ANU Apex claimed a second Capital Futsal League win of the season as they did the double over Queanbeyan-Palerang Power with a convincing 8-1 win in the Friday night fixture at Daramalan College.

A brace of goals within thirty seconds of each other from the livewire Sheridan McElligott gave the Apex the perfect start to the match, a 2-0 lead by the third minute mark and, when Shayma Taweel squeezed home the third from close range two minutes later, the writing appeared on the wall for the Power.

However, there is plenty of determination in this Power team and Lauren Quach showed her versatility by breaking to reduce the arrears, but that only kick-started the Apex back into action and a breathtaking hit from Grace Davey restored the three-goal cushion.

Further efforts from Alexandra Serras, and a Holly McPherson own goal virtually sealed the points before half-time, as Apex led 6-1 at the break. A brilliant defensive display from the Power restricted the Apex in the second stanza to solitary goals from McElligott and Serras to round off the victory.

North Canberra Fire rewrote the CFL record books in their catch-up match with Queanbeyan-Palerang Power, hammering the hapless Power 26-0 with five goals apiece from Maya Osmond and Bessie Riethmuller.

The Power, playing their second match in two days, held out until the eleventh minute, after which the dam broke and the floodgates opened with the Fire scoring at regular intervals and sharing the goals around.

Nine different players were on the scoresheet for the rampant Fire, their cause abetted by a  brace of own goals from Power’s Justine Armstrong and goalkeeper Tanya Joveski, the latter enjoying a fine match despite shipping the record equalling number of goals.

Alissa Barbour netted her first goals of the season, grabbing a hat-trick, a feat replicated by Nikita Perry, whilst Jada Lamond also celebrated her first strikes at this level with two of her own. Stella De Marco moved onto double figures for the year with her own brace as the Fire simply ran riot.

West Canberra Lightning ended the season with a perfect ten from ten record as they defeated second placed UC Stars 5-1 in an exciting match to round off the Saturday evening action.

Brittany Palombi collected a treble, and there were two goals from Jennifer Bisset, as the duo both moved onto seventeen goals for the season. The Stars managed a riposte from Becky Rizzo but were largely outplayed for most of the encounter.

Palombi had the Lightning in front in the first minutes, swiftly followed onto the scoreboard by Bisset and the former had racked up three by the half-time interval. The second half was much more even as Rizzo pulled one back, but Bisset rounded out the unbeaten year with nine minutes to play.

In the final match of the regular season, the North Canberra Fire cemented second place on the table ahead of the finals with a 4-1 victory over South Canberra Swift, a result that will continue their momentum build ahead of the last four challenge of the UC Stars.

A brace from Stella De Marco was the difference in a tight first half as the Fire led 2-0 at the break. Her first was the product of an old-school goalmouth scramble, a combination of Stella and Natale De Marco forcing the ball over the goal-line from close range despite the best efforts of the Swift defence.

Stella De Marco’s second came when Nicole Jalocha intercepted a stray ball and squared for De Marco to take a touch and slide home under pressure, a finish that put a bit of daylight between the sides.

And it was the younger De Marco who was to the fore again in the second half, scoring twice again to end the night with four goals and fourteen for the season.

WOMEN

Friday 3 February

Queanbeyan-Palerang Power 1 (Quach 10’) ANU Apex 8 (McElligott 3’, 3’, 33’, Taweel 5’, Davey 13’, McPherson 18’ (og), Serras 19’, 37’)

Saturday 4 February

Queanbeyan-Palerang Power 0 North Canberra Fire 26 (Barbour 9’, 16’, 34’, Burridge 9’, 34’, Lamond 10’, 37’, Jalocha 11’, N. De Marco 12’, Riethmuller 18’, 29’, 30’, 35’, 40’, Osmond 20’, 20’, 20’, 29’, 32’, Perry 21’, 32’, 39’, S. De Marco 22’, 24’, Armstrong 28’ (og), Joveski 35’ (og))

West Canberra Lightning 5 (Palombi 1, 10’, 11, Bisset 3’, 31’) UC Stars 1 (Rizzo 28’)

Sunday 5 February

North Canberra Fire 4 (S. De Marco 3’, 13’, 30’, 33’) South Canberra Swift 1 (Price 39’)

TABLE

	TEAM	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	Lightning	10	10	0	0	77	10	+67	30
2	Fire	10	7	1	2	69	42	+47	22
3	Stars	10	6	1	3	53	29	+24	19
4	Swift	10	4	0	6	44	35	+9	12
5	Apex	10	2	0	8	33	54	-21	6
6	Power	10	0	0	10	14	140	-126	0

 

LEADING SCORERS

17 Jennifer BISSET (Lightning), Brittany PALOMBI (Lightning)

16 Bessie RIETHMULLER (Fire)

14 Stella DE MARCO (Fire)

12 Reilly YUEN (Stars)

10 Stella DE MARCO (Fire), Own GOALS

9 Sheridan MCELLIGOTT (Apex), Amy MCLACHLAN (Lightning), Becky RIZZO (Stars)

8 Rebecca KITING (Lightning), Roxie SWART (Apex)

7 Natalie DE MARCO (Fire), Sofia PALYWODA (Swift), Nikita PERRY (Fire)

6 Cara CERUTI (Swift), Emily DANIEL (Stars), Krista HAGEN (Lightning), Nicole JALOCHA (Fire), Eliza-Jane NORRIS (Stars), Maya OSMOND (Fire), Alexandra SERRAS (Apex)

5 Tayla HAMPSON (Stars), Samantha PRICE (Swift), Sabrina TOUFEXIS (Swift), Mikayla VAN DEYK (Stars), Dianne WILSON (Lightning)

4 Justine ARMSTRONG (Power), Talia BACKHOUSE (Swift), Jamie BERKELEY (Lightning), Ginger OLIVER (Swift), Madeleine STEINACKER (Stars)

3 Alissa BARBOUR (Fire), Tia BURRIDGE (Fire), Maia CAMERON (Power), Kaitlyn COLWILL (Swift), Grace DAVEY (Apex), Isabella HINDMARSH (Swift), Renee KITE (Power), Lauren QUACH (Power), Kate WALKER (Stars)

2 Leah CARNEGIE (Swift), Jada LAMOND (Fire), Cassia MCGLASHAN (Stars), Shayma TAWEEL (Apex)

1 Elke AITOLU (Fire), Phoebe FRASER (Apex), Emily JENSEN (Apex), Sally KISS (Power), Stefi LEJINS (Fire), Holly MCPHERSON (Power), Karen MILEWSKA (Apex), Clare MOLONY (Apex), Erika PENNYFIELD (Lightning), Michaela THORNTON (Fire)