Belconnen United claimed another win over the Canberra United Academy as they followed up their Federation Cup Semi-Final success with a 4-0 victory at McKellar Park despite being reduced to ten players following the dismissal of stand-in goalkeeper Reilly Yuen.
With Ellie Summers injured, Yuen was wearing the gloves for the Blue Devils, but lasted just seven minutes, a clumsy foul by the goalkeeper was deemed worthy of an early send-off by the referee. Down to ten players, and with playmaker Pearl Tein between the posts, Scott Conlon and his troops were staring down the barrel.
And yet, they found reserves deep within and the resilience and hard work of the Blue Devils was displayed all over the park, preventing the Academy from taking advantage of their numerical superiority. The deadlock was broken after 16 minutes, thanks to Bessie Riethmuller and her ability to twist and turn in the box. Resisting Tina Boots, the Blue Devils’ most efficient forward launched a missile past Georgia Ritchie to put her team ahead.
A generous penalty given eight minutes into the second-half allowed Keira Bobbin to find the back of the net for the fourth time this season, and a dozen minutes later, Riethmuller, real fox in the box, jumped on a back pass that put Ritchie in trouble and deflected the keeper’s clearance in the back of the net.
The Academy tried to answer, launching Sofia Christopherson to add a threat upfront, but remained toothless, and went instead to concede a fourth, when Bobbin, following some good work by Riethmuller on the right wing, recorded a brace of her own.
Canberra Croatia hosted ANU WFC at Deakin Stadium, where the University club became the victim of the M&M show as the home team won 5-1. Used to scoring first this season, Rob Illingworth’s troops found themselves trailing early this time, just before the 10th minute. Tatum Mazis stole the ball on the halfway line before perfectly launching Charli Mitchell towards a duel with ANU keeper Claire Joseph, Mitchell slotting home confidently.
Ten minutes later, Mazis was on the receiving end of a beautifully weighed pass by Jamie Berkeley behind the defence. Alone in the box, Mazis placed the ball past Joseph for her first goal of the day, before getting her first brace in red and white five minutes later in style. The forward collected the ball on the centre spot, and using her pace, ran past the ANU defence to finally beat Joseph from close range.
Up 3-0 at half time, Zoran Glavinic’s protegees thought they had done the job, but were surprised early in the second half. Sheridan McElligott lobbing a superb goal from a cross-shot into the opposite top corner, bringing hope in the ranks of the visitors eight minutes into the second act.
Ten minutes after ANU’s goal, Mazis found herself on the right wing, running the ball into the box before offering a second assist to Mitchell who simply had to tap the ball in at the far post. The fifth goal came with 15 minutes left to play, offering Canberra Croatia’s Number 9 her first hat trick of the season. A shot from Bella Barac hit the crossbar, only for Mitchell to arm a rocket from inside box, leaving Joseph with no chance.
At O’Connor Enclosed, Canberra Olympic kept pace at the top defeating West Canberra Wanderers 6-1. Olympic struck early, Nicole Jalocha, released by Madelyn Whittall, found the room to score her second goal in consecutive games, beating Emily Pearce from close range.
West Canberra came inches away from an immediate response when Kaitlyn Colwill sent a superb shot from 25 meters, unlucky to see it dipping on the crossbar. The bear was poked, and Olympic’s second goal came five minutes later. A deflected cross in the box landed in the feet of Olivia Gurney, who struck.
Moments later, a corner kick taken by Vanessa Ryan landed on Michaela Thornton’s head to put Olympic out of reach with an hour left to play. Gurney even made things worse for the Wanderers just before the break with a precise attempt from the edge of the box after an assist from Jalocha.
A free kick from Thornton found Jasmine Zabel for the fifth, before young substitute Tehya Aspland grabbed the sixth. The Wanderers found a glimmer of hope in their dark season start when a minute later their captain and usual attacking threat Sarah Whitfield scored only their second goal of 2023.
Gungahlin United eased past Tuggeranong United at Gungahlin Enclosed winning 5-1. A great pass from Michelle Wienecke for Ginger Oliver in behind the defence launched the festivities 5 minutes in, only for the forward to choose the selfless option and offer Darby Whiteley the first goal on a silver platter.
Twenty minutes later, Natalie De Marco raised the passing bar with an outrageous through ball perfectly into the run of the pacey Whiteley, cold headed enough to put the ball past Sammy Emms a second time. Inspired, the Gunners kept pushing, and this time De Marco found herself at the end of a well-built opportunity, only to showcase her dribbling and finishing ability ten minutes before the break.
Sharon Chao added a fourth in the second half, created by Alison Seeney, with a low and powerful shot that gave Emms no chance, before Tuggeranong scored their goal with twenty minutes left to play, thanks to an inspirational hit from Zoe Williams, able to lob Kailey Tonini with a one touch rocket from 35 meters away. Rachael Corbett found time to answer with a screamer of her own however, a shot from the corner of the box out of reach for Emms.
RESULTS
ROUND 6
Saturday 13 May
Belconnen United 4 (Riethmuller 17’, 65’, Bobbin 53’ (p), 85’) Canberra United Academy 0
Sunday 14 May
Canberra Croatia 5 (Mitchell 10’, 61’, 73’, Mazis 22’, 28’) ANU WFC 1 (McElligott 53’)
Canberra Olympic 6 (Jalocha 20’, Gurney 29’, 45+1’, Thornton 31’, Zabel 66’, Aspland 79’) West Canberra Wanderers 1 (Whitfield 80’)
Gungahlin United 5 (Whiteley 7’, 25’, N. De Marco 35’, Chao 66’, R. Corbett 90’) Tuggeranong United 1 (Williams 72’)
TABLE
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | Canberra Croatia | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 16 | 6 | +10 | 13 |
| 2 | Canberra Olympic | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 15 | 3 | +12 | 12 |
| 3 | Belconnen United | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 2 | +12 | 12 |
| 4 | Gungahlin United | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 9 | +2 | 10 |
| 5 | Canberra United Academy | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 11 | -6 | 6 |
| 6 | ANU WFC | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 10 | -6 | 3 |
| 7 | Tuggeranong United | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 15 | -11 | 3 |
| 8 | West Canberra Wanderers | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 15 | -13 | 0 |
TOP SCORERS
6 Brittany PALOMBI (Canberra Croatia), Bessie RIETHMULLER (Belconnen United)
5 Kiera BOBBIN (Belconnen United), Charli MITCHELL (Canberra Croatia), Michaela THORNTON (Canberra Olympic)
3 Tia BURRIDGE (Canberra Olympic), Darby WHITELY (Gungahlin United)
2 Isabella BARAC (Canberra Croatia), Olivia GURNEY (Canberra Olympic), Nicole JALOCHA (Canberra Olympic), Tatum MAZIS (Canberra Croatia), Ginger OLIVER (Gungahlin United), Erika PENNYFIELD (Gungahlin United), Roxie SWART (ANU WFC)
1 Tehya ASPLAND (Canberra Olympic), Latisha BABIC (Canberra United Academy), Ella-Rose BROWN (Gungahlin United), Sharon CHAO (Gungahlin United), Tamara COCHRANE (Canberra United Academy), Alexandra COOK (Canberra Olympic), Rachael CORBETT (Gungahlin United), Natalie DE MARCO (Gungahlin United), Alyssa DI-CAMPLI (Canberra United Academy), Hattie CRAM (Belconnen United), Rhiannon FENSOM (Canberra Croatia), Charli GREGSON (Tuggeranong United), Sarah MATTHEWS (Tuggeranong United), Sheridan MCELLIGOTT (ANU WFC), Alexandra NEALAND (Canberra United Academy), Rainey NILES (Tuggeranong United), Nikita PERRY (West Canberra Wanderers), Madeleine STEINACKER (Belconnen United), Sarah WHITFIELD (West Canberra Wanderers), Madelyn WHITTALL (Canberra Olympic), Elisha WILD (Canberra United Academy), Juliet WILLIAMS (ANU WFC), Zoe WILLIAMS (Tuggeranong United), Reilly YUEN (Belconnen United), Jasmine ZABEL (Canberra Olympic)
