Ben Gilby provides a full report from the game of the week plus all the details from the other matches in Western Australia’s NPL Women’s competition (19/6/23).
Above: Fremantle City’s match winner Laura Waltman, seen here in action against Hyundai NTC earlier in the season. Photo: Football West.
Main report of the week:
Fremantle City 3-2 Balcatta Etna
Laura Waltman’s goal with a minute of regular time remaining sealed a dramatic victory for second place Fremantle City, who played the final eight minutes of the second half with only 10 players after Jamie-Lee Gale was sent off for two bookable offences.
Waltman’s strike, her second of the afternoon ensured a vital win in the context of the season as it kept Freo within striking distance of Perth RedStar at the top of the table, with the gap between the sides remaining at four points.
Both sides went into this match with key players out of the starting line-up. For the hosts, Abbey Green was out of the squad totally, and for Balcatta, Tia Stonehill was on the bench.
Freo took command and forced a flurry of early corners on the right – a flank on which they focussed all their early attacks, with Tash Rigby and Jamie-Lee Gale particularly prominent in this period.
It took the visitors around 10 minutes to get a foothold in the game. Fremantle kept pushing Balcatta back, and as hard as Tim Cash’s side were working, and they were fighting hard, they were smothered and found it hard to get over the halfway line.
Despite their domination of possession, Freo found it hard to create clear-cut opportunities. They gained a free-kick when Emily Roach fouled Laura Waltman. Catherine Adams’ set piece led to a scrimmage in the box that the visitors finally cleared
With 25 minutes played, Stonehill was introduced to offer her side an attacking outlet. The visitors were battling and forced Fremantle into three successive poor passes which saw them gain territory with a throw-on parallel with the 18-yard box on the right touchline.
However, the hosts created two great chances within 60 seconds. First, youngster Olivia Trueman saw a header bounce off the top of the bar into the welcoming arms of Balcatta goalkeeper Gabby Dal Busco, then Carys Hawkins’ cross on the right fell for Nina Boorman whose shot was just wide.
Waltman, always impressive for Freo, began to show her skills with a superb win of possession, run, and a centimetre-perfect long pass out to the right wing.
The final opportunity of the opening half fell Balcatta’s way as Sadie Lawrence’s effort came back off the bar with Fremantle keeper Dayle Schroeder beaten.
Waltman’s skill was on show on the hour mark as the port city side finally took the lead with a lofted shot that Dal Busco could only help into the net with her fingertips.
At this stage, Freo were on top again, and with 19 minutes remaining, Trueman went on a superb run along the left before cutting in to supply a pass for Gale to cross in. Kiama nodded across for Mikayla Lyons, on as a substitute, to direct an effort goalwards, but Dal Busco repelled excellently.
Then came a crazy spell of four goals and a sending-off in the last 18 minutes. First, the visitors levelled as a ball over the top released Monique Prinsloo, who headed into the net.
Parity lasted just three minutes as Gale rounded Dal Busco to restore Freo’s lead, and received her first yellow card in the aftermath. The former Perth Glory player received her second yellow seven minutes later when she tugged out at Epril Nossent outside the box.
Whilst the resulting free kick from Kimberley McCartney curled over the top, Balcatta were level with four minutes remaining. Stonehill received the ball at the end of a one-two with Lauren Continibali and ran through in trademark style before slotting home a cool finish into the corner of the net.
Yet the drama was not over, and it was the impressive Waltman who claimed a sensational winner with the clock edging towards the 90th minute. Taking up possession, Waltman drove forward, getting past the close attentions of two Balcatta defenders and dispatching the ball into the net from an acute angle on the right.
The NPLW WA keeps delivering late drama this season with changes in leads and goals at the death. This was another thriller, and in claiming a late goal, Fremantle City just about kept the race for the top of the ladder alive.
Teams: FREMANTLE CITY: Schroeder, Osborne, Adams, Leek, Boorman, Kiama, Rigby, Waltman, Hawkins, Trueman, Gale. Substitutes: McCulloch, Spatafore, Lyons, Boyle.
Scorers: Waltman 60′, 89. Gale 75′.
BALCATTA ETNA: Dal Busco, Doust, McCartney, Davis, Continibali, Lawrence, M. D’Opera, Nossent, Roach, Mohammed Zainurrafiq, Prinsloo. Substitutes: Bulgaru, Bricklebank, Stonehill, Hocking, Comito.
Scorers: Prinsloo 72′, Stonehill 86′.
Weekly Wrap
Murdoch University Melville 3-3 Perth SC
Round 11 kicked off on Friday night. For the second Friday in a row, Murdoch University Melville (MUM FC) hosted a fellow top-four contender, for the second Friday in a row it turned into a six-goal thriller, and for the second Friday in a row, there was late drama.
If that was not enough, for the second week in a row, Perth SC came back from a losing position to salvage a point in stoppage time at the end of 90 minutes.
Perth SC went ahead on 39 minutes when Cameron Barreiro’s corner from the right was met with a thumping header from Poppie Hooks, unmarked in the centre of the 18-yard box, which bounced under the dive of home goalkeeper Stacey Cavill.
Murdoch University Melville levelled eight minutes into the second period as Jess Johnson was found on the left wing and saw her deflected cross fell kindly for Sophie Meaden who squared the ball from an acute angle on the byline which squirmed beneath the feet of Azzurri goalkeeper Rebecca Bennett.
Within four minutes MUM FC hit the front when Bennett’s clearance went to a red shirt and a perfectly weighted through ball found Sam Mathers who provided a deadly finish from the edge of the box.
However, Perth SC grabbed a lifeline with just under 20 minutes remaining as a low ball came across from the right, and after a couple of failures to grab possession, Stella Zampogna smashed a glorious effort first time high and handsome into the right-hand corner of the net.
The see-saw nature of the drama at Besteam Stadium continued as the hosts hit the front once more with just a minute of normal time remaining. Sophie Meaden fed Mathers through the middle, and she didn’t need to be asked twice to crash in a low shot from the edge of the box to score what the home fans must have thought was the winner.
However, Perth SC have shown on several occasions this season that they are not beaten until the final whistle goes. Five minutes into stoppage time at the end of the game, three Azzurri players swarmed Mathers in possession, eventually forcing turnover ball. Ella Lincoln pulled in a low cross from the right which fell perfectly for the onrushing substitute Iona Mitchell to stroke home from close range.
Murdoch University Melville will be devastated to have let the lead slip so late. Whilst Perth will conversely be pleased to salvage a point, it is Perth RedStar who are the real winners as their big win over Curtin University on Sunday extended their stranglehold over these two sides.
Hyundai NTC 3-1 Subiaco
The NTC earned only their second win in the last six matches to reignite their top-four hopes at E&D Litis Stadium on Sunday.
The talented teenagers had the bulk of the efforts on goal and went ahead with 17 minutes played as Violet Longmore played a low ball out to Maja Archibald on the left flank. Archibald supplied Grace Johnston who curled a sensational effort into the top right-hand corner of the net past the despairing dive of Subi goalkeeper Marissa Pidgeon.
However, the home side’s lead lasted only six minutes as Savannah Olsthoorn broke through on the left to pull a ball over for former Perth Glory star Marianna Tabain to hit a first-time shot into the net as Subiaco pulled level.
NTC restored their lead with 25 minutes remaining when Ischia Brooking, freshly returned from Junior Matildas duty, took up possession and drove through the middle of the park before hitting a low shot from long distance that squirmed under the reach of Pidgeon and in.
The icing on the cake came three minutes into added time at the end of the match with a stunning goal from Tanika Lala. The move began when Nelli Johnson played in Johnston along the right who crossed into the box. Lala was positioned centrally and able to chest the ball down, turn, and shoot into the net. Another brilliant piece of skill to include in the increasingly bulging scrapbook of the Goldfields’ star.
Perth RedStar 11-0 Curtin University
League leaders Perth RedStar gained their expected big win over strugglers Curtin University on Sunday. It was comprehensive stuff with the defending champions racking up 38 shots on target and 12 corners with Curtin failing to gain one.
RedStar hit the front with less than two minutes played as Quyen Doan was allowed to run along the left, cut in, and advance along the by-line to fire home. It was 2-0 just over 10 minutes later as Renee Leota took advantage of loose defending to stroke home.
Jay Coleman made it three on the 17-minute mark when she headed home from a corner on the right. Within moments, Olivia Wood grabbed her first of the afternoon with a cool finish from the right-hand side of the box.
Chiori Ikeda added a fifth on 24 minutes when she was found in the box and able to turn and shoot home. Three minutes before the break, Leota was found in the centre of the area and tapped home confidently when she was found by the pass.
It became 7-0 within five minutes of the restart as Sarah Carroll’s low ball in from the right was dispatched calmly into the net by Reina Kagami. Wood grabbed her second when she was in the right place at the right time to direct the ball in after Leota’s original shot had crashed off of the post.
Abbey Woolley increased the lead further within three minutes of coming on as sub to conclude a move of superb one-touch passing football that dissected the Curtin defence, allowing the RedStar youngster to take the ball around Curtin keeper Danielle Petch and calmly roll it into the net.
Leota completed her hat-trick to make it double figures with 14 minutes remaining as she was played in and lashed home inside the box. The final goal of the afternoon came from Katie Ritchie with four minutes remaining as she turned home fellow sub-Jayna Ridley’s cross from the right.
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