ANU Apex secured their Capital Futsal League semi-final spot coming from 0-2 down to win 13-3 thanks to a second half goal blitz that saw them net six times in a three minute spell to finally down the brave Queanbeyan-Palerang Power resistance.
The Apex will now face the prospect of playing the league champions South Canberra Swift in the last four, aiming for a sense of redemption after losing on successive nights to the Swift earlier in the campaign.
After Caleb Cullen-Rua and Geordie Freeman had struck for the Power, Apex took control and a double from Luke Stevens, added to by a Ryan De Vries goal had ANU ahead by the half-time break.
The second half saw the Apex pull away as Steven completed his treble, before the goals began to flow. Bruno and Braulio Melo both got two, as did Jake Fitzgerald, in a brutal spell that pushed the game out of Power’s reach. Late goals from Kai Thornton and Joe Mermingis, his first for the club, iced the cake.
A magnificent four-goal haul from Jayde James-Ward ensured the UC Stars finished fifth on the table, but agonisingly missed out on the semi-finals despite completing the double over the West Canberra Lightning with victory by the odd goal in seven.
James-Ward was in superlative form and had his team two to the good after only eleven minutes, but the Lightning, who will end the season in third place, hit back and were in front by the break.
Two goals within seconds of each other from Jason Farrell and Michael Nolan drew the teams all square, before Daniel Fulton’s eighth of the season had the Lightning ahead in the 24th minute.
But James-Ward was the star of the show in the second half, levelling the scores with his hat-trick goal and winning it in the final minute with his fourth, taking his goal tally to nine in just three matches.
The top two, safe in the knowledge that they have their semi-final ticket well and truly punched, played out an enthralling encounter to complete the men’s CFL regular season with the South Canberra Swift underlying their credentials with a dominant 7-3 success.
Played at a blistering pace, the Fire took the lead early when Elie Darwich collected a long throw from Wilson Howden to finish adroitly past Joshua Freeman, who was otherwise in exceptional form.
The Swift are top dogs for a reason however and struck back when Jackson Paesler reacted quickest to his original shot being saved by Howden to bury a finish into the top corner of the net.
And South Canberra hit the front moments later when a superb team move ended with Sebastian Ospina tapping into the empty net to put the Swift ahead at the half-time interval.
But, it was the second half that saw the Swift take charge as an Alen James double, and further goals from Ospina and Paesler saw the gap widen. Ospina added the sixth before Paesler completed his treble as the Swift exerted their stranglehold on proceedings. A late double from Riley Brown was mere consolation for the Fire.
MEN
Friday 3 February
Queanbeyan-Palerang Power 3 (Cullen-Rua 2′, Freeman 9′, 31′) ANU Apex 13 (Stevens 10′, 12′, 25′, De Vries 19′, Bruno Melo 28′, 30′, Braulio Melo 28′ , 32′, Fitzgerald 28′, 31′, Thornton 34′, Ceruti 37′, Mermingis 39′)
Saturday 4 February
West Canberra Lightning 3 (Nolan 16’, Farrell 16’, Fulton 24’) UC Stars 4 (James-Ward 8’, 11’, 33’, 40’)
Sunday 5 February
North Canberra Fire 3 (Darwich 9’, Brown 38’, 39’) South Canberra Swift 7 (Paesler 16’, 28’, 37’, Ospina 18’, 34’, James 25’, 32’)
TABLE
| TEAM | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | PTS | |
| 1 | Swift | 10 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 84 | 40 | +44 | 27 |
| 2 | Fire | 10 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 80 | 47 | +33 | 19 |
| 3 | Lightning | 10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 50 | 30 | +20 | 17 |
| 4 | Apex | 10 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 60 | 71 | -11 | 9 |
| 5 | Stars | 10 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 51 | 70 | -19 | 8 |
| 6 | Power | 10 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 34 | 101 | -67 | 5 |
LEADING SCORERS
22 Maxx GREEN (Fire)
15 Alen JAMES (Swift)
14 Jackson PAESLER (Swift)
13 Luke STEVENS (Apex)
12 Lucas ALCAZAR-STEVENS (Swift), Edward MCCARTHY (Swift), Samuel THOMSON (Fire)
10 Luca FLOREZ (Fire), Juan Sebastian OSPINA (Swift)
9 Jayde JAMES-WARD (Stars), Patrick SHORE (Apex), Nicholas SUBASIC (Lightning)
8 Riley BROWN (Fire), Daniel FULTON (Lightning)
7 Jake FITZGERALD (Apex), Johnny HAJDU (Stars), Blaise VLAZLOVSKI (Apex), Own GOALS
6 Hassan ALNUWAYSIR (Power), Michael ADAMS (Swift), Marco GAYER (Power), Brandon HAWKER (Fire), Bailey SORENSON (Fire), Kai THORNTON (Apex)
5 Vinnie BRASIL (Stars), Alistair DAVIS (Fire), Brett FORWARD (Lightning), Sherab GUO (Stars), Clyde HOLO (Stars), Phakedi MANDA (Swift), Brad MALONE (Fire), Michael NOLAN (Lightning), Michael SYDNEY (Lightning)
4 Ashley BLOUNT (Lightning), Jenno CERUTI (Apex), Elie DARWICH (Fire), Braulio MELO (Apex), Bruno MELO (Apex), Michael MOSCARITOLO (Stars), Daniel ROBERTS (Swift), James WILSON (Power)
3 Ben BASSER-SILK (Lightning), Arnold CHOI (Power), Jason FARRELL (Lighting), David JENKINS (Power), Marko RATHOUSKI (Stars), Michael RINAUDO (Stars)
2 Andrew AITCHISON (Stars), Julian BRITTON (Apex), Sam CARTERS (Lightning), Caleb CULLEN-RUA (Power), Ryan DE VRIES (Apex), Connor FALUSI (Stars), Geordie FREEMAN (Power), Lachlan HARRINGTON (Stars), Hamed JADEER (Stars), Vanh NGUYEN (Swift), Sam ROESTBAKKEN (Power), Will SHEPPARD (Lightning)
1 Michael CAHILL (Power), Nic DAHL (Swift), Grant DAVOREN (Lightning), Daniel FELIZZI (Power), Marco GAYER (Power), Mahmoud HALAWANI (Power), Joe MERMINGIS (Apex), Robert MCKAY (Fire), Zach PRITCHARD (Stars), Martin SANTOS (Power), Jordan SELEMS (Power), Robert TKATCHENKO (Swift), Herbert YEUNG (Apex)
