UC Stars will meet West Canberra Lightning in the Capital Futsal League Men’s Grand Final following a weekend of drama in the semi-finals as Stars saw off the Queanbeyan-Palerang Power and Lightning upset South Canberra Swift.
West Canberra Lightning made their way to a maiden CFL Grand Final as they defeated South Canberra Swift in a match of unrelenting intensity at Daramalan College, seeing five-goal and three-goal leads evaporate before eventually running out 8-6 winners.
Lightning got off to the perfect start as they took the lead after only four minutes of action through a wonderfully improvised goal by Stephen Domenici. The ace goal-getter found some space on the left flank and wrong-footed Callum Cook in the Swift goal with a deft strike to open the scoring.
The goals flowed in quick succession after the deadlock was broken as Nicholas Subasic slid in a stunning second after Ben Basser-Silk won a tackle ion halfway, and Daniel Fulton scored at the second attempt, volleying home from close range after Fernando blocked his initial effort.
Fulton added his second with a sensational free-kick from range, the shot kissing the underside of the crossbar on the way in, and it was five moments later as Callum Smith struck from halfway, Basser-Silk jumping over the strike to deceive Cook.
Swift though were to regroup and suddenly flipped a switch to make a game of it and it began with a superb goal from Atiya Waraga who hit a first-time effort into the top corner. Fernando was next, scoring a penalty after being fouled by Benjamin Southam.
Momentum had swung in their favour and the impressive Fernando got on the end of a long ball that goalkeeper Southam misjudged to ram home from close range. Waraga was then able to tee up Lucas Alcazar-Stevens, at the end of a slaloming run, to score with his knee and reduce the gap to one at the break.
Incredibly, the match was to pendulum back towards Lightning at the commencement of the second-half with a brace of goals within quick succession. Fulton grabbed the first, completing his hat-trick with a thumping drive, and Smith was to make it seven, tapping in at the far post to increase the lead to three.
But Swift would not lie down and hit back through Waraga who netted two quickfire goals, the first from an Alcazar-Stevens corner and then getting on the end of some unbelievable approach work from Fernando. However, Lightning was to seal it in dramatic fashion as Basser-Silk sent them to the Final.
UC Stars joined the Lightning in the big dance after they convincingly saw off the challenge of Queanbeyan-Palerang Power in the second men’s Semi-Final claiming a 11-3 success with a dominant and comprehensive display.
The League Champions were on the front foot from the outset, establishing a two-goal lead by as early as the fifth minute of the match, as Jayde James-Ward drilled in the first from mid-court, before Will Manolo added a second, slotting home between a crowd of players to double the lead.
And it got better for the Stars two minutes later as they went three-up. James-Ward placed a pass in behind the Power defence which allowed Michael Rinaudo to shape his body and place a perfectly executed finish beyond Joshua Freeman and into the far corner.
Nick Pratezina stretched to reach a Rinaudo through ball to sweep home a fourth midway though the opening stanza, and when James-Ward was upended in the area Manolo lashed home the resultant penalty for the fifth and a dominant half-time lead.
Power needed something to grab a toehold and it was provided by Ed McCarthy who finished in emphatic style off the post and bar, but the Stars roared back onto the offensive and Rinaudo blasted home the sixth, quickly followed by an unfortunate own goal from Caleb Cullen-Rua.
The goals continued to flow for the rampant Stars as Rinaudo and Rathjen added to the increasing tally prompting a response from the Power who netted via a superb solo effort rom Deylan Deep-Jones who then turned provider, finding Adrian Dawson in front of goal who stabbed in the third.
Underlining their supercity Stars struck again to bring up double-figures as James Ward coolly got his second, and Rathjen netted from deep in his own half, to round out their victory.
RESULTS
SEMI-FINALS
South Canberra Swift 6 (Waraga 12’, 31’, 34’, Fernando 16’ (p), 19’, Alcazar-Stevens 20’) West Canberra Lightning 8 (Domenici 4’, Subasic 7’, Fulton 8’, 9’, 23’, Smith 11’, 24’, Basser-Silk 38’)
UC Stars 11 (James-Ward 4’, 36’, Manolo 5’, 14’ (p), Rinaudo 7’, 23’, 28’, Pratezina 10’, Cullen-Rua 24’ (og), Rathjen 29’, 40’) Queanbeyan-Palerang Power 3 (McCarthy 23’, Deep-Jones 30’, Dawson 32’)
TABLE
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | UC Stars | 10 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 79 | 30 | +49 | 28 |
| 2 | South Canberra Swift | 10 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 51 | 44 | +7 | 21 |
| 3 | West Canberra Lightning | 10 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 58 | 56 | +2 | 14 |
| 4 | QP Power | 10 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 53 | 53 | 0 | 10 |
| 5 | North Canberra Fire | 10 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 29 | 56 | -27 | 10 |
| 6 | ANU Apex | 10 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 41 | 72 | -31 | 4 |
TOP SCORERS
17 Jayde JAMES-WARD (Stars)
16 Nick PRATEZINA (Stars)
14 Michael RINAUDO (Stars), Nicholas SUBASIC (Lightning)
13 Johnny HAJDU (Apex)
12 Luca MACOR (Stars),
11 Marco GAYER (Power)
10 Ben BASSER-SILK (Lightning), Nic DAHL (Stars), FERNANDO Jorquera (Swift), Daniel FULTON (Lightning), Ed MCCARTHY (Power)
9 Alessandro PENA (Swift), Nick RATHJEN (Stars), Own GOALS
8 Lucas ALCAZAR-STEVENS (Swift), Elie DARWICH (Fire), Stephen DOMENICI (Lightning), Doug WOODIWISS (Power), Atiya WARAGA (Swift)
7 Ashley BLOUNT (Lightning)
6 Bailey SORENSON (Fire)
5 Aisosa IHEGIE (Swift), Nathen MEGIC (Lightning), Tony SPASESKI (Power)
4 Hassan ALNUWAYSIR (Swift), Adrian DAWSON (Power), Connor FALUSI (Apex), Jake FITZGERALD (Apex), Marley JACKSON (Power), Bradley MALONE (Fire), William MANOLO (Stars), Braulio MELO (Apex), Bruno MELO (Apex), Adam NEOU (Power), Callum SMITH (Lightning), Robert TKATCHENKO (Stars)
3 Dylan DEEP-JONES (Power), Bailey DICKINSON (Apex), Toby MCPHERSON (Fire), Jake WILSENER (Stars)
2 Elliot ALBERTO (Fire), Caleb CULLEN-RUA (Power), Daniel GIOVINAZZO (Lightning), Brandon HAWKER (Fire), Angus PITKIN (Swift), Nik POPOVICH (Lightning), Jeremy SALEH (Power), David SESELJA (Swift), Michael SOUTHAM (Lightning), Kai THORNTON (Apex), Max TRUSHELL (Apex)
1 Micheal ADAMS (Swift), Jenno CERUTI (Apex), Arnold CHOI (Power), Ryan DE VRIES (Apex), Jason FARRELL (Lightning), Sherab GUO (Apex), Alan KAPCHANGA (Power), Chris LEE (Lightning), Robert MCKAY (Fire), Van NGUYEN (Swift), Johnny PHAM (Swift), Leon THOMSON-SENANAYAKE (Fire)
