Finals Series Round 1 Review – PS4 NPL NSW Women’s
Sydney University is in the 2016 Grand Final of the PlayStation 4 NSW NPL Women’s competition, but which team has been eliminated from the finals series?
Sydney University 3-2 North West Sydney Koalas
A fantastic finals match took place at Lilys Stadium on Sunday afternoon where the Premiers, Sydney Uni, booked their place in the grand final after a five-goal thriller against the north West Sydney Koalas.
Rachel Soutar had the first attempt of the match, hitting a long distance free kick just wide.
The Koalas first opportunity the Koalas had fell to Morgan Roberts in the fifth minute but Uni defended well to clear their lines.
The danger hadn’t completely passed though as Tara Andrews had a great chance but was unable to poke the ball home.
In the ninth minute Uni should have hit the lead.
Neat play between Steph Ambrose and Georgia Plessas saw the latter bare down on Chloe Avgoustou.
Her placed shot though went inches wide of the target.
In an open start to the match, it was the Koalas who threatened next only a minute later.
A well placed cross from the right found the head of Natalie Penman at the far post as the looping ball beat Trudy Burke but came off the cross bar.
After a quite period, Evelyn Chronis looked to get Uni moving.
A smart ball wide to Georgia Yeoman-Dale saw her cross a dangerous ball across goal, almost seeing Kimberley Davey put the ball into her own net.
It was the Premiers that would hit the lead in style on 29 minutes.
A fantastic display of possession saw them work the ball from defence to attack, making over 15 passes before a defense splitting pass by Yeoman-Dale.
Chronis was aware and latched on to the ball before lobbing the on rushing Avgoustou.
Caitlin Campbell looked to get the Koalas straight back into it with a free kick from distance two minutes later, only for Burke to make a good save.
Uni moved into the break a goal to the good.
The beginning of the second period saw Uni get straight onto the offensive but some great scrambling defence by the Koalas saw them clear their lines.
On 54 minutes though Uni doubled their advantage.
Some individual brilliance by Yeoman-Dale saw the nippy attacker dribble in from the edge of the box on the left and curl the ball beyond Avgoustou and into the back of the net.
Some nice build up play saw Siahn Bozanic get behind the Uni defence, only for Burke to rush off her line and thwart the danger.
Erin Pridmore then got up well from a corner, to head inches wide.
With 20 minutes to go, the Koalas had a lifeline.
Liz O’Reilly brought down Andrews in the box and the referee had no option but to point to the box.
Andrews dusted herself off to take the spot kick and despite Burke picking the right side, her effort went in off the post.
In the 86th minute though Uni made sure of their place in the Grand Final.
Rachel Soutar hit a well placed free kick from the right, 25 metres from goal into Avgoustou’s top left corner to make the score 3-1.
Only two minutes later and again the Koalas showed they wouldn’t lie down so easy.
Substitute Hannah Beard showed some quality, volleying in from outside of the area on the turn, giving an outstretched Burke no chance as the ball flew into the goal.
Despite pushing hard in the final minutes, the Koalas were unable to snatch a late equaliser.
Sydney University 2 (Chronis 29’, Yeoman-Dale 54’, Soutar 86’)
North West Sydney Koalas 1 (Andrews 70’, Beard 88’)
Sydney University: 1. Burke, 2. Soutar, 4. O’Reilly, 6. Danaskos, 7. Yeoman-Dale, 8. Chronis, 9. Grey, 11. Ambrose, 12. Henry, 13. Plessas, 18. Stanbury.
Substitutes: 3. Guzman, 5. King, 16. Woods, 20. Bacon.
NWS Koalas: 88. Avgoustou, 48. Campbell, 59. Rohrer, 60. Perrins, 61. Roberts, 62. Tobin, 64. Davey, 70. Penman, 71. Farqhuar, 78. Bozanic, 90. Andrews.
Substitutes: 27. Booty, 52. Pridmore, 58. Killey, 92. Ikonomou, 72. Beard.
Manly United 1-0 Macarthur Rams
Two form sides of the competition in Manly United and the Macarthur Rams clashed on Saturday afternoon at Cromer Park.
It was sudden death football and the loser’s season would be done, while the winner would be only one step away from the Grand Final.
Both teams have fantastic attacking players throughout the squad and many goals were on the cards.
But it wasn’t what we got.
When Ally Green sent the home side in front after 23 minutes, latching onto a wonderful through ball to place it in the back of the net, it gave United the perfect start to the game.
Bella Walker and Madeleine Neville were strong at the back, stopping any attack the Rams attempted to construct.
Repelling the Rams and experienced heads such as Leena Khamis, Kylie Ledbrook and Renee Rollason showed how far the United team has come.
The win meant that Manly extended their unbeaten run to ‘lucky 13’ and sent them into next weeks Major Semi Final.
Despite failing to secure a third straight Grand Final appearance, the Rams will be pleased to have made another Finals series.
-By Nikola Pozder
