawarra Stingrays.
Both sides had suffered at the hand of injury; the Stingrays most notably with the loss of their defensive bookends, the Danyi twins. If it wasn?t bad enough that one twin suffered a season ending knee injury in a trial against NSWIS, the other managed to cop something similar in the last moments of training on Friday evening. To Courtney and Caitlin, good luck with ridding yourselves of those crutches sooner rather than later. Your fans, and I?m one of them, will miss seeing the pair of you in action during the 2009 season.
I was expecting this to be a fast and furious encounter. Both sides have players who know how to score a goal. Both teams can play bright attacking football. This sounded like a good recipe for a Sunday afternoon at the football.
The Stingrays came out of their corner quickly, obviously looking for a first round knockout. They danced and jabbed with some slick passing and skilful combinations. However, as much as they pushed the Koalas up against the ropes they couldn?t deliver a telling blow. Carney, Camilleri, Connor and Heyman were all prominent, never allowing the home side to settle. Some half chances came and went with some ineffectual shooting by The Stingrays and scrambling defence from The Koalas. Territorially it was all Illawarra. It seemed just a matter of time before The Stingrays opened the scoring.
It was 15 minutes before The Koalas even got within shooting range with a long distance strike Rachel Jones falling fairly meekly to Stingrays keeper Sarah Gollop. However, soon after, the locals won themselves a corner from which Rachel Doyle leapt high above the pack like Brendan Fevola to put away an unstoppable header. All of a sudden The Koalas were in front!
The Stingrays were put back on their heels. Their early dominance evaporated with the Koalas taking control. The Stingrays suddenly weren?t in charge of the midfield any longer as Rachel Jones, Kate Hensman and Rachel Doyle were now making inroads. A great dash by Hensman saw her set up Rachel Jones whose shot hit the crossbar. The Stingrays found an occasional half chance but couldn?t really mount any pressure on the NWS defence. Frustration started to show with Michelle Heyman picking up a yellow card.
Doyle attempted a carbon copy of her earlier goal from another Koalas corner just prior to half time but this time her header went wide. Then, in a telling moment in the game, some confusion in the Stingrays defence saw what looked to be an own goal conceded right on the stroke of half time. This goal was later credited to Kate Hensman. The Koalas, who could have been down 3-0 after ten minutes, now led 2-0 at the break.
After oranges The Stingrays came out swinging. As at the start of the match they dominated play. A shot from Anne Mayo was recovered by Koalas keeper Anne Rutlidge before some fine Stingrays build up saw Ash Connor charging for goal. The Koalas answered the challenge each time though with some desperate defence.
In the 59^th minute a clearance from the Stingrays defence was headed on by Michelle Heyman, putting Connor into the clear. The former Marconi start raced into the box but was brilliantly dispossessed by Georgina Stylianous just as she was about to pull the trigger.
Within minutes Cirjak, Heyman and Connor combined to open the NWS defence. As Connor turned back inside she was felled by a defender, with the referee initially awarding a penalty to The Stingrays striker. However, after some consultation with her linesman, the referee changed her decision and awarded an indirect free kick. The Stingrays tried a rehearsed move with Mayo breaking from a wall to shoot but to no avail.
Heyman was then fouled by Rachel Jones, bringing The Koalas star a yellow card. Heyman limped from the field with The Stingrays bench taking some time to replace their star striker with Hailey Kerrigan. During this period The Koalas tried hard to use their numerical advantage but The Stingrays held firm. Anna McLean was coming into her own for the home side with some fine runs down the left. Her crosses weren?t quite being used to best advantage however as Kate Hensman tried hard to break the defence.
In the 80^th minute The Koalas broke from defence. McLean won her side a corner which was knocked short to Carlie Ikonomov. Her cross into the goalmouth caused panic and, after seemingly having the ball covered, the defence was outmuscled by Hensman who grabbed her second goal. Almost immediately, with the match seemingly won, an injured Rachel Jones was replaced by Lea Carr.
However, someone had forgotten to tell the Illawarra girls that it was game over. They steamed upfield from the kick off with Trudy Camilleri racing into the box to slot away The Stingrays first goal of the match. Was this a lifeline for the South Coast girls?
Within minutes Carey had made a fine break as The Stingrays rushed out of defence. Carney found support to her left. A cross back inside looked to have caused the movement to break down when ti went behind Carney but Ash Connor got the ball, cut back inside and put away number two for The Stingrays. Game ON at 3-2 to the Koalas.
The Stingrays quickly burst into attack again but gave away a free kick near the half way line. From the ensuing play Carlie Ikonomov received the ball some 30 metres from goal. The Koalas player unleashed a sizzling shot on goal which a leaping Gollop could only watch hit the back of the net. What a goal!
The Stingrays had yet another chance within sight of the final whistle with Ash Connor having what looked a certain goal saved off the line by a desperate Koalas defence.
The whistle blew to signal the end of a fine game of football with NWS Koalas running out 4-2 winners.
Koalas Coach, Claude De Francesco, was delighted with his sides win. He praised The Stingrays team who he said were a powerful blend of pace, technique and skill. He was happy with the manner in which his side had weathered the early storm before turning the game. Whilst he recognised Illawarra?s second half territorial dominance he heaped accolades on the way in which his side soaked up the pressure before responding. He said that injuries had caused some younger players in the squad to be out on the spot but that they had answered the call in grand style. Claude will enjoy his Easter break with his team now two from two in the title race.
Illawarra Coach Brett Wallen was circumspect. Whilst he was disappointed in the result he felt that there were lots of positives to come from the match. He praised his attacking line up but lamented the fact that injuries had caused havoc to his defensive options. He conceded that The Koalas had played well but though that his own side hadn?t ?ridden their luck?. Wallen felt sure that there were plenty of good things still to come from his side.
This was a quality game between two sides who will be there come finals time.
NWS Koalas            4 (K.Hensman 2, R.Doyle, C.Ikonomov)
Illawarra Stingrays 2 (T.Camilleri, A Connor.)
Elsewhere, Manly United FC were in cracking form, putting six goals past the hapless Penrith United side. After Morison opened the scoring for the visitors in the 6^th minute, Collins doubled their lead in the 35^th minute to give them a 2-0 half time cushion.
After half time the Manly side went right on with it adding goals to Van Weeren (63m), Morison (68m), Bates (73m) and Foster (82m). This was certainly Manly at their best, showing exactly what they?re capable of when they put their mind to it. Let?s hope that the girls from the peninsula can play plenty more football like this in 2009.
Penrith didn?t know what hit them. They struggled to stay in the match up until half time but were run over after the break. This is not a match that they?ll want to put in the scrap book. After two losses in two games they need to find a way to kick start their season.
Penrith United    0
Manly United FC 6 (E.Morison 2, L.Collins, H.Van Weeren, B.Bates and G.Foster)
The third match of the rain affected round saw Sydney University snatch their first win of 2009 with a convincing 4-0 win over the Sutherland Sharks.
The Sharks have now conceded eight goals in two matches. Things are looking grim for the girls from the shire who are facing a long, tough season. University opened the scoring through Kimber in the 8^th minute before Cergovski doubled the lead in the 11^th minute. That lead had stretched to 3 by half time when Wilson chimed in with the first of her goals in the 42^nd minute.
The Sharks managed to hold University at bay during the second half before Wilson completed her brace in the 90^th minute to give University a well deserved 4-0 win. The Sydney Uni side appear to be ready to test any side given their two good performances so far. Maybe 2009 will see them pressing for finals contention.
Sydney University 4 (E.Wilson 2, H.Kimber, A. Cergovski)
Sutherland Sharks 0
Next week sees me celebrating a birthday whilst also tucking into plenty of healthy Easter eggs! Thank heavens that medical science has, once again, discovered the positive effects of eating chocolate!
I trust that all players, officials and supporters of our eight Arrive Alive Women?s Premier league clubs will enjoy their free long weekend. I hope that the Easter Bunny is particularly generous to all of you. See you on the 19^th April!
-By Ross Anderson