SELECT Futsal Premier League – Round 2 Open Women’s Review

The 2018-19 SELECT Futsal Women’s Premier League round two saw Inner West Magic beat Campbelltown Quake 4-1, UTS Northside edge Mascot Vipers 3-2, Dural Warriors down Enfield Allstars 2-1, while Mountain Majik outgunned Eastern Suburbs Hakoah 7-4.

After two weekends of entertaining Futsal, unbeaten Inner West and Mountain Majik lead the way with Easts, Campbelltown, Dural and UTS a win behind in what promises to be a thrilling run to the playoffs.

Campbelltown Quake 1 (Linda Dudek) Inner West Magic 4 (own goal, Ceyda Cambaz, Amy Dahdah, Rhianna Pollicina)

UTS Northside 3 (Daisy Arrowsmith, Alexia Guerinoni 2) Mascot Vipers 2 (Samantha Grant 2)

Enfield Allstars 1 (Dominique Caridad) Dural Warriors 1 (Luseane Cook, Abbey Lemon)

Eastern Suburbs Hakoah 4 (Paloma Goncalves Oliveira, Karly Vouros, Tamires Souza 2) Mountain Majik 7 (Tanya Borazio, Lydia Surgeon 2, Ashlie Crofts 3, Nadia Nisbet)

Magic rattle Quake

Inner West Magic went away from Minto Indoor Sports Centre with a solid 4-1 win against Campbelltown Quake.

The home side were their worst enemy in the first half as Linda Dudek’s strike was cancelled out by an own goal as the defending champs Inner West cough and spluttered to even get going.

Stern halftime words proved to be the spark Magic needed and they pulled away in the second half as Ceyda Cambaz and Rhianna Pollicina ruffled the onion bag twice in quick succession before Amy Dahdah finalised the account two minutes from fulltime for a victory that lifted Inner West to the top of the table (on goal-difference over Majik).

Club official Matteo Maiorana acknowledged the team needed to start better than they did if they wanted to stay out of trouble.

“It was a poor first half – slow and lacklustre, words not normally accosted to defending champions,” he said. “Quake defended very well and had it not been for [goalkeeper] Sophie Magus they could’ve taken the first-half lead.”

“The second half was much more like the Magic we’ve come to know – quick and incisive, and two goals in two minutes sealed a deserved win.”

Northside pip Mascot

UTS Northside edged out Mascot Vipers 3-2 in a PCYC Dee Why thriller and pick up their first win of the summer.

Daisy Arrowsmith got the ball rolling with a fifth-minute strike that put UTS ahead early but the pendulum swung the other way when a Samantha Grant double either side of the quarter-hour mark saw Mascot grab a 2-1 ascendancy.

Northside’s Alexia Guerinoni made sure the sides entered the break level with a goal just before halftime and it was an entertaining second half as both sides went at it, Guerinoni stealing the show with a last-minute winner sending home fans into raptures.

Dural eclipse Enfield

Goals either side of halftime helped Dural Warriors to a 2-1 win against Enfield Allstars at Morris Iemma Indoor Sports Centre.

Luseane Cook scored a few minutes from the break and Abbey Lemon doubled Dural’s advantage straight after the restart and, despite Dominique Caridad scoring for Enfield 13 minutes from the end, Warriors held on to victory.

Majik outshoot Hakoah

When the dust settled at All Sorts Indoor Sports Centre, Mountain Majik had held off Eastern Suburbs Hakoah in a 7-4 shootout.

It was on from the start as the Mountaineers led 4-3 at the changeover, an Ashlie Crofts hat-trick and Lydia Surgeo double ensuring Majik finished ahead at full-time.

Tamires Souza scored a brace for Hakoah.

Mountain official Adam Barbera was proud as punch in a win against a very tough opponent.

“It was another great performance against a very strong Hakoah side,” he said. “Much like our men’s side, our women’s side is made up of young women who have been at the club for most their Futsal development and we are so proud of how composed they were up against older and more experienced opposition.”

“When we executed the game, which was to press Hakoah high and keep the tempo as quick as possible, we were able to score goals with ease and peg Hakoah back, not letting them playing into their second line of attack.

“Ashlie Croft’s been lethal in front of goal for us but, like last week, whole team performances from all the girls are what gets us wins. It’s two great performances for us to start the year and we believe that when we keep these performances up we will win every match we play.”

There’s no doubting Easts’ firepower (13 goals in their opening two runs), but they’ve now conceded nine goals (second-highest in the comp) to risk countering their own ambitions.

Next week’s games

SELECT Futsal Premier League round-3 Saturday matches starts with a grand final rematch between Dural Warriors and Inner West Magic at Valentine Sports Park (5.20pm), UTS Northside host Eastern Suburbs Hakoah at PCYC Dee Why (6.20pm), Enfield Allstars welcome Mountain Majik to Morris Iemma Indoor Sports Centre (7.05pm), and Mascot Vipers play Campbelltown Quake at All Sorts Indoor Sports Centre (7.50pm).

-By Dan De Nardi