West Canberra Lightning secured top spot and the title of League Champions as they secured an eighth win of the season with a 6-1 win over South Canberra Swift at Daramalan College.
The reigning champions stamped their statement of intent on the contest in a dominating opening twenty minutes in which they scored three times without reply, whilst the Swift managed only a Reilly Yuen flick that came off the post in their best moment of the half.
Madeliene Perceval opened the scoring in the sixth minute with her fourth goal of the season, before Brittany Palombi struck twice in the space of a couple of minutes, the second of which came from long range as Lightning built a creditable half-time lead.
Palombi started the second-half in the same vein, netting within a minute of the resumption, as Lightning increased their stranglehold, but Swift gave themselves a glimmer with an outstanding goal from Isabella Hindmarsh, the Swift star taking her tally to thirteenth of the season.
It took the Lightning less than a minute to respond, Nat Lacey throwing a perfectly weighted ball into the path of Palombi who blasted in her fourth. Jamie Berkeley calmly slotted the sixth late on to seal a championship-winning performance.
The race for the top four is reaching a critical juncture in the Women’s Capital Futsal League as the penultimate round of action left five teams chasing only four spots, and the make-up of the semi-finals still undecided heading into the final round.
North Canberra Fire secured a place in the CFL Semi-Finals as they rolled over Queanbeyan-Palerang Power, putting in a sold second-half display to take advantage of their beleaguered opponents, winning 17-0.
Fire had the game under control in the opening twenty minutes having scored four times to take a firm grip on the contest taking the lead through Ella Brown after only nine minutes, Brown sweeping home at the end of a fast move.
More was to come when Stella De Marco added the second three minutes later, before Fire was denied a third when Bessie Riethmuller saw her penalty, given for handball against Joselyn Ibarra, brilliantly saved by Power goalkeeper Maja Dodt.
Olivia Gurney struck twice in quick succession around the quarter-of-an-hour mark as Fire asserted their authority, but the finals-chasing North Canberra were frustrated in their search for more by some resolute defensive work from the team clad in pink and purple.
Goals flowed with regularity after the break including one from goalkeeper Jessica Giovinazzo with a long-range shot out of her hands. Gurney completed her hat-trick as did De Marco, whilst Ayla Robertson and Elke Aitolu also nabbed trebles as every player on the Fire team registered a goal.
ANU Apex took a giant leap towards a prospective Semi-Final place of their own as they defeated UC Stars 6-2 in the University derby on Saturday afternoon to leapfrog their opponents on the table ahead of the final round.
Apex might have scored after only eight seconds when Ailish McDonagh broke away and rounded Gabrielle O’Brien only for Becky Rizzo to clear off the line, only to concede after three minutes when Tayla Hampson struck from distance, an effort that surprised Sofia Chaverra.
The response was excellent though and when Charlotte Wren superbly turned her marker on halfway in the tenth minute, she was able to stride forward and create a simple finish for Roxie Swart to level the scores.
That sparked a turnaround in fortunes as ANU suddenly found their feet. Brianna Maguire swept her side in front with a first-time effort from a set-piece delivery, before McDonagh burst away from a couple of challenges and rounded O’Brien to find the net and put the Apex 3-1 up at the break.
A stunning second from McDonagh increased the lead to three, but that advantage lasted mere seconds as Emily Daniel reduced the arrears, but Apex finished strongly and goals from Swart and Fordyce-Croker sealed a massively important win.
RESULT
Fri: QP Power 0 North Canberra Fire 17 (Brown 9’, 34’, De Marco 12’, 34’, 40’, Gurney 15’, 17’, 36’, Tein 21’, Aitolu 23’, 30’, 32’, Riethmuller 28’, Robertson 29’, 35’, 40’, Giovinazzo 37’)
Sat: ANU Apex 6 (Swart 10’, 38’, Maguire 18’, McDonagh 20’, 25’, Fordyce-Croker 33’) UC Stars 2 (Hampson 3’, Daniel 25’)
Sun: West Canberra Lightning 6 (Perceval 6’, Palombi 10’, 12’, 21’, 28’, Berkeley 38’) South Canberra Swift 1 (Hindmarsh 27’)
TABLE
P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
1 | West Canberra Lightning | 9 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 92 | 13 | +79 | 24 |
2 | North Canberra Fire | 9 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 58 | 22 | +36 | 18 |
3 | South Canberra Swift | 9 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 90 | 29 | +61 | 15 |
4 | ANU Apex | 9 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 46 | 48 | -2 | 12 |
5 | UC Stars | 9 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 45 | 58 | -13 | 12 |
6 | QP Power | 9 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 4 | 165 | -161 | 0 |
TOP SCORERS
30 Reilly YUEN (Swift)
24 Brittany PALOMBI (Lightning)
18 Jamie BERKELEY (Lightning)
15 Isabella BARAC (Lightning)
13 Isabella HINDMARSH (Swift)
11 Tatum MAZIS (Lightning)
9 Emily ROBERTSON (Apex)
8 Sienna BIRNIE (Swift), Kaitlyn COLWILL (Swift), Stella DE MARCO (Fire), Sofia PALYWODA (Swift)
7 Ella PALFRAMAN (Stars), Bessie RIETHMULLER (Fire), Maddie STEINACKER (Stars)
6 Elke AITOLU (Fire), Emily DANIEL (Stars), Natalie DE MARCO (Fire), Edith FORDYCE-CROKER (Apex), Ayla ROBERTSON (Fire), Alexandra SERRAS (Apex)
5 Jennifer BISSET (Lightning), Ella BROWN (Fire), Sharon CHAO (Swift), Olivia GURNEY (Fire), Tayla HAMPSON (Stars), Jada LAMOND (Stars), Ailish MCDONAGH (Apex), Ginger OLIVER (Swift), Becky RIZZO (Stars), Pearl TEIN (Fire), Dianne WILSON (Lightning)
4 Sofia CHAVERRA (Apex), Grace DAVEY (Apex), Alyse JENSEN (Swift), Stefi LEJINS (Fire), Amy MCLACHLAN (Lightning), Madeliene PERCEVAL (Lightning), Samantha PRICE (Swift), Roxie SWART (Apex), Own GOALS
3 Brianna MAGUIRE (Apex), Eiza-Jane NORRIS (Stars), Nikita PERRY (Fire)
2 Cara CERUTI (Swift), Tallis EVERARD (Power), Jessica GIOVINAZZO (Fire), Pascale LA HEI (Apex), Jasmine NORTON (Power), Erika PENNYFIELD (Lightning)
1 Elke DUNN (Stars), Amalia EDEVANE (Apex), Charli GREGSON (Stars), Krista HAGEN (Lightning), Isabella HOPKINS (Apex), Samantha HOST (Lightning), Sheridan MCELLIGOTT (Apex), Emily PEARCE (Swift), Sabrina SPINAPOLICE (Stars), Ellie SUMMERS (Swift), Kate WALKER (Stars)