2023 NSW NPL Women’s Wrap – Round 15

We’re down to the final four (well, five technically) in the inaugural Sapphire Cup, and every NPL Women’s club is back to full strength after the recent international break. What a time! In this week’s wrap, we’re looking back at incredible assists, unexpected twists, and opportunities missed.

This season Beyond 90 will take a look at the big talking points across the league every week, all the way up to the Big Dance in September.

The Schoolkids’ Derby

With the exception of the Inner West Festival of Football, grand final day, and now the Sapphire Cup final, the NPL Women’s matches most guaranteed to provide chaos and excitement every season are whenever Emerging Jets take on Football NSW Institute. Having featured a total of 64 goals since 2017, these two teams have never played a scoreless draw in their shared history, and only one match in the past four has seen either side keep a clean sheet.

This season’s second edition of the Schoolkids’ Derby was no different, and despite Institute being at full strength after their players’ recent exertions in South Korea and Vietnam, the Novocastrians took the lead halfway through the first stanza through Brinley Gentle, weaseling her way between two defenders before calmly chipping goalkeeper Tahlia Franco. Institute certainly weren’t spooked by that though – and nor would you expect them to be – instead taking the lead after the break, equalising through an incredible long-range effort by Shereen Karnib before Alessandra Valle’s unmarked header put them a goal ahead with 20 minutes to play.

Gentle however hadn’t had her final say, and after Josie Allan sent Institute defender Megan Mifsud for hotdogs with a glorious drop-of-the-shoulder and cutback, the Jets number nine earned her team a share of the points, her strength and footwork enough to do away with her defender and score the Jets’ second. It was a point well earned for the home side, and although they stay rooted to the foot of the table, coach Sam Griffin will have been pleased with both his teams effort and execution ahead of the long road trip to Wollongong next week.

Letting one slip… or two

On the topic of late equalisers in 2-2 draws, we would be remiss not to mention the fate of Bulls Academy in their match against APIA Leichhardt this weekend past. Hosting their first home match at Edensor Park in Sydney’s south-west, Bulls took the lead just before half time through Peta Trimis, before extending their advantage in first-half stoppage time through former Western Sydney Wanderers striker-turned-defender Liz Grey. 

Having dominated possession and attacking opportunities in the first 45, APIA returned to the pitch like women possessed, and none moreso than Isabella Habuda, whose stunning dipping volley left Bulls skipper Trudy Simmons with buckleys and no chance in goal, nestling inside the far post much to Habuda’s delight. Not content to sit back on their laurels, APIA turned on the style for their second: NSW NPLW leading scorer Ashlie Crofts turned between Bulls’ defence and midfield before moving the ball into space and dropping the hammer on an exquisite low drive that fizzed beyond Simmons for a share of the points.

Although APIA continue to lead the competition and remain undefeated this campaign, the club will be disappointed to have needed such a spectacular comeback, and to have only taken two points from as many matches against Bulls. For the home side though, they can only hope next time to remember that famous Texan saying: “fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice… we won’t be fooled again.” Truly words to live by.

A proper Cupset!

We’ve mentioned before the struggles of Sydney University this season as the club comes to terms with the dispersion of talent across the league. With former players such as Rola Badawiya, Sarah Morgan (both NWS Spirit), and Emma Ilijoski (Belconnen United), taking their talents elsewhere, the team has struggled to recapture the success of years prior and are currently languishing in 12th place with just two wins in NPL Women’s this season.

With a record such as that heading into their Sapphire Cup Sixth Round tie at home against Macarthur Rams, it was no wonder that the visitors were heavy favourites in most fans’ minds. However, the beauty of knockout football is that every underdog can have its day, a message University seemingly took to heart as they took the lead through this author’s Queen of the Week Tayla Agostino on the quarter-hour mark.

Defending stoutly against a youthful Rams outfit, University eked out what some would consider a lucky 1-0 win to book a trip down the tramlines to Lambert Park to face league-leaders APIA Leichhardt. The truth however is that University deserved to progress, and although their performance bore few hallmarks of their previous free-flowing football, the nil in the away team’s column was just reward for a hard defensive shift, and the result will steel their nerves ahead of their semi-final fixture.

Sapphire Cup semi-finals:
APIA Leichhardt v Sydney University
Central Coast Mariners/Northern Tigers v Gladesville Ravens

Around The Grounds
Sunday 18 June
Sydney Olympic 4 Blacktown Spartans 0 at Peter Moore Field
Bulls Academy 2 APIA Leichhardt 2 at Edensor Park
Manly United 0 Illawarra Stingrays 0 at Cromer Park
Emerging Jets 2 Football NSW Institute 2 at Lake Macquarie RFF
Macarthur Rams 3 NWS Spirit 1 at Lynwood Park
Gladesville Ravens 1 Bankstown City 1 at Christie Park
Northern Tigers 1 Sydney University 0 at North Turramurra Rec Area

Top Scorers
14 – Ashlie Crofts (APIA Leichhardt)
11 – Kelli Brown (Macarthur Rams)
10 – Morgan Roberts (NWS Spirit)