Canberra Olympic were crowned Capital Premier League Grand Final winners with a 3-1 victory over ANU FC at Stryda Park in Queanbeyan.
Olympic had already tested Liam Rawlinson in the ANU FC goal before they took the lead in the seventeenth minute through a Julian Borgna drive from distance, and it was the same man that was to break the deadlock with a strike from similar range.
Given time to take aim, Borgna cut across the ball with his right foot from twenty-five metres, sending a scything shot at goal that curled away from the ANU custodian and nestled into the corner.
ANU responded with a couple of Ethan Tudehope headers from set-pieces, the first cleared off the line by Cale Brown, the second headed wide of the target when he might have done better after finding some space inside what was a crowded Canberra Olympic penalty area.
Luca Florez ought to have scored with a header as well in the 37th minute, rising to meet an Abraham Kemp chip at the back post, sending his point-blank header straight at Rawlinson. Unfortunately for the University team, but fortunately for Florez, the ball found kindly to the midfielder who turned home from close range.
ANU FC threw everything at Olympic in the second-half with goalkeeper Jacob Quinn making two outstanding saves to preserve his teams lead. Firstly, he reacted magnificently to turn away a deflected Jack Gibson free-kick, before pushing a header from Alasdair Moore onto the crossbar.
There was little he could do to prevent Jack Gibson pulling one back as the striker steered home from inside the six-yard box just past the hour, but Olympic were to seal it with fourteen minutes remaining as Player of the Match Antoni Timotheou rifled into the bottom corner from outside the area.
RESULTS
GRAND FINAL
Sunday 21 September
Canberra Olympic 3 (Borgna 17, Florez 37’, Timotheou 76’) ANU FC 1 (Gibson 63’)
TOP SCORERS
21: Jack GIBSON (ANU FC)
19: Curtis SCHAEFFER (Brindabella Blues)
14: Kade LYONS (Wagga City Wanderers)
12: Cristian BARRESI (Canberra Juventus), Mate BARISIC (Canberra Olympic), Sergio LINDNER (White Eagles)
11: Jake BISHOP (Belconnen United), Julian BORGNA (Canberra Olympic)
10: Dustin WELLS (Belconnen United), Thomas YONGAI (Wagga City Wanderers)
8: Juan DIAZ-TELLEZ (West Canberra Wanderers), Jayde JAMES-WARD (Belconnen United), Zac STEELE (Wagga City Wanderers)
7: Michael RINAUDO (Belconnen United), Antoni TIMOTHEOU (Canberra Olympic), Own GOALS
6: Remi GACHET (Canberra Olympic), Luca FLOREZ (Canberra Olympic), Jacob HART (ANU FC), Adrian MACOR (Canberra Juventus), Maxwell PREST (Wagga City Wanderers)
5: Micheal ADAMS (Canberra Juventus), Hassan ALNUWAYSIR (Canberra Olympic), Nicholas HOPE (ANU FC), Jak MATIC (Canberra Juventus), Zachary MILCZAREK (Canberra Olympic), Tupaia RINGI (Belconnen United), Ali SOHANI (White Eagles)
4: Zac CHADWICK (ANU FC), Abderrahim DELLAHI (White Eagles), Ramon LINDNER (White Eagles), Max MOTTL (ANU FC), Adam NEOU (Canberra Olympic), Andre OLIVEIRA (ANU FC), Mark SHIELDS (Canberra Olympic), Henry WILKS (Brindabella Blues)
3: Tom COSENTINI (Canberra Juventus), Juan DIAZ-BURGOS (Wes Canberra Wanderers), Finn HARMER (Brindabella Blues), Jonathan JOHN (Brindabella Blues), Orlando JEFFERY (ANU FC), Samuel LYE (ANU FC), Luca MACOR (Canberra Juventus), Alasdair MOORE (ANU FC), Van NGUYEN (West Canberra Wanderers), Riley WILLIAMS (Brindabella Blues)
2: Dylan BARRETO (Canberra Juventus), Harry BILLINGTON (Belconnen United), Adam BROOKS (Canberra Juventus), Izach CLEMENTS (Belconnen United), Josh GASPARI (Canberra Juventus), Oliver GRIST (ANU FC), Marcus GRZIC (West Canberra Wanderers), Christopher JOHN (Brindabella Blues), Tony MADAFFARI (Canberra Juventus), Jasper MILIN (Canberra Juventus), Jack MURRAY (White Eagles), Patrick O’ROURKE (Belconnen United), Zac OWERS (Wagga City Wanderers), Babin PAUDYAL (Canberra Juventus), Patrick SHORE (Canberra Juventus), Bailey SORENSON (Canberra Olympic), Regan WALSH (Belconnen United), Oliver WIRTZENS (Brindabella Blues)
1: Andrew AITCHISON (West Canberra Wanderers), Deng ALEER DENG (Brindabella Blues), Joel BAIRD (Belconnen United), Nikolas BLASKOVIC (Brindabella Blues), Elijah BROOKER (Wagga City Wanderers), Isaac BROOKER (Wagga City Wanderers), Eliseo CASTRO (Canberra Juventus), Eddie COGGAN (Belconnen United), Lewis DOBBIN (ANU FC), Nick FAUST (Canberra Olympic), Daniel FOX (West Canberra Wanderers), Geordie FREEMAN (West Canberra Wanderers), Monteagh GRACE (ANU FC), David GURNEY (Brindabella Blues), Benjamin HADFIELD (ANU FC), Ben HICK (White Eagles), Tom HUIZENGA (ANU FC), Morris KADZOLA (Wagga City Wanderers), Abraham KEMP (Canberra Olympic), Damien KENNEDY (White Eagles), Tomas KRKLEC (Canberra Olympic), Ethan KRUG (ANU FC), Daniel LINSTEAD (Canberra Olympic), Tyler LOCHNER (Canberra Juventus), Daniel MAKENY (Brindabella Blues), Goran MILUTINOVIC (White Eagles), Daniel MUNOZ (Brindabella Blues), Nik NOVESKI (White Eagles), Jacob OCHIENG (Wagga City Wanderers), Riley PATTERSON (West Canberra Wanderers), Noah PRAIL (West Canberra Wanderers), Max RAWLINSON (ANU FC), Ferney RENTERIA (White Eagles), Ilies SAADI (West Canberra Wanderers), Pedro SERRANO (Belconnen United), Kye SMITH (Belconnen United), Naser SMOQY (Wagga City Wanderers), Ethan STAMATIS (West Canberra Wanderers), Ethan TUDEHOPE (ANU FC), Liam VICKERS (West Canberra Wanderers), Oliver WIEDERKEHR (Canberra Olympic), Kyle YEATES (Wagga City Wanderers)
