Round 1 Review – Futsal Premier League Open Women’s
What a way to start the 2019/20 Futsal Premier League season as Campbelltown Quake held out Boomerangs 4-1, Mountain Majik and Eastern Suburbs Hakoah drew 2-2, UTS Northside downed Enfield Allstars 6-2, while Mascot Vipers stunned champions Inner West Magic 7-2.
Boomerangs 1 (Olivia Guerney) Campbelltown Quake 4 (Claire Walsh 2, Linda Dudek 2)
Mountain Majik 2 (Bethany Gordon, Ariella Cabezas) Eastern Subs Hakoah 2 (Caitlin Campbell, Tamires Souza)
Enfield Allstars 2 (Annalise Schiraldi, Zoe Zaczek) UTS Northside 6 (Yesim Uzunlar 2, Genevieve Tucker 2, Daisy Arrowsmith, Emily Bastow)
Inner West Magic 2 (Rhianna Pollicina, Ceyda Cambaz) Mascot Vipers 7 (Marcella 4, Mariel Hecher 2, Sienna Fraser)
Quake shake Boomerangs
The AIS Training Halls was the arena for the women’s season opener and a gritty display from the ladies from Campbelltown Quake made sure they didn’t head back up the federal highway empty-handed, defeating Boomerangs 4-1 on Sunday afternoon.
It was a physical outset between a young Boomerangs and somewhat veteran Quake side and ‘Towners captain Claire Walsh opened the scoring with a back-post tap-in following a well-worked break down the line from Linda Dudek.
Dudek would cause havoc down the same right flank moments later, this time with a quality strike from distance that smashed the back of the net.
The visitors might’ve piled on more goals had it not been for a brilliant save from the Boomerangs custodian to deny a Toni Sharp shot, and the keeper later went on to save two more critical one-on-one chances to keep her team in arm’s reach of Campbelltown at halftime.
The second half saw Walsh go on a rampage, the most experienced player on the court turning back the clock to prove she still has what it takes to kick it at the top level – a perfectly worked ball to newest Quake recruit Renee Rollason, who provided the lay-off to Walsh for a back-breaking third goal that took her to a leading eight goals in six fixture runs.
Boomerangs pulled one back through Olivia Gurney with a quality individual play beating Quake keeper Brianna Clarke before Dudek scored her second for Campbelltown to make it a tidy 4-1 finish.Quake coach Mel Keith was extremely happy with the start to the season.
“We have a great mixture of experience and youth,” she said. “Having Renee Rollason join us boosted the women’s team we already had and we have a really strong youth crew coming through.”
“I hope we build on it as we move forward to take on the competition heavyweights.”
Boomerangs coach Kristian Collins wasn’t totally dismayed by the expected result.
“It was a tough game out first up, particularly after we had a few late withdrawals,” he said.
“The girls battled hard and showed they can definitely compete at this level. We’ll learn from today and come back next week better.”
He also gave a shout-out to Rachael Corbett who dislocated her patella five minutes into the first half in a big blow for the Territorians.
Mountain, Easts stalemate
Eastern Suburbs Hakoah scored a late equaliser to split the spoils with Mountain Majik in a topsy-turvy Sunday-afternoon game at Blacktown Leisure Centre.
The Mountaineers were down a couple of players and Easts showed no mercy as Caitlin Campbell drove home the opener after just two minutes of play.
It took a new Majik signing to even the scores again following a powerful Bethany Gordon freekick moments later as the sides headed to the changerooms locked at one apiece.
Hakoah had a chance to take the lead early in the second term but missed a penalty that only seemed to motivate the home side, some good ball movement and pressing eventually freeing up another new Mountain debutant Ariella Cabezas for a well-taken strike and 2-1 lead midway through the half.
The joy was shortlived as Easts refused to lie down and Tamires Souza scored a great goal against the run of play to level it up once again 10 minutes from time, their keeper pulling of two magnificent late saves to ensure Hakoah would get something from the match with a 2-2 draw.
Souza certainly seems to enjoy playing against the Mountaineers, she’s scored in all three meetings for a tally of four goals.
Majik coach Adam Barbera knows a thing or two about finding scorers at the Mountain club: Majik have produced more individual goalscorers since their premier league inclusion six years ago than any other club, 31 – and he found two more new ones in this match! Next best clubs are Mascot (30), Enfield (28) and Inner West (25).
Barbera rued not getting a maximum result but thankfully gained plenty from his new-look side.
“It was clear to see this was our first game,” he said, “We were scrappy for the most part and having a couple players out due to injury didn’t help – midway into the first half we started to get into our groove.”
“We started the second half as sluggish as the first and gave away a penalty that Hakoah missed. That was the scare we needed, and we kicked into gear from then on.
“Credit must go to the Hakoah goalkeeper (who) denied us the win, but there’s lots of positives to take out of the match and we’re looking forward to showing an improved performance next week.”
Northside down Enfield
UTS Northside began the season in style following a convincing 6-2 win over Enfield Allstars at Morris Iemma Indoor Sports Centre on Sunday evening.
Enfield got off to a dream start when Annalise Schiraldi banged one in in just the second minute, but that only stirred UTS into action as Daisy Arrowsmith, Emily Bastow and Genevieve Tucker responded with a triple treat that saw them lead 3-1 after 10 minutes of frantic action.
Yesim Uzunlar and a second Tucker strike pushed the visitors out to a 5-1 lead before Allstars managed a Zoe Zaczek goal just before halftime, Allstars ultimately unable to mount a serious second-half challenge to go down by four goals.
It was a ninth straight win for the northerners against Enfield and although UTS coach Danny Beauchamp was pleased with the performance, he urged his charges to play out a full game.“The girls dominated the first half and probably should’ve scored more,” he said, “We took the foot off the pedal in the second and need to be more ruthless in the final part of the court.”“Daisy Arrowsmith was a stand-out, along with Emily Bastow on her debut.”
Vipers sting Magic
Mascot Vipers scorched Valentine Sports Park with a fire-breathing 7-2 Sunday-night victory over defending champions Inner West Magic.
It was a testy first term but once Mascot got going it was ashes for Inner West – a result that evened the ledger over the past eight years to eight wins apiece and a draw.
A neck-and-neck opening period saw Magic appear near Vipers at 3-2 down, but the visitors turned on the afterburners to score the final four goals and seal a stunning victory, new Brazilian signing Marcella Mendez ripping the net four times in a jaw-dropping debut and Mariel Hecher also hitting the onion bag twice.
This reporter’s switchboard lit up as Mascot legend Zvi Ben David phoned in with the news…
“Fully, fully, fully deserved – we were brilliant!” the Vipers spokesman began.
“Mariel Hecher and [new signing] Marcella Mendez – the Brazilian combination was a force too much for Inner West, and they were very, very well aided by Natasha Aitken, Sienna Fraser and Stephanie Augoustis who played out of their skin… and nice, nice goals, beautiful goals…
“I trust them to enjoy this moment; they won’t be cocky over this because we only play to enjoy one game at a time. But today, we only care about today!”
On an individual level, Hecher’s double draws her within three of Inner West great Rhianna Pollicina’s 16 goals in this fixture, an amazing feat considering the Brazilian had to sit a year out after tearing her ACL before making a comeback in her first ever season of outdoor football with the Gold Coast Lions.
“We’ve always kept in touch with Mariel and I’ve always been happy for her to do what is right for her,” Ben David said.
“She is a wonderful person and deserves everything… but I had a lot of good juniors who needed guidance and I believed she was the perfect person for young people to aspire and look up to.
“I also have other players who have come back; and combine all of that there is a lot of harmony in the team… and a lot of beauty to the way they play.”
Inner West coach Matteo Maiorana dipped his hat to Mascot’s exhilarating performance, and he could only dismay his team’s sluggish display despite missing several big players from the line-up.
“We knew it was going to be tough, missing four key players (stalwart Tori Tumeth, Amy Dahdah, Biance Galic and Jen Bisset) was always going to make it difficult,” he said.
“Our defence was not up to our usual high standards – we weren’t on the same page and too many things were happening that we don’t normally do, and it hurt us.”
“Five of the goals we conceded came from our poor decisions – it was a very, very poor performance, nowhere near the high standards of what we did last season.
“But full credit to Vipers, they definitely deserved the victory – they were much better than us. They will be a force to be reckoned with, but I’m sure once we get everyone back we will be in the mix.”
Pollicina’s goal for Magic kept her glowing report card versus Mascot red-hot: she’s scored in each of the last seven meetings – a ridiculous 14 goals.
Next games
2019/20 Futsal Premier League round two Saturday action features Campbelltown Quake versus Mountain Magic at Minto Indoor Sports Centre (3.50pm), Boomerangs meet Inner West Magic at the AIS Training Halls (4.50pm), Eastern Suburbs Hakoah face UTS Northside at All Sorts Indoor Sports Centre (5.30pm), and Mascot Vipers play Enfield Allstars at Morris Iemma Indoor Sports Centre (6.50pm).
-By Dan De Nardi
