Preseason Cup Final – PS4 NPL NSW Women’s
Sydney University took on the North West Sydney Koala’s for the first trophy of the New Year in the PlayStation®4 National Premier Leagues NSW Women’s Preseason Cup final.
It was last years Champions who started off 2016 where they finished 2015, with silverware, defeating the Koala’s 5-2.
From the get go, Uni resorted to their possession game that did them so well last season and some neat work by Hannah Bacon and Evelyn Chronis saw the later have her shot deflected out for a corner.
The game was stopped for a lengthy period after a freak injury to Demi Koulizakis.
The Uni attacker came off second best after a challenge with the Koala’s keeper. We wish her a speedy recovery and all the very best with her rehab.
After the restart it was again Uni who took command and Georgia Yeoman-Dale almost found the back of the net from a corner, only for the ball to rebound off the post.
Stephanie Ambrose was next to try her luck, only for Chloe Avgoustou to make a solid save.
Siahn Bozanic was the first to have a shot in anger for the Koala’s but Trudy Burke got down well to save.
Some trickery on the edge of the area by Mel Caceres saw the ball pop out left for Ambrose who blasted a shot agonizingly wide of the post.
The Koala’s almost had the lead as Tara Andrews played through a fantastic ball for Morgan Roberts. It seemed Burke would get to the ball first but an error by her allowed Roberts to sneak in.
Some last ditch defending from Uni meant the scores would stay 0-0.
The Koala’s continued to improve as the first half moved on and were looking increasingly dangerous going forward.
Just like that though, some swift passing by Uni saw Ambrose break through and where perhaps she should’ve been more selfish, she tried squaring up a ball for Evelyn Chronis but the Koala defence cleared.
From the resulting corner, Uni applied a worked set piece which resulted in a penalty after Elizabeth Grey was fouled in the box.
Yeoman-Dale stepped up to take the spot kick and duly delivered, despite Avgoustou picking the right side.
In only took Uni two minutes to double their advantage after a fantastic team goal. The ball went through the whole midfield and attack before Ambrose calmly slotted beyond Avgoustou.
It was 3-0 in the 55th, again Ambrose with the finish after a defence splitting ball by Bacon saw her run in one on one with the Koalas keeper.
Uni continued with their good play and had various opportunities through Ambrose, Grey and Emma Stanbury.
Standbury then went down in the box after a clumsy foul and the referee had no choice but to point to the spot.
Stanbury dusted herself off to take the spot kick, finding the bottom right corner to make it four.
Natalie Tobin picked up a consolation for the Koala’s, with a nice placed finish with about 10 minutes to go.
Tara Andrews then got another for the Koala’s, calmly slotting the ball beyond Burke with two minutes to go.
Substitute Lorena Bugden then made 5-2 with a classy finish in the 90th minute to seal the Preseason Cup for Uni.
Sydney University 5 (Yeoman-Dale 42’, Ambrose 47’, 55’, Stanbury 75’, Bugden 90’)
North West Sydney Koala’s 2 (Tobin 81’, 88’)
-By Nikola Pozder
