Round two of the National Premier League Women’s kicks off with Canberra Olympic’s quest to get back on track against Gungahlin United after an opening round demolition, meanwhile can Belconnen United maintain their winning start to 2025?
Opening the round is treble-winning Canberra Olympic returning home to O’Connor Enclosed for the first time this season up against Gungahlin United, off the back of a crushing defeat to Belconnen in Round 1.
The Gunners arrive at the home of the Champions yet to play a match in 2025, after a postponed first round meeting with Canberra Croatia, and with a partially depleted squad from last season, alongside a new coach in Marcial Munoz.
Despite Olympic, as reigning treble-winners, retaining the title of favourites for the match, Gungahlin can draw from previous encounters with their opponents to offer encouragement, having always given Frank Cachia’s side a difficult match, after most recently scoring a 91st minute Round 15 equaliser to dent their title ambitions last season.
Olympic are yet to win a game in 2025 after two successive defeats to Belconnen and will require a significant response on Sunday afternoon.
Tuggeranong United will look to bounce back from a crushing South-Side Derby defeat this weekend, however they face a Belconnen United side coming off an utterly dominant showing against all-conquering Olympic in Round 1.
The hosts will be aspiring to make more of a game with Belconnen than they have done in previous matches, having shipped 19 goals in their three league meetings with the Blue Devils throughout 2024, and scoring none.
The fixture does present another tough test for new Head Coach Ian Toms in the Tuggeranong dugout, however a well-worked set piece against West Canberra, culminating in a Jessica Mitchell header, may offer the South-Side outfit hope that they can be more threatening in the opposition penalty area on Sunday.
Scott Conlon’s squad will be looking to maintain their early season winning streak with the three-point gap between themselves and Olympic in mind, to secure the top position and hold onto it for the remainder of the campaign.
Eight goals in their two 2025 matches, with contributions coming from all over the field, emphasises the reigning cup winners’ retention of their clinical edge from last season, and will likely mean another tough afternoon for Tuggeranong at Kambah on Sunday afternoon.
Over at Hawker Football Centre, a new-look ANU WFC side will undoubtedly be reeling from a crushing defeat to newcomers Majura FC last week, and a home match against Canberra Croatia will not offer much comfort given the quality of the players in the opposition squad.
Two new coaches go head-to-head in this fixture, as Amalia Edevane oversees her second game of her ANU tenure, while Musie Elongo in the opposition dugout, gives fans a first glance at his new-look Croatia team this season.
The University side enters the match having won one match in the entirety of 2024, however in their meetings with Croatia last campaign, ANU’s opponents only ever won by a tender one-goal margin and always made the games difficult.
For the away side, the postponement last week against Gungahlin makes this Croatia’s first outing of 2025, and a first opportunity for Elongo’s side to get themselves back into title conversations, after a disappointing 2024 season.
Majura FC and West Canberra Wanderers will kick off the last match of Round 2, in a meeting between two outstanding performers in the opening weekend of the season.
The Wanderers began 2025 how they concluded 2024 following a scintillating five-star show against Tuggeranong United in the last round, echoing the goal-scoring ability shown in the latter stages of the previous campaign that stamped Steve Rohan-Jones’ side as the best non-finals outfit.
A second consecutive performance of high quality in the final third this Sunday could set themselves up as a potential dark horse for finals football in 2025.
Majura still remains an unknown quantity having played just once in the top-flight, despite a big win against ANU, and will face a greater test in their NPLW match of their history.
The Dickson-based outfit will have no shortage of confidence on the goals front and will look to striker Carmel Lynch for inspiration after an astonishing six-minute hat-trick against ANU.
FIXTURES
ROUND 2
Sunday 13 April
Majura FC v West Canberra Wanderers (Ainslie Oval, 15:00)
ANU WFC v Canberra Croatia
Canberra Olympic v Gungahlin United (O’Connor Enclosed, 15:00)
Tuggeranong United v Belconnen United
TABLE
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | Majura FC | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | +5 | 3 |
| 2 | Belconnen United | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | +4 | 3 |
| 3 | West Canberra | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | +4 | 3 |
| 4 | Canberra Croatia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | Gungahlin United | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | Canberra Olympic | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | -4 | 0 |
| 7 | Tuggeranong United | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | -4 | 0 |
| 8 | ANU WFC | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | -5 | 0 |
TOP SCORERS
2: Tamara COCHRANE (West Canberra Wanderers), Alyssa DI-CAMPLI (Belconnen United), Sofia FURLANETTO (Majura FC), Carmel LYNCH (Majura FC)
1: Keira BOBBIN (Belconnen United), Leah CARNEGIE (Canberra Olympic), Alexandra GIDIS (West Canberra Wanderers), Elvein KHALEEL (West Canberra Wanderers), Alex MARTENS (Belconnen United), Ailish MCDONAGH (Belconnen United), Jessica MITCHELL (Tuggeranong United), Perri NASH (West Canberra Wanderers), Maggie WRIGHT (Majura FC)
TOP ASSISTS
2: Perri NASH (West Canberra Wanderers)
1: Eliza BAKER (Majura FC), Keira BOBBIN (Belconnen United), Tamara COHCRANE (West Canberra Wanderers), Olivia HICKS (West Canberra Wanderers, Isabella HINDMARSH (Belconnen United), Ariana KASHAN (Majura FC), Tarah MANTHONGSY (Tuggeranong United), Alex MARTENS (Belconnen United), Olivia MARTINIELLO (Majura FC), Bronte PYKE (Belconnen United), Abigail RICHARDS (Majura FC), Audrey WARD (West Canberra Wanderers)
Words: Sam Watson
