Canberra Olympic returned to the winners circle after a two-game losing streak with an epic 6-5 away win in the Riverina against Wagga City Wanderers to reignite their title hopes in the Capital Premier League.
The visiting team made light of the conditions Gissing Oval and were three goals to the good by the halfway mark as striker Luca Florez, on his return from suspension, fired two goals within the space of nine minutes of each other, with Zachary Milczarek also scoring to give the visiting team a healthy half-time advantage.
Kade Lyons, so often the source of inspiration for Wagga City in 2025, pulled a goal back twenty minutes into the second-half to restore hope, but when Mark Shields made it 5-1 with nineteen minutes left, it was surely game over.
Cue Wagga’s amazing turnaround. In the final quarter of an hour Maxwell Prest, Lyons, Thomas Yongai, and Prest again all scored as a four-goal deficit suddenly became 5-5 and a famous point. Incredibly, Olympic fragged themselves up and won it in stoppage time as Milczarek netted his second.
Canberra Juventus found a return to form themselves as they won an extraordinary game against West Canberra Wanderers, 6-3, at Ainslie Oval on a cold and wet Saturday afternoon.
Juventus seemed on course for a big win after four goals in the opening half-an-hour gave them a comfortable lead, Luca Macro scoring two either side of a Micheal Adams strike, with Cristian Barresi adding the fourth in the 28th minute.
The Wanderers responded well after the break, Juan Diaz-Tellez scoring his fifth of the season, whilst a goal from Van Nguten briefly threatened an unlikely comeback, before a flurry of a trio of goals in the last five minutes.
Tyler Lochner eased any Juventus palpitations in the 85th minute, only for Geordie Freeman to pull one more back for the visitors three minutes after. However, sixty seconds after that goal, Juventus had the final word as Adam Brooks struck to complete the scoring.
The match between fifth-placed Brindabella Blues and top-of-the-table Belconnen United was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch at Ipan Park, as was White Eagles Sunday afternoon match with ANU FC slated for Woden Park.
RESULTS
ROUND 16
Saturday 26 July
Wagga City Wanderers 5 (Lyons 65’, 81’, Prest 75’, 90’, Yongai 88’) Canberra Olympic 6 (Florez 35’, 44’, Milczarek 45’, 90+1’, M. Barisic 53’, Shields 71’)
Canberra Juventus 6 (L. Macor 8’, 16’, Adams 14’, Barresi 28’, Lochner 85’, Brooks 89’) West Canberra Wanderers 3 (Diaz-Tellez 48’, Nguyen 79’, Freeman 88’)
Brindabella Blues v Belconnen United – Match Postponed
Sunday 27 July
White Eagles v ANU FC – Match Postponed
TABLE
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | Belconnen United | 15 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 40 | 18 | +22 | 34 |
| 2 | ANU FC | 14 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 44 | 19 | +25 | 31 |
| 3 | Canberra Olympic | 15 | 10 | 1 | 4 | 46 | 27 | +19 | 31 |
| 4 | Canberra Juventus | 16 | 9 | 1 | 6 | 39 | 29 | +10 | 28 |
| 5 | Brindabella Blues | 15 | 6 | 2 | 7 | 31 | 24 | +7 | 20 |
| 6 | White Eagles | 15 | 4 | 2 | 9 | 25 | 37 | -12 | 15 |
| 7 | Wagga City Wanderers | 16 | 3 | 1 | 12 | 34 | 57 | -23 | 10 |
| 8 | West Canberra | 16 | 2 | 1 | 13 | 19 | 67 | -48 | 7 |
TOP SCORERS
16: Jack GIBSON (ANU FC)
12: Kade LYONS (Wagga City Wanderers), Curtis SCHAEFFER (Brindabella Blues)
11: Sergio LINDNER (White Eagles)
9: Mate BARISIC (Canberra Olympic), Cristian BARRESI (Canberra Juventus)
8: Dustin WELLS (Belconnen United)
7: Jake BISHOP (Belconnen United), Julian BORGNA (Canberra Olympic), Own GOALS
6: Remi GACHET (Canberra Olympic), Thomas YONGAI (Wagga City Wanderers)
5: Juan DIAZ-TELLEZ (West Canberra Wanderers), Jayde JAMES-WARD (Belconnen United), Zachary MILCZAREK (Canberra Olympic), Ali SOHANI (White Eagles)
4: Micheal ADAMS (Canberra Juventus), Mate BARISIC (Canberra Olympic), Abderrahim DELLAHI (White Eagles), Ramon LINDNER (White Eagles), Jak MATIC (Canberra Juventus), Michael RINAUDO (Belconnen United), Mark SHIELDS (Canberra Olympic), Zac STEELE (Wagga City Wanderers), Antoni TIMOTHEOU (Canberra Olympic)
3: Hassan ALNUWAYSIR (Canberra Olympic), Tom COSENTINI (Canberra Juventus), Finn HARMER (Brindabella Blues), Jacob HART (ANU FC), Nicholas HOPE (ANU FC), Samuel LYE (ANU FC), Adrian MACOR (Canberra Juventus), Luca MACOR (Canberra Juventus), Max MOTTL (ANU FC), Andre OLIVEIRA (ANU FC), Maxwell PREST (Wagga City Wanderers), Henry WILKS (Brindabella Blues), Riley WILLIAMS (Brindabella Blues)
2: Harry BILLINGTON (Belconnen United), Adam BROOKS (Canberra Juventus), Juan DIAZ-BURGOS (Wes Canberra Wanderers), Luca FLOREZ (Canberra Olympic), Oliver GRIST (ANU FC), Marcus GRZIC (West Canberra Wanderers), Orlando JEFFERY (ANU FC), Jonathan JOHN (Brindabella Blues), Tony MADAFFARI (Canberra Juventus), Jasper MILIN (Canberra Juventus), Alasdair MOORE (ANU FC), Adam NEOU (Canberra Olympic), Van NGUYEN (West Canberra Wanderers), Patrick O’ROURKE (Belconnen United), Zac OWERS (Wagga City Wanderers), Babin PAUDYAL (Canberra Juventus), Tupaia RINGI (Belconnen United), Bailey SORENSON (Canberra Olympic), Oliver WIRTZENS (Brindabella Blues)
1: Andrew AITCHISON (West Canberra Wanderers), Deng ALEER DENG (Brindabella Blues), Joel BAIRD (Belconnen United), Dylan BARRETO (Canberra Juventus), Nikolas BLASKOVIC (Brindabella Blues), Elijah BROOKER (Wagga City Wanderers), Isaac BROOKER (Wagga City Wanderers), Eliseo CASTRO (Canberra Juventus),Zac CHADWICK (ANU FC), Izach CLEMENTS (Belconnen United), Eddie COGGAN (Belconnen United), Lewis DOBBIN (ANU FC), Nick FAUST (Canberra Olympic), Daniel FOX (West Canberra Wanderers), Geordie FREEMAN (West Canberra Wanderers), Josh GASPARI (Canberra Juventus), Monteagh GRACE (ANU FC), David GURNEY (Brindabella Blues), Benjamin HADFIELD (ANU FC), Ben HICK (White Eagles), Christopher JOHN (Brindabella Blues), Morris KADZOLA (Wagga City Wanderers), Damien KENNEDY (White Eagles), Ethan KRUG (ANU FC), Tyler LOCHNER (Canberra Juventus), Daniel MUNOZ (Brindabella Blues), Nik NOVESKI (White Eagles), Jacob OCHIENG (Wagga City Wanderers), Riley PATTERSON (West Canberra Wanderers), Noah PRAIL (West Canberra Wanderers), Ferney RENTERIA (White Eagles), Ilies SAADI (West Canberra Wanderers), Pedro SERRANO (Belconnen United), Patrick SHORE (Canberra Juventus), Kye SMITH (Belconnen United), Naser SMOQY (Wagga City Wanderers), Ethan STAMATIS (West Canberra Wanderers), Ethan TUDEHOPE (ANU FC), Liam VICKERS (West Canberra Wanderers), Regan WALSH (Belconnen United), Oliver WIEDERKEHR (Canberra Olympic), Kyle YEATES (Wagga City Wanderers)
