West Canberra Lightning’s resurgence continued as they recorded a second win in succession to move closer to the top of the league table as they tumbled North Canberra Fire’s perfect record with a 5-2 victory in an enthralling match-up at the Australian Institute of Sport Training Halls.
As expected, given the Fire had beaten Lightning only a fortnight ago, the match was high-paced and keenly contested, but Lightning settled their nerves with first-half goals from Krista Hagen and Brittany Palombi to give them a 2-0 advantage closing in on the half-time break.
Bronte Pyke pulled one back for Fire in the final minute of the half, but crucially Hagen struck again five minutes after the restart to move Lightning two clear again, however leading scorer Reilly Yuen reduced the arrears to one with her eleventh of the season to give Fire hope.
The Fire blaze of recovery was extinguished though by a pair of goals within seconds of each other through Palombi and Isabella Barac as Lightning punished the Fire in transition to seal a hard-fought three points.
South Canberra Swift returned to the top of the table, taking advantage of the Fire’s defeat, with a hard-fought 3-1 win over ANU Apex at Daramalan College.
Depleted by the absence of their Boomerangs FS representative players, the Swift was made to battle all the way by a tough opponent, who did not let them settle, hustled, and harried, and kept themselves in touch throughout the match.
A first goal of the season from Maddie Steinacker had the Swift ahead in the sixth minute, but Apex were able to equalise immediately, responding through Grace Davey straight from the restart.
Sienna Birnie has been in fine goalscoring form in recent weeks and took her personal tally to double figures just before the break, however Swift weren’t able to kill off the contest until late in the second-half after Isabella Hindmarsh had made it 3-1.
A hat-trick from Emily Robertson helped UC Stars to keep up their push for the finals alive as they swept past the Queanbeyan-Palerang Power 8-3 to record a third win from five matches this season.
Stars was forced to come from behind to win though, Taraha Manthongsy putting through her own goal in the opening minute to give the Power a perfect start. The response was top-class though and Holly McPherson levelled, before Robertson and Tayla Hampson had Stars 3-1 up at the break.
Hampson added her second early in the second-half, Chloe De Meyer bringing Power close again just past the half-hour. However, four goals in three minutes finally blew Power away.
Robertson started the goal spree in the 34th minute, Beck Rizzo adding to the scoreline a minute later. Robetson completed her treble, and there was redemption for Manthongsy who struck her first of the season at the death as the Stars kicked on to claim the valuable points.
RESULTS
North Canberra Fire 2 (Pyke 19’, Yuen 30’) West Canberra Lightning 5 (Hagen 7’, 25’, Palombi 14’, 34’, Barac 35’)
South Canberra Swift 3 (Steinacker 6’, Birnie 17’, Hindmarsh 29’) ANU Apex 1 Davey 6’)
UC Stars 8 (McPherson 7’, Robertson 10’, 34’, 37’, Hampson 16’, 23’, Rizzo 35’, Manthongsy 37’) QP Power 2 (Manthongsy 1’ (og), De Meyer 32’)
TABLE
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | South Canberra Swift | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 25 | 17 | +8 | 10 |
| 2 | North Canberra Fire | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 34 | 17 | +17 | 9 |
| 3 | UC Stars | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 23 | 22 | +1 | 9 |
| 4 | West Canberra Lightning | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 26 | 15 | +11 | 7 |
| 5 | ANU Apex | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 13 | 16 | -3 | 3 |
| 6 | QP Power | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 41 | -34 | 0 |
TOP SCORERS
11: Reilly YUEN (Fire)
10: Sienna BIRNIE (Swift)
7: Brittany PALOMBI (Lightning)
6: Own GOALS
5: Isabella BARAC (Lightning), Ayla ROBERTSON (Fire), Emily ROBERTSON (Stars)
4: Jamie BERKELEY (Lightning), Megan CASTLE (Stars), Tatum MAZIS (Fire)
3: Sharon CHAO (Fire), Anneke CORRY (Swift), Natalie DE MARCO (Fire), Rhianna GOLDSTEIN (Stars), Becy RIZZO (Stars)
2: Eliza BAKER (Apex), Stella DE MARCO (Fire), Edith FORDYCE-CROKER (Apex), Krista HAGEN (Lightning), Zoe HALPIN (Swift), Tayla HAMPSON (Stars), Isabella HINDAMRSH (Swift), Sheridan MCELLIGOTT (Apex), Holly MCPHERSON (Stars), Alexandra NEALAND (Apex), Jasmine RICHARDS (Fire), Casey SMITH (Power), Michaela THORNTON (Lightning), Dannielle WALTMAN (Power), Dianne WILSON (Lightning), Nadia ZAKMAN (Lightning)
1: Sophia BISSELL (Apex), Amy BONGIORNO (Stars), Cara CERUTI (Swift), Kaitlyn COLWILL (Swift), Lucy D’ARCY (Apex), Grace DAVEY (Apex), Chloe DE MEYER (Power), Tina GOPALAN (Apex), Lauren HALL (Swift), Alyse JENSEN (Swift), Briana MAGUIRE (Apex), Tarah MANTHONGSY (Stars), Jessica MITCHELL (Stars), Eliza-Jane NORRIS (Stars), Ginger OLIVER (Fire), Sofia PALYWODA (Swift), Samantha PRICE (Swift), Bronte PYKE (Fire), Maddie STEINACKE (Swift), Zoe WILSON (Power)
