Round 13 Review – Futsal Premier League Open Women’s
Women’s Futsal Premier League round-13 Saturday saw Campbelltown Quake whitewash Mascot Vipers 3-0, Mountain Majik beat Boomerangs FS 2-0, Inner West Magic defeat UTS Northside 4-1, and Eastern Suburbs Hakoah outdo Enfield Allstars 5-0.
The premiership will come down to an exciting winner-takes-all round-14 clash between top-two Inner West (27 points) and Easts (26), with Campbelltown (24) and Mascot (22) more than likely rounding out the top-four sides; Mountain (19) and Northside (19) can only hope Vipers lose big to Boomerangs next weekend to have any chance of sneaking into the finals.
And it’s hats off to all the players, officials and supporters of Inner West, who wrapped up the club championship with a week to spare.
If you count the first two NSW Futsal League competitions (pre-runners to premier league), it’s the 12th time the club has stamped their authority over everyone else in 15 seasons – they won the first four championships as Sydney Magic and then the next one as Inner West before Sydney City Eagles claimed the 2010/11 title (the only time Inner West didn’t finish top-two).
Inner West Magic chalked up the nxt four accolades, Mascot won in 2015/16, Magic the next year, Mountain Majik in 2017/18 and Inner West the last two times running.
It’s a magnificent achievement and deserved congratulations to everyone at the club.
Campbelltown Quake 3 (Melissa Walsh, Kylie Ledbrook, Renee Rollason) Mascot Vipers 0
Boomerangs FS 0 Mountain Majik 2 ()
Inner West Magic 4 (Bianca Galic 2, Ceyda Cambaz, Tori Tumeth) UTS Northside 1 (Daisy Arrowsmith)
Enfield Allstars 0 Eastern Suburbs Hakoah 5 (Tamires Souza 3, Jess Frampton, Caitlin Campbell)
Campbelltown cleansheet Mascot
Campbelltown Quake sealed a semi-final spot with a clinical 3-0 display against Mascot Vipers at Minto Sports Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The opening exchanges were on for both teams as Darcey Malone, Kylie Ledbrook, Linda Dudek and Renee Rollason all had early goal-attempts for the home side while Mascot’s Mariel Hecher, Emily Cos and Natasha Aiken kept Quake keeper Briana Clarke lively in goals.
Melissa Walsh struck first for Campbelltown leaving young Vipers custodian April Lewis little chance to stop the opening score.
Hecher had her own chance from the top of the D soon after but was denied by a fearless Clarke who smothered the ball and the incoming Brazilian to extinguish the opportunity.
The second half tempo remained the same as the first – fast and fierce with both teams knowing the importance of taking maximum points, and a corner-ball played to Dudek’s foot saw her slam it back-stick for a sneaky Ledbrook tap-in, a third goal in three games for the veteran round-ball player.
Mascot pushed hard trying to get on the scoreboard but Clarke was in phenomenal form to decide otherwise, her performance lifting her team-mates in defence as the Quake players put their bodies on the line to repel numerous Vipers opportunities.
Clarke was to be beaten once only for Rollason to deny on the line with an outstanding body-save and, after absorbing a flurry of Mascot pressure, Dudek broke away, played it to Ledbrook who squared the ball for Rollason to put the final nail in the coffin and seal a 3-zip victory and top-four spot for the girls from the south west.
Quake’s last match versus Northside next weekend could see them finish anywhere from second to fourth, but Mascot’s post-season attendance isn’t quite guaranteed as a shock final-round loss to Boomerangs could see Mountain or Northside shift above them if they register big wins.
According to official records, Dudek is the colour purple’s third-most prolific scorer – her 29 goals just behind Laura Donnelly (29) but short of Claire Walsh (43).
Campbelltown also registered an 18th point at Minto this summer – the most by a Quake side over the past eight seasons.
No wonder coach Mel Keith was ecstatic with the performance, but she urged her team to believe they’ve got it in them to earn one of their best-ever Christmas presents.
“We’ve achieved the goal of making finals football and now we have to dream bigger,” she said.
“The girls were outstanding today. I am so proud to see the weeks of hard work from them pay off in these hard games.”
“Bree Clarke was inspiring tonight and to see the girls put their bodies on the line in protecting her and the three points was heartwarming.”
Mountain hold off Boomerangs
Mountain Majik were methodical in a 2-0 win over Boomerangs FS at Q-One Indoor Sports Queanbeyan on Saturday afternoon, but in all probability will still fall agonisingly short of a playoff spot.
Trailing fourth-placed Vipers by three points, all Mountain can do is beat Enfield by as many as they can in the final round and hope Mascot slip up against Boomerangs.
Inner West down Northside
Inner West Magic were simply too good for UTS Northside winning 4-1 at Valentine Sports Park on Saturday afternoon to be in the premiership box-seat once again.
A fifth-minute Tori Tumeth goal was all that separated the two sides in a gritty first half as UTS gave as good as it got against a short-staffed Magic side, and the scoreline remained unchanged until the final 15 minutes of play.
The game’s opening chance fell to Northside’s Genevieve Tucker who’s double-attempt was well-saved by Sophie Magus in the Magic goal, and a few minutes later Inner West weapon Rhianna Pollicina also had a rasping shot stopped.
Tumeth then poked home a Ceyda Cambaz cutback and Magic were on the board, dominating the remainder of the half only to be denied by some sterling UTS defence.
Some excellent scrambling Magic defence and fine double Magus save midway through the second half kept the score at 1-0 but a Cambaz mistake saw Northside intercept and equalise through Daisy Arrowsmith.
Bianca Galic stepped up for Inner West to restore their tender advantage with 13 minutes left and, as UTS pressed hard, last-minute strikes from Galic and Cambaz sealed victory for the home side.
While Magic play for premiership glory against Hakoah next weekend (a draw will be good enough, but a loss will see Hakoah overtake them), Northside can only hope for a cheeky win over Campbelltown and pray Mascot capitulate to Boomerangs if they’re to make the finals.
Pollicina remains one goal short of Majik’s Ashleigh Croft’s record regular-season mark of 24 goals notched up last year. However [Ed: based a little on projections], the 4-1 result brought up Magic women’s 600th premier league goal.
Inner West coach Matteo Maiorana gave full credit to youngsters Ailish McDonagh, Olivia Schembri and 15-year-old Clare Holder who filled the bench with great aplomb.
“I’m so proud of my girls,” he said. “UTS have been a bit of a bogey side for us in the last few seasons; they are a tough team but our girls were excellent.”
“Mini [Pollicina] as per usual led the way, Cambaz the past few weeks has been back to her best, Galic is always brilliant and the return of Tumeth was an added bonus.”
“Soph [Magus] made some brilliant saves and our youngsters are just getting better and better with the experience.
“Our season was been a roller coaster and to be sitting first with a game to play is extraordinary,” Maiorana continued, “but we are starting to hit form at the right time.”
“Next week versus Hakoah for the premiership promises to be a great game with free fireworks… We’ve also got some extra ice bags and some spare physio’s in case there’s a repeat of last time [when Easts won 3-1],” he added cheekily.
UTS coach Danny Beauchamp said the result pretty much summed up their summer.
“The game was the story of the season,” he said. “We showed glimpses of passion and quality but then follow it up with frustration and poor execution.”
“We will look to finish the season on a high against Quake and then rebuild next year.”
Easts beat Enfield
Eastern Suburbs Hakoah ran out comfortable 5-0 winners over Enfield Allstars at Morris Iemma Indoor Sports Centre on Saturday night to set up a thrilling final-round premiership opportunity against Inner West.
But the clean-sheet result didn’t reflect the absolute tenacity and fortitude of an Enfield side that really has endured one of premier league’s harshest summers.
As good as Easts were, they didn’t get on board until the half-hour mark when Jess Frampton finally broke through followed swiftly by goalscoring machine Tamires Souza.
Talisman Caitlin Campbell made it 3-0 not long after and a quickfire Souza double near fulltime flattered the scoreline even more so.
Campbell needs one more goal to become the fifth player known to break through the half-century mark [Ed: missing data indicates at least another 6-8 players might’ve also achieved it], and a fifth-straight Easts road win is the joint-second best victorious away run from any team over the past eight years (Mascot notched up six in a row over the 2012/13-2013/14 summers).
Hakoah have now held Allstars scoreless the last three times they’ve met, while Souza has tallied seven goals in just two matches versus Enfield, netting four in last summer’s debut encounter.
Souza’s certainly made a quick and definite impact on Australia’s premier futsal competition with 32 goals in her first two NSW top-flight seasons (five more goals would put her in the top-10 scorers’ list over the past eight years).
To put her fiery start in perspective, it’s the highest average per season of any player by quite some way – Souza (16.0), Mariel Hecher (13.7), Rhianna Pollicina (13.3), Ashleigh Crofts (11.8), Rachel Perrins (9.2) and Ceyda Cambaz (9.1) – and she’s the only one not to have played finals futsal (yet) to add to her summer totals.
It all certainly adds up to a mesmerising showdown next week between highest-scoring average Souza versus league-legend Pollicina (106 goals) – buckle up!
Next games
2019/20 Women’s Futsal Premier League round-14 Saturday action features Mountain Majik take on Enfield Allstars at Valentine Sports Park (2.20pm), UTS Northside tackle Campbelltown Quake at PCYC Dee Why (4.50pm), Eastern Suburbs Hakoah play Inner West Magic at All Sorts Indoor Sports Centre (5.30pm), and Mascot Vipers face Boomerangs FS at Morris Iemma Indoor Sports Centre (6.50pm).
