NPLW
ANUWFC 0 - Canberra Olympic 1
ANU WFC and Canberra Olympic offered the neutral viewer a great battle at ANU South Oval, that was decided only by a superb goal by the player of the week in the Capital, Maddison Cachia. Rob Illingworth demonstrated again the depth of talent in his squad, with the University club giving the reigning champions a run for their money despite key players missing.
Without Roxie Swart, Ailish McDonagh, or Aoibheann MacLochlainn, the home team showed up with the same aggressivity, intensity and ease ball to feet, as they have all season, once again only failing to find the back of the net in crucial moments.
In a first half where both teams did well to neutralise each other, only a genius inspiration could break the deadlock. It came from Olympic’s youngster Cachia five minutes before the break. A duel won on the touch line, a look at the goalkeeper’s position, and the midfielder perfectly lobbed her ball to dip behind Claire Joseph and under the crossbar. She nearly recorded a brace too, skying an attempt from the edge of the box minutes later.
The home team came back from the break with the same intentions and tried time and time again to trump Janet King’s vigilance. Unfortunately, when King was not parrying away shoot from narrow angle or point-blank headers, her crossbar was in the way of Sheridan McElligott’ s free kick. Olympic had their fair share of chances too in the second act, but Joseph too was in form.
NPLW Reserves
ANUWFC 1 - Canberra Olympic 3
State League 1
ANUWFC 0 - South Canberra 1
Frustrating game and prepare for salt. Australian football is on the up we are competing across all competitions. However, when an SL1 team doesn't try and play the ball instead just kicking it out when you have the numbers to play it out, you do yourselves and Australian football a disservice.
The old adage of “when in doubt kick it out” should die! PLAY THE BALL! We dominated the game but couldn’t capitalise and copped a sucker punch.
Rant over look forward to our next game.
State League 2
ANUWFC 2 - Bellamonaro 1
ANU WFC came into this fixture confident after handing Bellamonaro a defeat earlier in the season. It was a beautiful day for football at Riverside Stadium, which the ANU WFC players took full advantage of.
ANU WFC looked like the more dominant side throughout the whole game, however, nothing was going our way in the first half and the half ended 0-1. The message at half time was to embrace the challenge and to steal the game with 2 goals against a physical side.
Second half was similar in that ANU WFC was dominant. The first goal was from Sophie R who showed bravery and took on half the team to score a brilliant individual goal with her left foot. With continuous pressure, ANU WFC found the winner through Suk who showed great effort to tap the ball in from a corner.
Great turn around from ANU WFC where their efforts were awarded from the local taco shop!
State League 3
Bye
State League 4 Runaways
ANUWFC 7 - Yass FC 0
Games against Yass are normally hard, bruising affairs. Add to that the dread of a road trip to play them on their own turf, you get our trepidation going into this game.
We got the better of Yass 4-1 when we met them on our turf two months ago, and we were quietly confident we could bring home all 3pts this time as well. Our tactics were simple - use space, pace and teamwork to counter Yass's superior strength. And with Josie getting a hat-trick in the first 30 minutes, we seemed to be on to something as Yass struggled to counter our attack.
The second half saw Yass launch a few raids on our goal, which only inspired others to get in on the goal fest with Laura finishing a good cut back; Ro getting a brace; and Josie scoring a fourth with her first involvement of the second half.
Post match celebrations included home made cake, lemon tart and crocheted cupcakes for our birthday girls Lia and Bridget, before returning to Canberra for mid-season dinner at the Harcourt Inn.
Big shout out to Alivia for making sure things were played in the spirit of the game, as well as long-term member (and much loved) Gigi who underwent surgery while we played for a wrist injury acquired at training the week before.
State League 4 Strollers
ANUWFC 5 - Tuggeranong United 0
It was with trepidation that the Strollers took the field for their second clash of the season against Tuggeranong. Always ones to rest on their laurels, the Strollers have a habit of counting their wins against “easy teams” before the matches have even started.
Suggestions to mix up positions were eschewed in favour of the standard formation, which was lucky as Tuggeranong had clearly spent every waking hour since their 11-0 defeat to the Strollers at the start of the season training, resulting in a much more even match up.
An absolute belter of a goal from Holly kicked off proceedings, and took the Strollers to 1-0 up. A foul just outside the 18 yard box almost resulted in a goal to Loz, however Kate just had to put her foot on it to ensure it made it past the keeper.
The second half saw an adjustment to positioning and a bolstering of the midfield, with the Wall of Loz™️ moving up to the mids and the strikers following in every ball.
Kate was determined to get a header goal, imitating a gazelle at one point - such was her graceful leap. Tragically she was rewarded with only the threat of a punch to the head from Tuggeranong’s keeper.
In the absence of Sarah, more people were allowed time with the ball, meaning Dhigna scored a cracking goal from in the box (we all know how she loves to play in a box), Lauren D netted a beauty, and Kate managed a goal of her own (on top of her previously stolen one).
Merissa and Clare were also nearby when the goals were scored and were integral to the victory. As always, the backline was formidable, despite CC having to touch the ball several times.
The Tuggeranong keeper employed a “studs up, slide save” approach that seemed not just excessive, but downright dangerous. Unfortunately for her, it wasn’t enough to stop the mighty Strollers.
BY THE NUMBERS
Score: ANUWFC 5 - Tuggeranong United 0
Wind chill: -37
Screaming toddlers on sideline: way less than usual
State League 5 Braids
ANUWFC 1 - Lanyon FC 0
Braids started very strongly, dominating the first half in terms of possession, field position, and chances created - if not on the score line. But a cross by Georgie found Emily on the end of it for a 1-0 scoreline at the half. Braids would be a little disappointed to finish the half only 1 ahead.
The second half was a much more even affair, with the game and possession being played mostly in Lanyon's half, but about the equal amount of chances with Lanyon counter attacking much better in the 2nd half.
Lanyon hit one into the post. Braids had a few good chances as well.
Both teams created but missed chances leaving the score 1-0 to ANUWFC Braids.
State League 5 Scooters
ANUWFC 2 - Belnorth Blobfish 1
Most footballers have their own pre game rituals and idiosyncrasies and the Scooters are no different, some of us eat the same meal at the exact same time before each game, some of us always have to be late for the game and one of us *ahem* enjoys a very thorough pre game warm-up by running a half marathon right before a game.
The Scooters were headed into their week 10 matchup against Belnorth after a cold-afflicted week knocking out 3 players during the week, who bravely still came down to Kaleen with hoodies below their jerseys and tissues a plenty. With seemingly half the team overseas in Europe, reinforcements from Div 6 were brought in with Jes and Stas coming in to shore up our attack and defence.
Charlotte started the game in goals for the Scooters, helping to fill the sizable gloves temporarily vacated by Elise. Bringing her usual neverending positive commentary, Charlotte was well protected by the evere-assured centre back pairing of Tash and Emily T. As someone relatively new to football, Emily T showed off a new trick she’s learnt recently performing an unorthodox stepover when she held her ground against the opposition striker twice her size, causing the striker to fall over. Hearing no whistle and seeing the ball next to the fallen striker, Emily T ‘stepped over’ the striker to take the ball and drive forward. See, it’s never too late to learn new tricks! In this game, we decided to push our wingbacks up early and often, with Kirsten, Claire, Stas and later Charlotte, advancing forward in support of our wingers throughout the game. Clearly inspired by Charlotte’s goal from the weekend before, Kirsten, Claire and Stas impressively all had shots on goal during the game, with Claire’s effort looking destined for top bins only to be denied by the post - a goal from a defender being an ultimate goal for many a defender.
In truth, the first half was a bit of a slog for the Scooters. While Belnorth did not threaten us a lot, we found it difficult to break through their stout defence. Both their centre backs stuck tightly to Connor like gum in hair, while our wingers found it difficult to burst through on what was a slow and wet field at Kaleen. Still, Gini was able to dance her way past the opposition fullback on a couple of occasions and create our best chances of the half with a couple crosses and shots from the right wing, with Beth almost being on the end of one of them coming in from the opposite wing. In midfield, we were often chasing a lot of balls as Belnorth were happy to sit in a block and clear any balls forward for their taller forwards to contest, bypassing the midfield completely. Penny and Liv were eventually able to settle in the base of midfield to help the defence with the long balls and help launch our own attacks. Saf and Sarah progressed the ball forward well in their central attacking midfield roles, but it was difficult to find time and space for our team in front of the opposition goal. Rose came on on the wing and immediately started running and running, helping advance the ball and make runs forward, with her seemingly endless running, maybe she should take up long-distance running tbh, but probably start with a 5k or something.
The message at halftime was one of patience and to continue with what we were doing or in less words: ‘trust the process’. The second half started brightly as Jes and Stas continued to threaten from the wings and our wingbacks continued to push forward to support the search for a breakthrough. Finally, in the 63rd minute, our efforts were finally rewarded as Stas crossed in from a less than favoured right wing position, finding Connor just outside the box, who put a foot right through it and blasted us into the lead. The shift in momentum was clear as we continued to push forward and another ball forward from Tash found Rose in the middle just outside the box and with a deft touch, squeezed past the centre backs and found herself with the left side of goal to aim at as the keeper stood rooted. 2-0 on the 67’ minute mark. Rose with the power move of subbing off right after scoring, seemingly finally exhausted after all the running, maybe running isn’t her thing? With a 2-0 lead and the sun suddenly appearing and shining, Catie donned her hoodie and jumped on at centre back to help us see out the win by blocking a goal bound shot with what initially appeared to be her head but was her shoulder. Unfortunately, while a cross from Belnorth to an offside player who then handled the ball led to a consolation goal finding its way past Gini in goal, this was a game of resilience and determination. I cannot even begin to count the number of centre back pairings used in this game due to the need to manage game time. Despite the slightly slow start and difficult conditions, the Scooters stayed positive and kept pushing and playing the football we want to play. Onto the next! Scoot scoot!
Goals: Connor, Rose
State League 6 Sharkies
ANUWFC 6 - Gungahlin United 0
State League 6 Kartapillars
ANUWFC 2 - Majura FC Mullets 1
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