Round 2 Review – Futsal Premier League Open Women’s
2019/20 Futsal Premier League round two dished up an enticing array of results as Campbelltown Quake beat Mountain Majik 5-2, Inner West Magic outlasted Boomerangs FS 5-3, Eastern Suburbs Hakoah cast off UTS Northside 5-3, and Mascot Vipers blitzed Enfield Allstars 4-1.
Campbelltown Quake 5 (Claire Walsh 2, Melissa Walsh, Renee Rollason, Caitlin Orridge) Mountain Majik 2 (Bethany Gordon, Monique Holder)
Boomerangs 3 (Ashlyn Garrity, Bronte Pyke, Ellen Brown) Inner West Magic 5 (Doris Osman, Rhianna Pollicina 3, Ashleigh Palombi)
Eastern Suburbs Hakoah 5 (Tamires Souza 2, Lareane Bachega 2, ?) UTS Northside 3 (Emma Watkins 2, Hannah McNulty)
Mascot Vipers 4 (Marcella Santos, Natasha Aitken 3) Enfield Allstars 1 (Tiarne Schuman)
The results sent Mascot and Campbelltown clear on the points table with a long way to go.
A whopping 28 second-round goals is the second-highest scoring round in the past eight years yet none of the games were blowouts – will that set the tone for the rest of summer?
Campbelltown shades Mountain Majik
An experienced Campbelltown Quake proved too much for Mountain Majik to handle sealing a comfortable and controlled 5-2 Saturday-afternoon win over the lime-green outfit at Minto Sports Stadium.
Claire Walsh opened the scoring for the night with a back-post tap-in following a quick break from Linda Dudek, Walsh proving she’s one to watch this season netting a second tap-in with Renee Rollason this time the provider.
Young Quake custodian Brianna Clarke stood tall on numerous occasions to deny Majik weapons Bethany Gordon and Tara Pender in the opening 25 minutes to make sure Campbelltown hit the changerooms 2-0 up.
Olivia Sloan turned a hopeful long-ball into class futsal early in the second half as the 16-year-old produced a silky backheel for Melissa Walsh to finish off, but the Majik girls weren’t down and out and pulled one back through a quality Gordon act.
Toni Sharp wasn’t settling for a two-goal lead though and after pinching the ball at halfway slotted it to Rollason who made sure it wasn’t missing to put Campbelltown 4-1 up.
Dudek added another assistant to her tally allowing Caitlin Orridge to fire home from close distance, tireless Mountain worker Monique striking a beautiful consolation goal to make it 5-2 and fulltime.
Quake coach Mel Keith knows that to walk a mile you get there by putting one foot in front of the other.
“I’m impressed with the start,” she said. “The confidence and mature futsal the girls are playing… they’re baby steps but they are good ones.”
Majik coach Adam Barbera is also on the learning curve as had a full curriculum in this match.
“We were probably our worst own enemy in a very disappointing performance, however credit must go to a strong Quake side who were extremely disciplined and clinical to punish our mistakes,” he said.
“Much like last week we took a while to get into our groove and it’s still clear we have a mix of old and new players who are still learning to play together.
“Quake where extremely hard to break down [but] we then grew into the game and were able to get on the front-foot and create chances of our own,” said Barbera.
“The second half didn’t go to plan though as Quake deservedly extended their lead punishing more of our mistakes.
“We’ll take lessons from this game and I know all the girls are as disappointed as I am. We know what we need to work on, and also know we need to start picking up some points in such a tough competition.”
Inner West prevail in hard-fought win over Boomerangs FS
Inner West Magic were made to fight hard for a 5-3 win versus Boomerangs FS at the AIS Training Halls on Saturday afternoon.
An early 2-0 Magic lead was pulverised by halftime by a determined Boomerangs outfit who sensationally hit the front just minutes into the second half.
A patient Inner West tightened the screws and few a Rhianna Pollicina hat-trick that eventually pushed them ahead of the relentless Territorians.
Doris Osman and Ashleigh Palombi scored goals for Magic while Boomerangs penned Ashlyn Garrity, Bronte Pyke and Ellen Brown on the scoresheet.
Magic coach Matteo Maiorana was relieved to get points on the board and added to his side’s travelling credentials considering that’s now 10 unbeaten games on the road.
“A much improved performed,” he said. “[It was] an excellent comeback by Boomerangs [but] we remained calm and continued to dominate possession and chances created.”
“When Pollicina equalised via the penalty spot with 7 to go it was more of when not if Magic would score again.
“I was really happy with the improvement from last week – we looked a lot more like the team we have come to expect when our team takes the court.
“It was refreshing to see and, even when we went behind, we just continued to do what we do and earned a deserved three points.”
You need to throw a Thesaurus in a washing machine to come up with enough superlatives for superstar Pollicina.
She is simply the premier league benchmark over the past eight years with a scorching 87 goals casting an imposing shadow over nearest rivals and current team-mates Ceyda Cambaz (64) and Doris Osman (58), and with Dural’s Rachel Perrins (55) and Mountain’s Ashlie Crofts (47) out of the picture Mascot’s Caitlin Campbell (46) is the only opposition striker within half her total.
Pollicina’s triple is her eighth since 2012, two more than next best Crofts, although Vipers dagger Mariel Hecher has five in just three top-flight seasons. Campbell has a total of four.
Hakoah hedge Northside
Eastern Suburbs Hakoah prevailed 5-3 over UTS Northside in an entertaining Saturday-evening match-up at All Sorts Indoor Sports Centre.
Braces from Easts duo Tamires Souza and Lareane Bachega either side of halftime was ultimately the difference, though Emma Watkins bagged her own pair for Northside, Hakoah maintaining their 2-0 halftime buffer to the end for a two-goal win.
A fourth unbeaten league game for Easts might not sound overly exciting, but premier league is the big time and in the last eight years (eight teams per competition, 425 matches) only 20 times has a team remained undefeated for more than five straight runs – and Hakoah would be the first club to achieve it in their second year.
Easts next host a Boomerangs outfit that’s lost their last 12 matches outside of the capital.
Vipers sting Allstars
A Natasha Aitken hat-trick inside the opening 10-minutes set the tone for Mascot Vipers’ 4-1 win against Enfield Allstars at the Morris Iemma Indoor Centre on Saturday night to make it two-from-two in their new summer campaign.
Aitken was on fire as she ripped in second and fourth-minute strikes, notching a third six minutes later before a shell-shocked Enfield got on the board through Tiarne Schuman minutes before the break.
Allstars mounted a better challenge in the second half but a Marcella Santos retaliation gave Vipers a decisive three-goal difference at fulltime – enough to send Mascot to the top of the leaderboard for the first time since their 2016/17 premiership-championship double.
Next games
2019/20 Futsal Premier League round three Saturday action features UTS Northside against Mascot Vipers at PCYC Dee Why (4.50pm), Inner West Magic play Mountain Magic at Valentine Sports Park (5.20pm), Eastern Suburbs Hakoah face Boomerangs at All Sorts Indoor Sports Centre (5.30pm), and Enfield Allstars host Campbelltown Quake at Morris Iemma Indoor Sports Centre (6.50pm).
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