Round 3 Review – Futsal Premier League Open Women’s
2019/20 Women’s Futsal Premier League round-three saw Mascot Vipers beat UTS Northside, Inner West Magic down Mountain Majik, Campbelltown Quake defeat Enfield Allstars, while Eastern Suburbs Hakoah and Boomerangs FS played out an exciting 3-3 draw.
The results have Mascot and Campbelltown still unbeaten on top of the leaderboard (they meet in round six), with Inner West, Easts and Northside filling the next three places.
And if you’re sensing there’s something spicy about this summer, a whopping 6.3 goal game average is the highest of the past eight women’s comps and comes after last season’s low-point of 4.8 per game.
UTS Northside 1 (Yesim Uzunlar) Mascot Vipers 3 (Sienna Fraser 2, Natasha Aitken)
Inner West Magic 5 (Ceyda Cambaz 2, Amy Dahdah, Rhianna Pollicina, Gemma Gray) Mountain Majik 2 (Bethany Gordon, Tara Pender)
Eastern Suburbs Hakoah 3 (Caitlin Campbell, Tamires Souza 2) Boomerangs 3 (Elke Aitolu, Olivia Gurney, Bronte Pyke)
Enfield Allstars 1 (Gabrielle Sarkis) Campbelltown Quake 3 (Claire Walsh 3)
Mascot down Northside
Mascot Vipers continued their solid start to the summer with a convincing 3-1 win over UTS Northside at PCYC Dee Why on Saturday afternoon.
Sienna Fraser scored in both halves to propel Mascot forward and a follow-up strike from team-mate Natasha Aitken with 10 minutes to play made it 3-0, Yesim Uzunlar grabbing what would be a consolation goal for UTS with three minutes left.
Vipers coach Zvi Ben David congratulated his players but said it was far from a comfortable night out.
“We started the game very well and should have had the game wrapped up at halftime with many clear missed opportunities,” he said.
“The second half continued in the same fashion and we were able to extend the lead to 3-nil, however, one could NOT relax when [Yesim] Uzunlar from UTS is playing – she lifted her team to try and make it exciting.
“Mariel Hecher, Sienna Fraser, Marcella Santos and Natasha Aitken were outstanding for Vipers – next week is another week.”
Northside coach Danny Beauchamp credited Mascot on their performance and is positive his side can turn their fortunes around.
“Well done to Mascot who set the bar for the best team today,” he said. “We competed but are still a little bit off the pace. We will improve in coming weeks.”
Inner West break Mountain
A fire and brimstone Inner West Magic shook off Mountain Majik in a 5-2 result at Valentine Sports Park on Saturday evening.
The return of Bianca Galic and last season’s Goalkeeper of the Year Sophie Magus strengthened the Inner West line-up but Mountain rattled them early with a Beth Gordon goal.
Magic were on their game and a slick passing combination between Doris Osman and Rhianna Policina set up a back-post tap-in for Ceyda Cambaz, the same combination seeing Osman set up Cambaz for a close-range smash that catapulted Inner West in front 2-1.
Teenage sensation Gemma Gray added another before the break, and Pollicina and Amy Dahdah goals in the second consigned Tara Pender’s late strike for Majik to a consolation effort.
Mountain have now gone four straight league runs without a win – their worst run is five set in their debut 2013/14 season, while Inner West moved into third place on the ladder.
Magic coach Matteo Maiorana was pleased to see a familiar performance that had so far gone missing this summer.
“After a poor round one and an improved round two, round three saw Magic return to their slick passing game,” he said.
“We are getting there, it’s a process; We were virtually untouchable last season but this year we started slowly, and the competition is so tough.
“We deserved the round-one touch-up but that woke the team up a bit and since then we have gotten better and better,” said Maiorana.
“Last night was a performance which showed we are still improving. Mountain Majik are a strong side but I thought we deserved the win.”
Hakoah, Boomerangs draw
Eastern Suburbs Hakoah and Boomerangs FS put on a doozy for their first-ever senior premier league match-up with a classic 3-3 draw at All Sorts Indoor Sports Centre on Saturday evening.
Boomerangs bounded out of the blocks to rack up a healthy 3-0 lead by oranges on the back of Elke Aitolu, Olivia Gurney and Bronte Pyke goals, leaving a shell-shocked Easts still in the parking lot.
But Hakoah have been terrific value in their two top-flight summers and mounted an epic comeback, Tamires Souza scoring twice and then peppering the Boomerangs goal until Caitlin Campbell finally snuck one in with just seconds remaining to tie down a shared result.
It was a second draw for Easts in three rounds (they suffered two the whole of last summer) but still good enough to hold down fourth place on the ladder; Boomerangs however have now racked up 13 games on the road without a win.
Boomerangs coach Kristian Collins praise his troops for a solid effort that he believes will kickstart their summer.
“I’m happy with the performance from the girls,” he said. “We haven’t had a full side yet, and we are competing and dominating parts of games – 3-0 up yesterday gives us confidence that we can compete and compete well.”
“It was a real shame we couldn’t hang on in those final 25 seconds, [but] I feel like we are in a good place to launch our season now that we have become accustomed to the level of players in PL1.”
Campbelltown hold off Enfield
The winning streak for Campbelltown Quake rolled on following a 3-1 win over Enfield Allstars, Claire Walsh securing the win with a well-earned hat trick at Morris Iemma Indoor Sports Centre on Saturday night.
Walsh was an absolute warrior for Campbelltown and just as Gabrielle Sarkis had cancelled her 11th-minute strike to make it 1-1 at the changeover, the Quake veteran piled on two more second-half goals to complete her hat-trick and secure Campbelltown’s 3-1 victory.
Walsh leads all scorers in the competition with seven goals from the opening three weekends.
With the visitors missing Renee Rollason for the first time this season but regaining young Darcey Malone from her recent junior Matildas tour, the game started with successive Quake chances that Enfield custodian Olivia Riddel dealt with superbly saving consecutive one-on-ones.
Quake struck first, Malone skipping down the left flank and crossing to Walsh who rounded the keeper, but Enfield proved they weren’t going to give the game up easily and equalised through some good build-up play down the right and Sarkis tap-in at the back stick that left Campbelltown scratching their heads.
The second half saw a contingent of Quake half-chances that didn’t really put young Riddel out of her comfort zone, although it would be a forced middle-ball from the keeper that would change the game, an advancing Walsh pinching the ball and striking well to make it 2-1.
Allstars pushed for a fifth-man equaliser, bringing their keeper to halfway and running their luck with no reward, and an eventual loose ball freeing up Malone on a break up-court that became a neat cross for Walsh to tap-in the clincher.
Three on the trot is a triple treat for Campbelltown coach Mel Keith.
“It’s our first game where we weren’t cohesive the entire game, but it is a promising sign that we still got a positive result from this game,” she said.
“Again Claire [Walsh] was pivotal in finishing and it was great to have Darcey [Malone] back tonight as well.”
Next games
2019/20 Women’s Futsal Premier League round four Saturday action features Campbelltown Quake against Eastern Suburbs Hakoah at Minto Sports Stadium (3.50pm), Boomerangs welcome UTS Northside to the AIS Training Halls (4.50pm), Inner West Magic play Enfield Allstars at Valentine Sports Park (5.20pm), and Mascot Vipers tackle Mountain Majik at Morris Iemma Indoor Sports Centre (6.50pm).
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