Round 8 Review – Futsal Premier League Open Women’s
2019/20 Women’s Futsal Premier League round-eight Saturday saw Campbelltown Quake beat Boomerangs FS 3-1, UTS Northside pip Enfield Allstars 1-0, Mountain Majik surged past Eastern Suburbs Hakoah 5-3, and Inner West Magic rolled Mascot Vipers 5-2.
It’s a real dogfight across the board with Campbelltown (18 points) now ahead of Mascot (18) on goal-difference and Inner West (15) just one win off the pace, while Northside (13), Easts (11), Mountain (9) and even Boomerangs (8) are all still in with a top-four shot.
Campbelltown Quake 3 (Linda Dudek 2, Renee Rollason) Boomerangs FS 1 (Michaela Day)
UTS Northside 1 (Alexia Guerinoni) Enfield Allstars 0
Eastern Suburbs Hakoah 3 (Anna Hermes Da Silva 2, Tamires Souza) Mountain Majik 5 (Nadia Nisbet 2, Monique Holder, Renee Tomkins, Bethany Gordon)
Mascot Vipers 2 (Stephanie Augoustis 2) Inner West Magic 5 (Rhianna Pollicina 3, Amy Dahdah, Ceyda Cambaz)
Campbelltown crack Boomerangs
Campbelltown Quake defeated Boomerangs FS 3-1 in a fast and tactical encounter at Minto Sports Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Both sides fired early shots after some high-tempo play, but both keepers were seemingly up for the challenge.
Boomerangs scored first with a run down the right and a little bit of space ended by a quality finish from Michaela Day put the ACT side ahead.
Linda Dudek evened the piece for Quake, picking up the ball from a quick counter and slotting it far-stick to make it 1-1.
Both sides canvassed more chances, Olivia Sloan and Kylie Ledbrook for Campbelltown and a deft one to Boomerangs that saw Antonia Sharp and Renee Rollason clear after an original save from keeper Bree Clarke.
The second half proved the difference for the home side as young starlet Caitlin Orridge came on and became the game breaker, setting up Dudek for goal number two.
Quake’s new-signing Ledbrook then showed her footballing quality, holding up a target-ball for an elusive back-heel to Rollason who made no mistake in burying the third and final goal.
The Territorians went fifth-man but the home side’s solid ability to absorb the extra player saw Campbelltown take home the biscuits.
Quake coach Mel Keith called it a well-rounded performance, but she was hungry for more.
“Linda Dudek is proving how pivotal she is to the squad and again Bree Clarke is proving she’s the best in the league,” she said.
“Canberra have certainly progressed since round one and I thought Michaela [Day] and Bronte [Pyke] were massive for them today.”
“This moves us to the top with Mascot, but it’s one thing to get there, it’s another to stay there. I hope we build on the good play we’ve been showing and start to convert all of our chances.”
Boomerangs coach Kristian Collins desired a more clinical effort from his side when they were on top.
“It’s a shame we didn’t put more on the board early when we completely dominated them, it could have been a very different result,” he said.
“I was happy with how the girls played. We’re getting better each week and, with the teams directly above us having to come to Canberra, an outside chance of finals is still a possibility for us.”
Northside edge Enfield
Enfield Allstars fought tooth-and-nail in a tough 0-1 loss to UTS Northside at PCYC Dee Why on Saturday evening.
The visitors were full of fire and brimstone in the first half, holding UTS scoreless and staying in the game at 0-0 at the break.
Even when Alexia Guerinoni finally put Northside ahead in the second term Allstars never gave up trying, but they couldn’t breach the UTS defence with the match finishing 1-0.
It was a 10th-straight win for Northside over Enfield, who haven’t scored in their last three league runs.
UTS coach Danny Beauchamp was full of praise for a determined Allstars outfit and acknowledged it may have been the perfect lead-in to a massive week for Northside.
“Credit to Enfield, they were super aggressive without the ball and made it very hard for us to play our normal game,” he said.
“We have a big week ahead with the Futsal Cup on Tuesday against ACT and then Hakoah on Saturday.”
Mountain down Easts
A brilliant second half saw Mountain Majik conquer Eastern Suburbs Hakoah 5-3 at All Sorts Indoor Sports Centre on Saturday evening.
It was all guns blazing in the first half as both sides traded goals for a 2-2 halftime scoreline, but it was Mountain who propelled themselves forward in the second term to finish two-goal victors despite key player Bethany Gordon receiving her marching orders.
Nadia Nisbet bagged a brace for Majik to complement strikes from team-mates Monique Holder, Renee Tomkins and Gordon, while Anna Hermes Da Silva (2) and Tamires Souza scored for Hakoah.
Easts are still to topple Mountain in four league tries.
Magic blitz Vipers
Inner West Magic played out of their skin to dismantle front-runners Mascot Vipers 5-2 at Morris Iemma Indoor Sports Centre on Saturday night.
A fourth-minute Ceyda Cambaz goal got the ball rolling for the visitors and Rhianna Pollicina doubled the lead less than 10 minutes later before Stephanie Augoustis returned fire for a depleted Mascot side to make it 2-1, a late Amy Dahdah goal giving Inner West a 3-1 break at the changeover.
It was back to a one-goal deficit within minutes of the restart as Augoustis banged in her second goal and the match was evenly poised until superstar Pollicina took it upon herself to net two goals in two minutes and settle the affair 5-2.
It was a second successive Vipers loss and allowed Campbelltown to nudge ahead of them on goal-difference.
On the other hand, Magic are back in the premiership hunt and Pollicina is so hot the planets are considering orbiting her instead of the sun!
A third summer hat-trick moved her to an unprecedented 99 goals scored in the last eight seasons – a mind-blowing 30 more than next-best Cambaz.
A tally of 16 goals this year is already the seventh-best summer return from any women’s player – and there’s still six games to go! [Ed: Ashlie Crofts holds the seasonal record with last year’s 24 goals that included five hat-tricks]
Inner West coach Matteo Maiorana didn’t mind it wasn’t a complete performance from his troops, what mattered more was moving to within one result of top spot.
“It was a scrappy game,” he said. “Vipers due to their lack of personnel sat very deep and made it very difficult for us to break them down.”
“We were also down on numbers but did what we had to do to get the job done. It was nothing beautiful, but it was three points nevertheless.”
Next games
2019/20 Women’s Futsal Premier League round-nine Saturday action features Campbelltown Quake versus Mountain Majik at Hawkesbury Indoor Stadium (2.20pm), Inner West Magic play Boomerangs FS at Valentine Sports Park (5.20pm), UTS Northside tackle Eastern Suburbs Hakoah at PCYC Dee Why (5.40pm), and Enfield Allstars face Mascot Vipers at Morris Iemma Indoor Sport
