Canberra Olympic stole Belconnen’s throne while the Blue Devils were having the weekend off, after a hard-fought win against Tuggeranong. Elsewhere, if Canberra Croatia took no prisoner at Wanderers Park, Gungahlin had to wait until the tail end of their duel with ANU WFC to secure the three points.
The duel for fourth place between West Canberra Wanderers and Canberra Croatia went the way of the visitors with four goals unanswered at Wanderers Park. The home team had started the game the right way, with early opportunities and Ellie Summers forced to showcase her skills to keep her net untouched several time within the first ten minutes. At the other end, Amy Wiggan was her usual spectacular shot-stopper, as we saw at the 13th minute with her superb dive to deny Bella Barac.
This was the first of several opportunities for the visitors, who struggled to find the target for most of the first 45 minutes. The Wanderers tried to punish them on counterattack, but Summers and her back four were solid. Croatia finally broke the deadlock seconds before the break. Arusha Chew, very active upfront, found just the right amount of luck for her cross to dip behind Amy Wiggan and give Croatia an advantage they would not give up.
Back from the locker room, captain Brittany Palombi, known for her goal scoring skills, became the provider for a day. Ten minutes in the second half, her in swerving corner kick perfectly found Jamie Berkeley at the far post, and the midfielder header was too powerful for Wiggan to do anything. Just past the hour mark, it was a perfectly weighed pass in the box that found Tatum Mazis, who finished from up close with toe-tap. The home team was down, and unable to bring the danger upfront the way they had at first.
Wiggan again had a few saves to make, but eventually had to get the ball in the back of her net one last time ten minutes before the final whistle. A cross from Berkeley not cleared landed on Megan Castle. The former Wagga City striker headed the ball onto the crossbar, and Rhiannon Fensom followed the quickest to head the fourth goal in.
Canberra Olympic conceded first but scored three of their own to secure the win in Kambah against Tuggeranong United, taking the first place on the table for good measure. Frank Cachia’s team had taken the better start on Sunday, with a first dangerous situation a couple of minutes in the game, but the heroic defending of Tuggeranong, on display for the whole game, managed to deny the opener.
The home team scored their second goal of the season 16 minutes in. Sarah Matthews inherited a cross in a box, eliminated her defender skilfully, before slipping the ball under Janet King from close range.
The celebrations were deserved, but Tuggeranong had to stay focused at the other end. Unfortunately for the team coached by Sarah West, the players wearing blue ooze talent, and showed it again. Tianah Miro’s equaliser, two passes after Nicole Jalocha had recovered the ball, was proof of it. Madelyn Whittall took her time to find the best solution, Miro dropped the shoulder to open a path and her shot from the edge of the box was as powerful as it was precise.
Level at the break was still a good result for the home team, but it did not take long for Olympic to veer ahead. Six minutes in the second act, Amelia Hackett had already intervened twice when a shove from Jessica Mitchell on Whittall forced the referee to point to the spot kick. Jaya Bowman took her responsibility and wrong-footed Hackett to give her team the lead.
Whittall came close to burying any hope for Tuggeranong 90 second later, but her half volley crashed on the post. Cara Ceruti, minutes after being subbed in for the first time in her new colours, found the crossbar as well with an attempt from distance.
The threats were getting more persistent, but the solution was not found until the 84th minute, courtesy of two substitutes. Jalocha’s pass broke lines and found Cerruti, in form for her baptism in blue, near the danger area. The former Wanderer created space for herself and slid in for Tehya Aspland, the winger did the job in the box, scoring with her supposedly weaker right foot in the bottom left corner, finally sealing Olympic’s fourth consecutive success.
Gungahlin United brought back all three points from Hawker Football Centre thanks to a three-goal victory against the ANU WFC that took a while to materialise. For 80 minutes, the home team had kept the Gunners mute, but unfortunately the floodgate opened then. It is not that the players coached by Nick Van Aalst did not try. 30 seconds in, Olivia Buyteweg came close to score an early opener. In her path, of course, was Georgia Ritchie, in stellar form since she joined the University squad.
Most of the first half took was one sided, but Gungahlin simply could not break the solid home team’s defence. When it was not Ritchie, it was her defence, or her post, when Corinne Denton took a free kick at the edge of the box, that delayed the fate of the game.
The ANU tried to answer in counterattack, with a few interesting raids from Angelina Babic, but Sammy Emms was not really in danger. They started the second half with better intentions, a higher defensive line, and a few more shots from distance that forced Emms to stay on her toes.
Ritchie at the other end had more opportunities to shine, and her duels won against Alex Martens, Natalie De Marco and Chelsea Hately demonstrated again her impressive composure.
The deadlock, the wall and the rampart were finally broken at the 80th minute. A cross from the left, a defensive header that does not clear the ball, and Ginger Oliver found herself 2 meters away from Ritchie: knowing her adversary’s worth, Oliver smashed a merciless powerful volley to finally give her team the advantage they had been chasing.
An injury five minutes before the final whistle saw Ritchie leaving her team, hopefully for them only for the day.
The Gunners found relief with two goals in the dying embers of the game. A cross from Oliver at the 90th minute found Alex Nealand at the far post. The substitute cut back on her right foot and Olivia Kent could only slow down the powerful foot effort that ended in the back of the net. Three minutes later, Oliver’s corner was headed in by her captain Maddie Perceval to end the day.
RESULTS
ROUND 10
Sunday 16 June
ANU WFC 0 Gungahlin United 3 (Oliver 80’, Nealand 89’, Perceval 90+3’)
Tuggeranong United 1 (Matthews 15’) Canberra Olympic 3 (Miro 30’, Bowman 51’ (p), Aspland 84’)
West Canberra Wanderers 0 Canberra Croatia 4 (Chew 44’, Berkeley 55’, Mazis 63’, Fensom 80’)
TABLE
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | Canberra Olympic | 9 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 23 | 8 | +15 | 24 |
| 2 | Belconnen United | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 35 | 7 | +28 | 21 |
| 3 | Gungahlin United | 9 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 27 | 14 | +13 | 18 |
| 4 | Canberra Croatia | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 20 | 17 | +3 | 12 |
| 5 | West Canberra Wanderers | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 20 | -13 | 7 |
| 6 | ANU WFC | 8 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 31 | -26 | 2 |
| 7 | Tuggeranong United | 8 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 22 | -20 | 1 |
TOP SCORERS
10: Reilly YUEN (Belconnen United)
8: Alyssa DI-CAMPLI (Belconnen United)
6: Alex MARTENS (Gungahlin United)
5: Madison CACHIA (Canberra Olympic), Ginger OLIVER (Gungahlin United), Darby WHITELEY (Gungahlin United)
4: Brittany PALOMBI (Canberra Croatia), Sarah WHITFIELD (West Canberra Wanderers)
3: Keira BOBBIN (Belconnen United), Arusha CHEW (Canberra Croatia), Alex NEALAND (Gungahlin United), Katrina PERIC (Canberra Olympic), Madelyn WHITTALL (Canberra Olympic)
2: Isabella BARAC (Canberra Croatia), Jamie BERKELEY (Canberra Croatia), Jaya BOWMAN (Canberra Olympic), Ella BROWN (Canberra Olympic), Hattie CRAM (Belconnen United), Olivia HICKS (West Canberra Wanderers), Isabella HINDMARSH (Belconnen United), Nicole JALOCHA (Canberra Olympic), Pascale LA HEI (Belconnen United), Tatum MAZIS (Canberra Croatia), Sheridan MCELLIGOTT (ANU WFC), Tianah MIRO (Canberra Olympic), Ella PALFRAMAN (Canberra Croatia), Sofia PALYWODA (Belconnen United), Madeliene PERCEVAL (Gungahlin United), Own GOALS
1: Tehya ASPLAND (Canberra Olympic), Eliza BAKER (ANU WFC), Leila BILLINGTON (Belconnen United), Amy BONGIORNO (Canberra Croatia), Olivia BUYTEWEG (Gungahlin United), Megan CASTLE (Canberra Croatia), Sofia CHAVERRA (ANU WFC), Sharon CHAO (Gungahlin United), Natalie DE MARCO (Gungahlin United), Corinne DENTON (Gungahlin United), Jade EMMS (Belconnen United), Rhiannon FENSOM (Canberra Croatia), Alyse JENSEN (Belconnen United), Sarah MATTHEWS (Tuggeranong United), Amy MOORE (Gungahlin United), Saskia NEWMAN (ANU WFC), Lauren PRESTON (Belconnen United), Bessie RIETHMULLER (Canberra Olympic), Alina ROBERTS (Belconnen United), Allegra SENTI (West Canberra Wanderers), Michaela THORNTON (Canberra Olympic), Jane VANZINO (Canberra Olympic), Matylda WELLS-SHEATHER (Tuggeranong United), Kayla WRIGHT (Gungahlin United), Nadia ZAKMAN (Canberra Croatia)
Words: Jeremy Magan
