Dural Warriors Clinch Inaugural Futsal Cup for Womens
Dural Warriors were crowned the inaugural Futsal Cup Champions after a slick 4-2 victory over a tough Mascot Vipers outfit at Valentine Sports Park.
The Warriors flew out to a two-nil lead courtesy of Rachel Perrins who secured two superb first half strikes, before Tess Olsen and a final minute wonder-strike from goalkeeper Tani Rosekelly carved the Warriors’ side into history.
For the Vipers, an outrageous Tara Murphy finish right on the break and a second half strike from Caitlin Campbell kept the Warriors on their toes.
Dural would be the first to trouble the scoreboard. Rachel Perrins pick-pocketed a defender before she drove a shot past Avgoustou for 1-nil. It took 60 seconds for her to double her tally with a composed touch before firing home for a stunning 2-nil lead.
After the shock, Mascot started to settle into the contest. Natasha Aitken tried an optimistic effort that clipped wide, as the Vipers worked hard through Murphy and Campbell to create openings.
Most of the first half belonged to the Warriors. They peppered Avgoustou through former Matilda Servet Uzunlar and Brooke Steinwede, the latter, rattled both the crossbar and post, as fortunately, the score remained 2-nil.
Mascot found a lifeline right on the halftime break. From a kick-in, Murphy found space at the far post then smartly back-heeled the ball past Dural’s custodian, Tani Rosekelly for a 2-1 half-time score..
Much of the second half followed the pattern of the first – Perrins, Uzunlar and Demelza Howard tried to dent the brick wall that was Chloe Avgoustou without much luck.
Riding high from their goalkeeper’s performance, Mascot evened up the ledger five minutes before the end. Sarah Amorim and Campbell worked a textbook wall pass before the latter rifled an effort into the net for 2-2.
The high didn’t last long for the Vipers, as Dural responded immediately. Fresh on the field Tess Olsen pounced on another Vipers error and wrestled back the lead for the Warriors, 3-2. As the Vipers brought on the extra attacker to force extra time, Warrior’s Rosekelly launched an effort coast to coast that confirmed their victory.
Afterwards Warriors coach Rob Varela was pleased to become the first Futsal Cup champions.
“I’m very pleased for the girls. They’re a young team, coming up against a tough opponent. We took our chances although I think we could’ve scored a few more but I thought we were the better team tonight,” said Varela.
MATCH STATS
Wednesday 31st January 2018
Valentine Sports Park
Referee: Kyle Hockings
2nd Referee: Phillip Di Matteo
3rd Referee: Matthew Wearne
Mascot Vipers 2 (Murphy ’20 and Campbell ’35)
Dural Warriors 4 (Perrins ‘4 and ‘5, Olsen ’36 and Rosekelly ’40)
Mascot Vipers: 3. FARQUHAR Kiara, 7. CAMPBELL Caitlin, 9. MURPHY Tara, 10. AMORIM Sarah, 13. MARTINS Ella, 15. BRAUN Maya, 24. ELLIOT Darby, 26. CHARAK Hannah, 69. AITKEN Natasha, 87. GRANT Samantha and 88. AVGOUSTOU Chloe
Dural Warriors: 1. ROSEKELLY Tani, 3. UZUNLAR Yesim Servet, 4. HOWARD Demelza, 5. PERRINS Rachel, 6. HURLEY Emma, 11. NAGY Samantha, 12. STEINWEDE Brooke, 14. DOBSON Bianca, 17. OLSEN Tess, 21. CLARKE Bianca, 22. LEMON Abbey and 99. COMERT Sara
-By Justin Davies
