West Canberra Lightning will meet South Canberra Swift in the Women’s Capital Futsal League Grand Final following wins over ANU Apex and North Canberra Fire in their respective semi-final matches.
South Canberra Swift defeated North Canberra Fire on penalties to move onto the Grand Final, goalkeeper Ellie Summers saving twice to ensure Swift won the match 3-1 on penalties after a pulsating 2-2 draw.
As befits a match between the teams that ended the regular season in second and third respectively, both Fire and Swift were cagey in the opening stages, the best chance seeing Pearl Tein of Fire strike the base of the post in the eighth minute.
Swift stopper Summers made a trio of fine saves notably a very good stop to deny Nikita Perry who tried her luck from the angle out on the Fire’s left flank. Up the other end Jessica Giovinazzo was largely untroubled up until the drinks break, inserted due to the extreme heat in the Daramalan College arena.
The deadlock was broken after thirteen minutes as Swift went ahead though a counterattack strike. Reilly Yuen led the break and found Sienna Birnie who deceived Giovinazzo with a near-post finish.
Seconds later Fire was level as Ayla Robertson played a pass into Ella Brown whose effort was magnificently placed into the top corner to level the ledger. It was Swift who regained the lead though as Samanatha Price deflected a back-heel at goal that hit Natalie De Marco and trickled in past the stricken Giovinazzo.
Swift started the second-half well and Ginger Oliver hit the outside of the post with Price then shuddering the crossbar only minutes later whilst Emily Pearce, on at the break for Swift, made an astonishing save from Nikita Perry from close range.
There was little that Pearce could do to prevent the equaliser though as, after blocking Perry’s initial effort, the goalkeeper could only watch on as Natalie De Marco thrashed in the leveller, a goal that took the game into extra-time and the penalty shoot-out in which Summers stood tall.
The League Champions West Canberra Lightning were made to work extremely hard to reach their second successive Grand Final as ANU Apex pushed them all the way only to eventually get home 7-4.
Lightning peppered the Apex goal in the early stages with Jamie Berkeley and Jennifer Bisset splendidly denied by Sofia Chaverra between the posts. Brittany Palombi then struck the base of the post with her first strike on target, Dianne Wilson proving to be slightly more accurate when converting an Isabella Barac pass on five minutes.
It took less than a minute for Lightning to add a second as Tatum Mazis tiptoed past a couple of Apex challenges to finish confidently. Apex responded well to that quickfire double sucker-punch with Roxie Swart testing the reflexes of Natalie Lacey in the Lightning goal.
Bisset had dragged a trio of chances off target in the opening ten minutes, but eventually found her range with a terrific finish to make it 3-0. That appeared to kick-start Apex and they struck their first as Brianna Maguire burst past two Lightning challenges to find Ailish McDonagh who finished expertly.
Lightning restored their cushion momentarily with one of the goals of the season, Palombi finding the onrushing Barac who planted a perfect thumping header beyond Chaverra into the top corner. Apex hot back again though as Edith Fordyce-Croker found Emily Robertson to score.
Lightning began the second-half in irresistible form as Palombi showed just why she is the Golden Boot winner with two quality strikes within a short span of time, the second a blistering left-foot drive from an angle into the roof of the net.
Fordyce-Croker pulled two back, the first after more good work from Maguire, as ANU stiffened up defensively with Chaverra in decent form, but the Lightning were too good overall and deservedly progressed as Bisset rounded off the scoring late on.
RESULTS
SEMI-FINALS
North Canberra Fire 2 (Brown 14’, N. De Marco 29’) South Canberra Swift 2 (Birnie 13’, Price 17’) – after extra time, Swift win 3-1 on penalties
West Canberra Lightning 7 (Wilson 5’, Mazis 6’, Bisset 11’, 40’, Barac 15’, Palombi 21’, 22’) ANU Apex 4 (McDonagh 14’, Robertson 16’, Fordyce-Croker 26’, 38’)
TABLE
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | West Canberra Lightning | 10 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 124 | 13 | +111 | 27 |
| 2 | North Canberra Fire | 10 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 65 | 24 | +41 | 21 |
| 3 | South Canberra Swift | 10 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 96 | 30 | +66 | 18 |
| 4 | ANU Apex | 10 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 48 | 55 | -7 | 12 |
| 5 | UC Stars | 10 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 46 | 64 | -18 | 12 |
| 6 | QP Power | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 4 | 197 | -193 | 0 |
TOP SCORERS
39 Brittany PALOMBI (Lightning)
30 Reilly YUEN (Swift)
27 Jamie BERKELEY (Lightning)
19 Isabella BARAC (Lightning)
16 Tatum MAZIS (Lightning)
14 Isabella HINDMARSH (Swift)
12 Sienna BIRNIE (Swift), Emily ROBERTSON (Apex)
9 Kaitlyn COLWILL (Swift), Stella DE MARCO (Fire)
8 Natalie DE MARCO (Fire), Edith FORDYCE-CROKER (Apex), Sofia PALYWODA (Swift), Dianne WILSON (Lightning)
7 Jennifer BISSET (Lightning), Olivia GURNEY (Fire), Ella PALFRAMAN (Stars), Bessie RIETHMULLER (Fire), Ayla ROBERTSON (Fire), Maddie STEINACKER (Stars)
6 Elke AITOLU (Fire), Ella BROWN (Fire), Emily DANIEL (Stars), Jada LAMOND (Stars), Ailish MCDONAGH (Apex), Ginger OLIVER (Swift), Alexandra SERRAS (Apex)
5 Sharon CHAO (Swift), Tayla HAMPSON (Stars), Amy MCLACHLAN (Lightning), Samantha PRICE (Swift), Becky RIZZO (Stars), Pearl TEIN (Fire)
4 Sofia CHAVERRA (Apex), Grace DAVEY (Apex), Alyse JENSEN (Swift), Stefi LEJINS (Fire), Madeliene PERCEVAL (Lightning), Nikita PERRY (Fire), Roxie SWART (Apex), Own GOALS
3 Brianna MAGUIRE (Apex), Eiza-Jane NORRIS (Stars)
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), Karen MILEWSKA (Fire), Emily PEARCE (Swift), Sabrina SPINAPOLICE (Stars), Ellie SUMMERS (Swift), Kate WALKER (Stars)
