North Canberra Fire moved to the top of the CFL Women League table with a narrow 6-4 win over previous leaders South Canberra Swift in a match played on a shortened court at the Canberra Futsal Centre in Fadden.
The Fire were able to keep Swift at arm’s length for most of the encounter after taking an early led when Reilly Yuen tapped in at the back post after a slick Fire set-piece routine was pulled off to perfection. It was from this route that they doubled the lead, Tatum Mazis teeing up Ayla Robertson to blast home.
Swift responded immediately, Sofia Palywoda slotting home at the end of a quick-fire break, but Yuen grabbed a second to have Fire 3-1 up at the half-time break. That lead was reduced when Sienna Birnie scored the first of what would be a second successive hat-trick, the latter two coming in the final ten minutes.
Unfortunately for Swift, a pair of bizarre own goals had taken the match away from them, goalkeeper Megan Snell getting a faint touch to a long Jess Giovinazzo throw, before Samanatha Price saw a ball ricochet off her back and trickle over the line in apologetic fashion. Sharon Chao’s strike close to full-time ended any hopes of a Swift comeback.
A spate four goals in three minutes helped ANU Apex to a 7-1 win over Queanbeyan-Palerang Power, a deserved win, but the final score harsh on the vanquished outfit.
Apex hit the front in the eighth minute as Tina Gopalan, off the bench, turned with her first touch and struck a shot at goal that Maja Dodt could only palm onto the post on its way into the net.
Power was well structured in defence and equalised in tremendous fashion as Casey Smith spotted Sofia Chaverra wandering off her goal-line and chipped a magnificent finish from long range over the retreating goalkeeper and into the net for a top-class strike.
But it was Apex who led at the break, Alexandra Nealand rammed a shot at goal that cannoned down off the underside of the bar, where Sheridan McElligott reacted fastest to volley home from close in.
The game was very much in the balance until the half-hour mark when the Apex suddenly sprung the lock and scored with regularity as Briana Maguire scored, Nealand bagged a brace, with Lucy D’Arcy and Sophia Bissell adding the gloss to the score which was harsh on the Power.
West Canberra Lightning had a welcome return to form as they swamped UC Stars to win 11-1 and claim a first victory of the season, Jamie Berkeley finding a hat-trick amongst the big victory.
Berkeley netted three in the first-half as then Lightning found their grove following one point from the opening two matches, scoring twice in the first six minutes, either side of a goal from Isabella Barac.
Brittany Palombi bagged her fifth of the season to add to the takt whilst Michaela Thornton and Berkeley added others as the Lightning had half-a-dozen by the time the hooter sounded at the break.
After the interval it was a closer affair for a while, but Dianne Wilson suddenly sprung to life with a double in quick succession, before Emily Robertson pulled one back with a composed finish when one-on-one. Lightning though upped the tempo again and a brace of unfortunate own goals followed, Thornton rounding out the scoring late on.
RESULTS
North Canberra Fire 6 (Yuen 5’, 20’, Robertson 17’, Snell (og) 22’, Price (og) 33’, Chao 39’) South Canberra Swift 4 (Palywoda 17’, Birnie 20’, 31’, 39’)
QP Power 1 (C. Smith 14’) ANU Apex 7 (Gopalan 8’, McElligott 15’, Maguire 30’, Nealand 31’, 33’, D’Arcy 33’, Bissell 37’)
UC Stars 1 (Robertson 25’) West Canberra Lightning 11 (Berkeley 3’, 6’, 17’, Barac 5’, Palombi 15’, Thornton 17’, 36’, Wilson 24’, 24’, McPherson 31’ (og), Norris 36’ (og))
TABLE
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | North Canberra Fire | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 32 | 12 | +20 | 9 |
| 2 | South Canberra Swift | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 22 | 16 | +6 | 7 |
| 3 | UC Stars | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 15 | 20 | -5 | 6 |
| 4 | West Canberra Lightning | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 21 | 13 | +8 | 4 |
| 5 | ANU Apex | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 13 | -1 | 3 |
| 6 | QP Power | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 33 | -28 | 0 |
TOP SCORERS
10: Reilly YUEN (Fire)
9: Sienna BIRNIE (Swift)
5: Brittany PALOMBI (Lightning), Ayla ROBERTSON (Fire), Own GOALS
4: Isabella BARAC (Lightning), Jamie BERKELEY (Lightning), Megan CASTLE (Stars), Tatum MAZIS (Fire)
3: Sharon CHAO (Fire), Anneke CORRY (Swift), Natalie DE MARCO (Fire), Rhianna GOLDSTEIN (Stars)
2: Eliza BAKER (Apex), Stella DE MARCO (Fire), Edith FORDYCE-CROKER (Apex), Zoe HALPIN (Swift), Sheridan MCELLIGOTT (Apex), Alexandra NEALAND (Apex), Jasmine RICHARDS (Fire), Becy RIZZO (Stars), Emily ROBERTSON (Stars), Casey SMITH (Power), Michaela THORNTON (Lightning), Dannielle WALTMAN (Power), Dianne WILSON (Lightning), Nadia ZAKMAN (Lightning)
1: Sophia BISSELL (Apex), Amy BONGIORNO (Stars), Cara CERUTI (Swift), Kaitlyn COLWILL (Swift), Lucy D’ARCY (Apex), Tina GOPALAN (Apex), Lauren HALL (Swift), Isabella HINDAMRSH (Swift), Alyse JENSEN (Swift), Briana MAGUIRE (Apex), Holly MCPHERSON (Stars), Jessica MITCHELL (Stars), Eliza-Jane NORRIS (Stars), Ginger OLIVER (Fire), Sofia PALYWODA (Swift), Samantha PRICE (Swift), Zoe WILSON (Power)
