With spectacular goals and plenty of close contests, this weekend’s NSW NPL action was a perfect way to celebrate Female Football Week (although for Beyond 90, every week is Female Football Week).
For our featured game, we chose an intriguing matchup between near neighbours Sydney University and APIA Leichhardt.
Sydney University v APIA Leichhardt
In front of a healthy crowd at Sydney University Football Ground, The Students passed a tough early season test, defeating APIA Leichhardt 2-0 with goals from Taren King and Holly Caspers.
The Sydney Uni supporters couldn’t have asked for a better start to the game. Uni recycled possession after a corner kick, and Sarah Morgan’s far post cross was hammered home by King to open the scoring with barely 60 seconds on the clock.
Uni were clearly in the mood and doubled their lead with less than seven minutes played. Ashley Irwin’s long pass released Cushla Rue down the right flank, and although Rue’s cross was slightly behind Caspers, the no. 7 adjusted brilliantly, volleying into the top corner.
APIA responded immediately after the second goal, creating two chances in quick succession. Shea Connors collected a pinpoint switch of play from Princess Ibini, but was denied by Brianna Oliverio’s brilliant block, and mere seconds later an Ibini header was deflected wide.
Just past the quarter hour, Uni’s Canberra United connection nearly combined for a third goal. Emma Ilijoski crossed from the left side and found Caspers in plenty of space, however the shot couldn’t get through a crowd of APIA defenders.
This early flurry of action was followed by a period where defences were on top. Sydney Uni’s back three of King, Irwin and Gabrielle Peak stood firm against opposition attacks, while APIA’s central defensive duo of Claudia Cicco and Tori Tumeth matched up well against Caspers and Rola Badawiya.
With halftime approaching, APIA goalkeeper Sophie Magus had to be quick off her line, stopping Caspers after the speedster raced clear of the defence. Then in first half stoppage time, APIA had a couple of chances, with Rhianna Pollicina heading straight at Courtney Newbon and Ibini firing across the face of goal from a very acute angle.
The Students were quicker out of the blocks at the start of the second half. Three minutes after the restart, Morgan dispossessed Connors and fired wide of the target, then a minute later Badawiya couldn’t quite reach a right wing cross from Caspers. Badawiya was performing well in her first start for Sydney Uni, and just before the hour mark she made space and tested Magus from the edge of the area.
As the game progressed and APIA continued to push for goals, Tumeth would frequently move forward from central defence and join attacking moves. However, Sydney Uni maintained their defensive structure under this increased APIA pressure, with Hannah Jones and Brianna Oliverio working hard to shield the Uni backline.
Uni would turn to their bench in the second period and on 73 minutes two of their substitutes, Annabel Martin and Maxine Peak, combined to set up Caspers, but the angle was too tight for her to trouble Magus in the APIA goal. Not long after that, APIA had two chances in the space of a minute, as Pollicina fired over and then Connors forced a save from 20 yards out.
In the final minutes, Sarah Hunter took over from Tumeth as the APIA defender who would step into midfield when the visitors had possession, but despite this late charge Uni maintained discipline and recorded their second clean sheet of the campaign.
Sydney University move up into fourth place as a result of their victory on Sunday. APIA are in seventh, but it’s still early in the campaign – the Inner West side are only three points off joint leaders Northern Tigers and Blacktown Spartans. Both of these teams are at home in Round 6, with Uni hosting Bankstown City and APIA returning to Lambert Park for a meeting with Football NSW Institute.
Elsewhere, Northern Tigers defeated Macarthur Rams in a top-of-the-table clash and NWS Spirit came back from a 3-1 deficit to draw 3-3 with Manly United. Sydney Olympic won big over Emerging Jets and the Spartans snuck past Bankstown City by a single goal, while Institute and Illawarra Stingrays couldn’t be separated.
Sydney University 2 (King 2’, Caspers 7’)
APIA Leichhardt 0
Sydney University: Courtney Newbon, Gabrielle Peak (Annabel Martin 54’), Ashley Irwin, Taren King (c), Cushla Rue (Maxine Peak 67’), Brianna Oliverio, Hannah Jones, Emma Ilijoski, Sarah Morgan, Rola Badawiya (Kate Stanbridge 87’), Holly Caspers
Unused subs: Georgia Boric, Holly Duncan, Tara Baudana
APIA Leichhardt: Sophie Magus, Deborah-Anne de la Harpe, Claudia Cicco, Tori Tumeth (Estelle Fragale 71’), Kaitlin Kiparizov, Sarah Hunter, Leah Davidson, Rhianna Pollicina (c) (Maddie Mirkovic 87’), Shea Connors, Sophie Hoban, Princess Ibini
Unused subs: Jess Urquhart, Zoe Halpin, Isabella Coco-Di Sipio
Around the Grounds
Sydney Olympic 5-0 Emerging Jets
Bankstown City 0-1 Blacktown Spartans
Football NSW Institute 1-1 Illawarra Stingrays
Manly United 3-3 NWS Spirit
Northern Tigers 1-0 Macarthur Rams
Table
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Northern Tigers | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 10 |
| 2 | Blacktown Spartans | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 10 |
| 3 | Macarthur Rams | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 4 | 7 | 9 |
| 4 | Sydney University | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 9 |
| 5 | Sydney Olympic | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 7 |
| 6 | Manly United | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 7 |
| 7 | APIA Leichhardt | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 9 | 2 | 7 |
| 8 | Bankstown City | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 11 | 8 | 3 | 6 |
| 9 | Football NSW Institute | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | -2 | 2 |
| 10 | Illawarra Stingrays | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | -3 | 1 |
| 11 | NWS Spirit | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 16 | -10 | 1 |
| 12 | Emerging Jets | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 14 | -13 | 0 |
