Women’s Super League Round 5 Preview

Four teams are locked on nine points, although rather dauntingly APIA top them all with a goal difference of +19 after three games.
A few catchup games have been played over the past week, with St George the latest to cop a hiding at the hands of APIA and most likely won’t be the last. The table-topping Tigers put away six at St George Stadium to take their season total to 20. Amazingly, young striker Aysha Adalis bagged all six goals to take her personal tally to 12 from three games – more than any other team in the league!
In another Round 1 replay, Springwood grabbed their first three points of the season with a tight 1-0 win over Northern Tigers at Summerhayes Park.  Springwood will be ecstatic the score a win after a series of tough games against the top sides, and will look to build on it in the coming weeks.
Looking forward to Round 5 fixtures it looks at first to be an easy round to pick – none of the top five sides are playing each other, while all except UNSW are playing at home. Northern Tigers travel to Blick Oval at the perfect time, with Sydney Olympic losing some momentum with a flat performance in their loss to the Lions at the weekend.
The Tigers are finding points hard to come by this season, and will be disappointed to lose to Springwood in a game they simply had to win. Meanwhile, Olympic will need to bounce back in this fixture if they are to keep pace with the leaders and stay in touching distance of that coveted finals spot.
St George’s luck doesn’t get any better with a trip to Gladesville to take on the undefeated Ravens.  The Saints have had a tough time of it of late, most recently in a 6-0 loss to APIA, and will find it hard to take points off a quality Gladesville side.
For Gladesville, this could be their final hitout before the big clash with APIA, where they’ll need to be firing on all cylinders.  As their round one catch up with Olympic is still yet to be played they could be facing three games in a week.
Parramatta Lady Hawks welcome Springwood to Melita Stadium, with both sides coming off recent victories. Lady Hawks bounced back well from their round 3 defeat at UNSW to win 3-2 over Northern Tigers.
Springwood have played both sets of Tigers this week, beating the girls from the north before being thumped by Leichardt. If they put on a good showing here they could spring an upset, with the Lady Hawks defence having leaked five goals in their first four games.
APIA play host to Nepean FC in what could be another one-sided affair. No team has come close to the Tigers this year, and while Nepean have put in some impressive performances they’ll be lucky to come out of this one with points.
APIA may have one eye on the week 6 fixture with Gladesville but with strike weapon Aysha Adalis scoring goals for fun, they should comfortably take the three points here and head into the big fixture in good shape.
Finally this week Northbridge play host to one of the most impressive sides of the first few rounds, Eastern UNSW Lions. The Lions brought Sydney Olympic’s undefeated start to an end last week and are shaping as dark horse in 2011.  They are still yet to lose a game, with their round two catchup with APIA one to keep an eye on.
Northbridge will be buzzing following their big win over St George last week, their first of the season. They’ll head into this one with no fear, knowing if they can put it together they’ve got plenty of goals in them.
It’s David vs Goliath in round five of the Women’s Super League, with the top five sides up against the bottom five sides. We could be in for a few upsets, so get out to a game and enjoy the action.
-By Ryan Cropp