All of NSW’s best women’s teams are finally in action this week, meaning all your winter favourites are back on the pitch! Beyond90 takes a look at another classic NSW NPL Women’s match in this week’s wrap.
Match of the Round: Sydney Olympic vs Manly United
Sydney Olympic opened its 2021 NSW NPL Women’s campaign with a nervy 2-2 draw against Manly United at Belmore Sports Ground on Sunday night.
Early goals to Remy Siemsen and Kahli Johnson weren’t enough to seal the victory for Manly, as first Jess Frampton and later Angelique Hristodoulou squared the ledger for the home side.
Despite having to wait four weeks to start their season, Olympic were the faster of the two sides out of the gates, although young defender Matilda McNamara will be kicking herself for not doing better with her early set-piece header.
Olympic was made to pay for that profligacy almost immediately – even if through a hefty slice of bad fortune – as Charlotte McLean rifled her defensive clearance straight into the shins of Siemsen, leaving her to watch the ball fizz through a forest of bodies and into the net.
Olympic fired back almost immediately, as skipper Teresa Polias drilled a low free kick into the Manly penalty area, evading defenders and allowing Frampton to tuck home from point-blank range within 90 seconds of the opener.
Manly had its lead back only five minutes later, after wingback Emily Minett’s cross found its way to Johnson’s feet, leaving the young winger with little to do beyond sliding her shot under the advancing Jada Whyman.
Olympic almost equalised eight minutes after the break, with Taylor Ray expertly splitting Manly’s centre-halves to find Claudia Cholakian in behind, but her shot was millimetres wide of the far post – much to the relief of the outstretched Manly keeper Nicole Simonsen.
And the home side would find a leveller just beyond the hour mark through Hristodoulou, side-footing her spot kick inside the right-hand post after Ally Green’s clumsy tackle on Aimee Philips gave the officials little option but to award the penalty.
Manly could have secured all three points in stoppage time, but despite beating Hristodoulou for pace and strength, Johnson couldn’t find any one of her four teammates streaming into the Olympic penalty area, passing tamely to a grateful Whyman.
Sydney Olympic 2 (Jess Frampton 14′ Angelique Hristodoulou 63’p)
Manly United 2 (Remy Siemsen 13′ Kahli Johnson 19′)
Around the Grounds
Football NSW Institute 1 Blacktown Spartans 0
Northern Tigers 3 Sydney University 0
Macarthur Rams 4 Bankstown City 0
NW Sydney Koalas 3 Emerging Jets 1
APIA Leichhardt 2 Illawarra Stingrays 2
