West Canberra Lightning moved into their third Capital Futsal League Grand Final with a come from behind 2-1 victory over South Canberra Swift at the AIS thanks to second-half goals from Brittany Palombi and Dianne Wilson.
A thoroughly absorbing opening half saw the two teams go toe-to-toe across all areas of the court with defence very much on top, and clearcut openings at a premium. The best of the early opportunities fell to Isabella Hindmarsh who, from an acute angle, struck a fierce shot that cannoned off the base of the post.
In reply, the league’s leading goalscorer in Palombi, led the Lightning attack and she tested the reflexes of Swift goalkeeper Megan Snell on three separate occasions, stinging the palms of the South Canberra goalkeeper with a trio of shots from distance.
The breakthrough when it came was scrappy, but effective. A sustained period of Swift pressure saw a cross shot into the area fall kindly for Sofia Palywoda and the player who was recently named in the Australian international training squad bundled the ball into the net from close range for the only goal of the first-half.
The Lightning fought back in the second-half, dominating possession and territory and equalising when Palombi advanced, finding space to rifle a left-footed strike beyond Snell in goal.
Palombi later had a goal disallowed for what appeared to be a harsh foul, but Lightning continued to our forward, Wilson seeing a shot well stopped by Snell, Palombi seeing the follow-up blocked. But the double champions would gain the winner with 71 seconds left.
Isabella Barac found the pass into the danger area where Wilson was afforded the time and space to take a touch and hammer home the matchwinner to send the Lightning into their third successive Grand Final.
North Canberra Fire booked a return to the Grand Final for the first time since Season One with a convincing 12-1 victory over UC Stars at the AIS dominating the match from start to finish.
The Fire were in total control from the outset, taking the lead inside the opening two minutes as Stella De Marco found the time and space to score past a clearly injury-stricken Kelly Stirton in the Stars goal.
Reilly Yuen added the second with a thunderous strike off a corner, the prolific scorer meeting a Tatum Mazis cutback with a first0time hit that flew past Stirton and buried itself into the top corner.
That was the first of a hat-trick in the opening stanza, Yuen poking home from inside the area and then meeting a cross with a thumping right-foot volley, as the Fire took the match away from the Stars with an excellent display of controlled possession and accurate shooting.
Ginger Oliver added her name to the scoreboard in the tenth minute, swiftly followed by Ayla Robertson’s first of the match, her second coming four minutes after Yuen completed her treble, another strike from range which Stirton could not get down to keep out.
Leading 7-0 at the break, the lead was increased in bizarre fashion as a Yuen shot across goal bounced back off the post and was inadvertently turned into her own goal by Emily Robertson.
The Stars were much better in the second-half, Tayla Hampson testing Jessica Giovinazzo with a cute flick that almost found a way into the net, before Stars elected to replace Stirton with Tarah Manthongsy for the remaining dozen minutes of the contest to play fifth player.
That led to more goals as Sharon Chao, Natalie De Marco and Tatum Mazis added their names to the scoresheet as the Fire progressed serenely into the Grand Final, Emily Robertson grabbing a deserved consolation late on for the Stars.
RESULTS
West Canberra Lightning 2 (Palombi 23’, Wilson 39’) South Canberra Swift 1 (Palywoda 13’)
North Canberra Fire 12 (S. De Marco 2’, Yuen 6’, 7’, 15’, Oliver 10’, A. Robertson 10’, 19’, E. Robertson 22’ (og), Pyke 25’, Chao 29’, N. De Marco 30’, Mazis 31’) UC Stars 1 (Robertson 38’)
TOP SCORERS
41: Brittany PALOMBI (Lightning)
25: Jamie BERKELEY (Lightning)
24: Reilly YUEN (Fire)
17: Sienna BIRNIE (Swift)
13: Sharon CHAO (Fire), Tatum MAZIS (Fire), Dianne WILSON (Lightning)
12: Own GOALS
10: Natalie DE MARCO (Fire), Isabella HINDMARSH (Swift)
9: Ayla ROBERTSON (Fire)
8: Krista HAGEN (Lightning)
7: Isabella BARAC (Lightning), Edith FORDYCE-CROKER (Apex), Isabella HOPKINS (Apex), Emily ROBERTSON (Stars)
6: Anneke CORRY (Swift), Stella DE MARCO (Fire), Zoe HALPIN (Swift), Bronte PYKE (Fire), Jasmine RICHARDS (Fire), Maddie STEINACKER (Swift)
5: Alexandra NEALAND (Apex), Kayla WRIGHT (Stars), Nadia ZAKMAN (Lightning)
4: Amy BONGIORNO (Stars), Megan CASTLE (Stars), Briana MAGUIRE (Apex), Ginger OLIVER (Fire), Samantha PRICE (Swift), Michaela THORNTON (Lightning)
3: Eliza BAKER (Apex), Cara CERUTI (Swift), Kaitlyn COLWILL (Swift), Lucy D’ARCY (Apex), Grace DAVEY (Apex), Rhianna GOLDSTEIN (Stars), Tayla HAMPSON (Stars), Alyse JENSEN (Swift), Becky RIZZO (Stars), Casey SMITH (Power), Zoe WILSON (Power)
2: Chloe DE MEYER (Power), Alex MARTENS (Fire), Sheridan MCELLIGOTT (Apex), Holly MCPHERSON (Stars), Sofia PALYWODA (Swift), Dannielle WALTMAN (Power)
1: Chloe BARKER (Apex), Sophia BISSELL (Apex), Maja DODT (Power), Tina GOPALAN (Apex), Lauren HALL (Swift), Emmalea KALENJUK (Power), Tarah MANTHONGSY (Stars), Jessica MITCHELL (Stars), Eliza-Jane NORRIS (Stars), Megan SNELL (Swift)
