The South Canberra Swift claimed revenge for their Grand Final defeat from last season, getting the better of North Canberra Fire, in a keenly contested clash on Sunday night at Daramalan College.
It was a less than ideal start for Swift however, as Bailey Sorenson opened the scoring for the Fire ten minutes into the encounter. That would be the only score of the half, as both teams defended well, with Elie Darwich picking up a yellow card in the 17th minute.
As would have been expected, both sides came out firing in the second half. North Fire started strongly as Sorenson got his second of the night two minutes into the second stanza.
South Swift came to life after that concession, scoring four unanswered goals in a strong performance.
Aisosa Ihegie got the ball rolling in the 25th minute as a perfectly weighted throw from Callum Cook was met by Ihegie right in front of thee Fire goal, and calmly headed past the keeper. Alen James levelled the score less than a minute later, scoring off the back of a well worked one-two passing move.
Marco Alessandro Pena Alcazar added a third for Swift, before Ihegie sealed the win late on with his second of the night, and swift’s fourth.
UC Stars kept their unbeaten start to the season going with a fourth straight win, getting the better of West Canberra Lightning in hotly contested game on the Friday night.
The highly billed encounter got off to an absolute flyer as Ben Basser-Silk opened the scores in the first minute of play, picking the ball up inside his own half before storming forward and finding the back of the net from range.
UC Stars responded instantly as Jake Wilsener levelled the score, with a first-time strike off of a corner. That kickstarted the game for the Stars as the side went on to score the next five goals.
Nick Dahl put the Stars in front, turning his defender to slot home in the bottom corner, and that was followed up by Nick Rathjen extending their lead, as the Stars sliced open the Lightning defence.
Two early second half goals, from Nick Pratezina and Robert Tkatchenko, gave the Stars a four-goal buffer, before Michael Rinaudo added one more to the tally to put the result out of reach.
Lightning did stage a brief comeback, as Nick Subasic and Daniel Fulton got on the scoresheet. It counted for little however, as a late goal from Jayde James-ward sealed a 7-3 win for the UC Stars.
Points were shared in the Saturday game between QP Power and ANU Apex, a thrilling six-all draw. QP got off to a flyer as Doug Woodiwiss opened the scoring in the first minute before new man Tony Spaseki doubled the lead shortly after.
ANU responded with three of their own as Connor Falusi, Kai Thornton, and Bailey Dickinson all found the back of the net, to round out a five-goal first half.
The second half was just as entertaining, with a further seven goals scored in the match.
Woodiwiss got his second of the night to level the scores early, before Dickinson put ANU back in front right after.
Score were once again levelled as Ed McCarthy got his first of the night, only for ANU to once again put themselves in front, this time through Bruno Melo.
McCarthy again levelled the scores before Marco Gayer added a sixth goal for QP in the closing stages.
With the result looking like a QP win, Kai Thornton stepped up to find the back of the net from range with seconds left on the clock, the match ending in a six-all draw.
RESULTS
UC Stars 7 (Wilsener 2’, Dahl 9’, Rathjen 12’, Pratezina 21’, Tkatchenko 23’, Rinaudo 25’, James-Ward 39’) West Canberra Lightning 3 (Basser-Silk 1’, Subasic 31’, Fulton 32’)
QP Power 6 (Woodiwiss 1’, 21’, Spaseski 5’, McCarthy 26’, 33’, Gayer 36’) ANU Apex 6 (Falusi 9’, Thornton 12’ 40’, Dickinson 13’, 22’, Melo 31’)
North Canberra Fire 2 (Sorenson 10’2, 22’) South Canberra Swift 4 (Ihegie 25’, 40’, James 25’, Pena Alcazar 30’)
TABLE
P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
1 | UC Stars | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 13 | +10 | 12 |
2 | South Canberra Swift | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 9 | +9 | 9 |
3 | QP Power | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 23 | 13 | +10 | 4 |
4 | West Canberra Lightning | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 18 | 22 | -4 | 4 |
5 | ANU Apex | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 17 | 27 | -1- | 1 |
6 | North Canberra Fire | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 24 | -15 | 1 |
TOP SCORERS
6 Doug WOODIWISS (Power)
5 Bailey SORENSON (Fire), Daniel FULTON (Lightning), Marco GAYER (Power), Nicholas DAHL (Stars), Nicholas SUBASIC (Lightning)
4 Adam NEOU (Power), Aisosa IHEGIE (Swift), Edward MCCARTHY (Power), Jayde JAMES-WARD (Stars), Johnny HAJDU (Stars)
3 Nathen MEGIC (Lightning), Marco Alessandro Pena ALCAZAR (Swift), Luca MACOR (Stars), Lucas ALCAZAR-STEVENS (Swift), Robert TKATCHENKO (Stars)
2 Nik POPOVICH (Lightning), Angus PITKIN (Swift), Ben BASSER-SILK (Lightning), Bailey DICKINSON (Apex), Bradley MALONE (Fire), Fernando Javier Urzua JORQUERA (Swift), Nicholas PRATEZINA (Stars), Jake WILSENER (Stars), Nick RATHJEN (Stars), Connor FALUSI (Apex), Jake FITZGERALD (Apex), Kai THORNTON (Apex),
1 Ashley BLOUNT (Lightning), Elliot SANTOS (Fire), Caleb CULLEN-RUA (Power), Micheal ADAMS (Swift), Marley JACKSON (Power), Alen JAMES (Swift), Braulio MELO (Apex), Bruno MELO (Apex), Elie DARWICH (Fire), Jeremy SALEH (Power), Johnny PHAM (Swift), Michael RINAUDO (Stars), Sherab GUP-YUTHOK (Apex), Tony SPASESKI (Power), William MANALO (Stars)