SELECT Futsal Premier League – Round 7 Open Women’s Review
SELECT Futsal Premier League round-7 had Campbelltown Quake draw 3-3 with Mountain Majik, Eastern Suburbs Hakoah edge Dural Warriors 2-1, UTS Northside pip Enfield Allstars 2-1, and Inner West Magic down Mascot Vipers 6-3.
Magic (19 points) and UTS (18) have broken away at the top of the leaderboard ahead of their top-two clash next weekend, with Majik (14) and Campbelltown (11) now being riding harassed by fifth-placed Easts (9), as playoff aspirations for Dural (4), Enfield (3) and Mascot (2) slowly drift away.
A four-goal effort from Magic’s Rhianna Pollicina suddenly put her in the golden boot picture, nine season-goals closing in on top-two Majik’s Ashlie Crofts (14) and Hakoah’s Tamires Souza (11).
And it’s a travelers’ tale so far this summer with four teams still to win at home base; in 28 games the hosts have won just 10 times.
Campbelltown Quake 3 (Linda Dudek, Antonia Sharp, Caitlin Orridge) Mountain Majik 3 (Ashlie Crofts 2, Monique Holder)
Dural Warriors 1 (Abbey Lemon) Eastern Suburbs Hakoah 2 (Tamires Souza, Freya Hickey)
Enfield Allstars 1 (Dominique Caridad) UTS Northside 2 (Genevieve Tucker, Emma Watkins)
Mascot Vipers 3 (Natasha Aitken, Kiara Farquhar, Jess Frampton) Inner West Magic 6 (Ailish Mcdonagh, Rhianna Pollicina 4, Ceyda Cambaz)
Quake, Majik draw
Campbelltown Quake and Mountain Majik fought out a thrilling 3-3 draw at Minto Indoor Sports Centre on Saturday afternoon to maintain their third and fourth-place standings.
Mountain drew first blood when Campbelltown switched off at the back to gift Monique Holder a simple square-up for Ashlie Crofts to bury, but a Linda Dudek breakaway goal leveled proceedings before the break to ensure the pressure valve stayed tight.
A flamboyant Toni Sharp run and quality finish from distance put Quake ahead immediately after oranges before an unfortunate unforced error from keeper Chloe Gray gifted Majik an equaliser to make it 2-2.
The Mountaineers then stole back the lead through a poorly-defended freekick that split all five Campbelltown players, but the show wasn’t over yet as good Dudek build-up play and a tidy back-post ball from Claire Walsh set up 16-year-old dynamo Caitlin Orridge for an outstanding team goal that brought the scores level a fourth time.
Both sides had plenty of chances to win it in the last five minutes and some crucial goalkeeping ensured the points were split.
After winning three straight to open the season Majik have won just once in the last four outings, and with Ashlie Crofts picking up another double to notch 14 goals (half her team’s total 28), some diversity may be the only thing lacking in an otherwise crisp Mountain side.
Majik coach Adam Barbera also believed some wayward finishing had seen them drop points over the last month of matches.
“I’m disappointed we couldn’t get the full three points in a game we believed we played well,” he said. “It was great to see an improved team performance from the previous week; however, we still feel we were far from our best.”
“It’s very pleasing to continually see patterns of play that we work on during training being replicated on game day, [but] our execution let us down today; we need to finish off our chances when we’re on top and not give opposition teams a chances to stay in the game.
“At this stage of the season we’re happy. The girls have all been excellent and together we continually work on becoming greater and greater.”
Campbelltown coach Mel Keith was glad to grab a point from a highly-contested match, but felt it could’ve been more had it not been for the early Christmas presents they offered their opponents.
“[Mountain keeper] Regan Hill was their saviour in the first half today, [but] we were our own enemy and gave away soft goals after working hard to close down the weapons they have in attack,” she said.
“Majik are a quality side that has been building for a few years now so I’m happy to take away a draw, but I hope that in the next few matches we can eliminate the gifts we gave them today.”
Easts defeat Dural
Eastern Suburbs Hakoah inflicted more pain on Dural Warriors with a slender 2-1 win at The Centre on Saturday evening.
In a reverse scoreline of their Futsal Cup knockout match late last month, the result inched Easts closer to a top-four spot as they capitalised on the stalemate between Mountain and Campbelltown
On the flipside, yet another gutwrenching defeat simply does not give Dural any justice for being so competitive over the years.
Scoring twice in five matches looks terrible enough, but considering the Warriors have only been edged out of the last three contests by a solitary goal it’s certainly not all doom and gloom.
Having said that, something needs to change and coach Tani Rosekelly pointed to the pointy end of her unit as the part that needs sharpening the most.
“A disappointing result after leading 1-0 and then conceding two soft goals in the second half.” She said. “Hakoah were persistent and took their two chances and again we were punished for not taking ours.”
“Frustrating times but back to the training courts to work on turning the season around.”
UTS edge Allstars
UTS Northside survived a second-half Enfield Allstars revival to win 2-1 at the Morris Iemma Indoor Sports Centre on Saturday night and stay hot on the heels of leaders Inner West.
The visitors showed why they there’s a gap between the sides when they raced to a 2-0 halftime lead thanks to Genevieve Tucker and Emma Watkins strikes, but Enfield responded brilliantly after the break to dish back everything Northside threw at them and then halve the deficit through evergreen Dominique Caridad.
It was an exciting finish to the match but the score remained unchanged to hand UTS its sixth straight victory and stay a point behind Inner West, who they can overtake should they beat them at home next weekend.
Northside coach Danny Beauchamp knew better finishing would’ve finished the contest earlier and was looking forward to that happening against Magic.
“The girls had their moments of good play and chances to kill the game but for a second week we weren’t at our best in intensity and energy,” he said.
“A bit of self-reflection, a good week at training and we’ll try to improve for a good Inner West team next weekend. Once our girls really start to problem-solve and identify areas they can exploit in oppositions, they will be a very hard team to beat.”
The table tells a different story to an Allstars team that’s well and truly matched it with their opponents only for four one-goal defeats to burden any playoff prospects.
Magic stomp Vipers
Cellar-dwellers Mascot Vipers were left to rue a slow start as they fell 6-3 to unbeaten ladder-leaders Inner West Magic at All Sorts Indoor Sports centre on Saturday night.
Inner West hit the post four times and still led 4-0 at halftime, and it looked like being a long night for win-less Mascot before a stirring second-half comeback kept Magic on their toes, Vipers scoring twice after the break to halve the deficit before match-winner Rhianna Pollicina completed a stunning four-goal run to seal victory for the visitors.
Incredibly, three second-half strikes means Mascot’s scored just as many goals against Inner West as every other side combined this whole summer!
Magic coach Matteo Maiorana blooded some more youngsters [Bastow and Maryam Mostaghini] on his way to comfortable win.
“I was happy the way we went today. We had six players on the bench today ranging from 14-16 who all got vital senior experience,” he said.
“The senior girls are really leading the young ones around the court, which is great to see. We weren’t at our best defensively, but that’s expected as we continue to give the younger girls a chance to impress.
“Mini [Pollicina] was back to her best today – she was fantastic! Overall I’m happy the way the girls are travelling. Next week [vs second-place UTS] should be a cracker.”
Next week’s games
SELECT Futsal Premier League round-8 Saturday matches features Campbelltown Quake versus Enfield Allstars at Minto Indoor Sports Centre (3.50pm), Dural Warriors host Mountain Majik at The Centre (5.50pm), UTS Northside face Inner West Magic at PCYC Dee Why (6.20pm), and Eastern Suburbs Hakoah meet Mascot Vipers at All Sorts Indoor Sports centre (7.50pm).
– By Dan de Nardi
