Jennifer Bisset struck a competition record seven goals as West Canberra Lightning rewrote the early Capital Futsal League record books with a sensational 26-2 hammering of the hard-working Queanbeyan-Palerang Power in the Friday night match that began Round 4.
The Lightning were ruthlessly efficient in their application and took their chances with a clinical precision as they swept aside the Power despite the best endeavours of the Queanbeyan-Palerang defence and the besieged Tanya Joveski in between the posts.
The writing was on the wall inside the opening minute as Amy McLachlan tapped home at the end of a swift attack and, when McLachlan scored a second minutes later, the tone for the match was well and truly set.
The luckless Holly McPherson was unfortunate to divert two efforts into her own net, desperate defending turning in two shots that flew at pace across the penalty area, but there was little that the Power were able to do to stop the relentless pursuit of goals from the Lightning.
Bisset ended with the seven mentioned, Brittany Palombi moved onto eleven goals for the season with her five and there were multiple goals for Dianne Wilson (two), Jamie Berkeley (two) and Krista Hagen (two) whilst McLachlan completed a treble alongside Rebecca Kiting who did likewise.
The Power deserved a reward for their efforts and achieved something that none of the Lightning’s three previous opponents had, scoring twice against the table-toppers. Justine Armstrong and Maia Cameron moving onto two for the year with well-taken goals that eluded the best efforts of Lightning stopper Nat Lacey.
UC Stars continued their chase at the top of the table with a commanding 8-2 victory over the South Canberra Swift despite entering the match with three players less than their opponents on the match card.
The Stars were in control throughout, keeping the Swift at bay and leading by three at the break after early goals from Kate Walker, Reilly Yuen and Mikayla Van Deyk left the Swift playing catch-up.
Early strikes were again key at the commencement of the second half as Emily Daniel scored her first goal of the season and seasoned campaigner Becky Rizzo adding the fifth of the evening, taking her season tally to seven in only three outings in the new CFL competition.
Isabella Hindmarsh pulled on back for the Swift, and also saw a brace of efforts come back off the word work, finally beating the brilliant Vanessa Burdett with 26 minutes of the match gone, but a double from Yuen, completing her hat-trick and moving her onto half-a-dozen goals for 2022, killed any hopes of a comeback.
Ginger Oliver volleyed in Swift’s second, just reward for her hard work, but the Stars had the last word, Eliza-Jane Norris completing the scoring in the final minute.
For the second successive week, the ANU Apex saw their match postponed, the game with North Canberra Fire falling foul to the leaky roof.
WOMEN
Friday 18 November
West Canberra Lightning 26 (McLachlan 1’, 2’, 11’, McPherson 6’ (og), 12’ (og), Bisset 7’, 13’, 16’, 31’, 33’, 38’, 39’, Palombi 9’, 15’, 17’, 17’, 32’, Wilson 9’, 27’, Berkeley 10’, 28’, Kiting 11’, 20’, 36’, Hagen 25’, 26’) Queanbeyan-Palerang Power 2 (Armstrong 20’, Cameron 28’)
Saturday 19 November
North Canberra Fire v ANU Apex – Match Postponed
Sunday 20 November
UC Stars 8 (Walker 7’, Yuen 10’, 33’, 37’, Van Deyk 13’, Daniel 23’, Rizzo 25’, Norris 39’) South Canberra Swift 2 (Hindmarsh 26’, Oliver 38’)
TABLE
| TEAM | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | PTS | |
| 1 | Lightning | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 43 | 5 | +38 | 12 |
| 2 | Stars | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 29 | 10 | +19 | 10 |
| 3 | Fire | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 23 | 7 | +16 | 4 |
| 4 | Swift | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 19 | 15 | +4 | 3 |
| 5 | Apex | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 14 | -11 | 0 |
| 6 | Power | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 73 | -66 | 0 |
LEADING SCORERS
11 Brittany PALOMBI (Lightning)
7 Jennifer BISSET (Lightning), Stella DE MARCO (Fire), Becky RIZZO (Stars)
6 Cara CERUTI (Swift), Reilly YUEN (Stars)
5 Rebecca KITING (Lightning), Amy MCLACHLAN (Lightning), Mikayla VAN DEYK (Stars), Own GOALS
4 Jamie BERKELEY (Lightning), Natalie DE MARCO (Fire), Krista HAGEN (Lightning), Tayla HAMPSON (Stars), Nicole JALOCHA (Fire), Bessie REITHMULLER (Fire), Dianne WILSON (Lightning)
3 Eliza-Jane NORRIS (Stars), Ginger OLIVER (Swift)
2 Justine ARMSTRONG (Power), Maia CAMERON (Power), Isabella HINDMARSH (Swift), Sofia PALYWODA (Swift), Nikita PERRY (Fire), Samantha PRICE (Swift), Sabrina TOUFEXIS (Swift)
1 Elke AITOLU (Fire), Leah CARNEGIE (Swift), Kaitlyn COLWILL (Swift), Emily DANIEL (Stars), Grace DAVEY (Apex), Sally KISS (Power), Renee KITE (Power), Stefi LEJINS (Fire), Holly MCPHERSON (Power), Roxie SWART (Apex), Shayma TAWEEL (Apex), Kate WALKER (Stars)
