Both Capital Football NPLW Preliminary Finalists had strong claims coming into this match, with Canberra Olympic‘s late-season run of wins in the lead-in to finals, and Canberra Croatia pushing the undefeated Belconnen United all the way in the Qualifying Final.
We headed to the Riverside Stadium (Stryda Park) for all the action!
For an alternate review, check out the Capital Football article from Sam Watson.
Preliminary Final: Belconnen United vs Canberra Croatia
Finals form can be a fickle beast: last weekend, Canberra Croatia matched the undefeated premiers in the first half before a forced change conspired to tip the balance of the game away from them. On the same day, Canberra Olympic didn’t play their best game in sneaking past a determined yet understrength Gungahlin United.
One week on, and an inspired first half period of intelligent rotation in the Canberra Olympic forward line gave them the initial edge, with another sublime moment granting them passage to the grand final despite a gutsy Canberra Croatia comeback.
We discovered before the game that Bella Barac, Canberra Croatia’s number 10, had somehow played through the last game despite a fractured tibia. In plaster, she was unavailable for this contest, while coach Musie Elongo also started with a tactical change in his backline, moving EJ Norris into centre-back to partner Luella Coleman, while Nadia Zakman took on a wingback role.
There were no surprises in the Canberra Olympic lineup, with the flexible Liana Alves taking the defensive holding midfield role and Jane Vanzino playing just ahead of her, ostensibly alongside Madison Cachia. Both teams lined up with four at the back.
‘Ostensibly?’, you ask? Cachia was pivotal to Olympic’s dominance in the first half hour, rotating at will with Tatum Mazis and Nicole Kaleb in the central striker position, and ghosting unannounced behind at other times, with Vanzino also joining the party. Perhaps the Canberra Croatia defensive personnel change was partly responsible – Hannah Bourke would enter the game at centre-back at 2-0 down – but the rotation and movement caused all sorts of early trouble for the team in red.
Capitalising with plenty of ball in their front third, captain Katrina Peric powerfully headed Mazis’ back post corner onto Ellie Summers’ crossbar, as the ball bounced down fiercely behind the goal-line in the 18th minute.
The lead was doubled just a minute later as Cachia received a wall pass from Kaleb and broke down the right flank, centring for Mazis just outside the six-yard box, who made no mistake, sending the ball into the roof of the net.
Bourke’s entry into the game coincided with a gradual settling of the Canberra Croatia team into proceedings, aided by Summers’ fantastic short-range save in the 37th minute off Vanzino after some fine lead-up work by Cachia and Mazis. (Not to be outdone, opposing keeper Janet King would go on to do something similar in the second period of extra time, denying Reilly Yuen).
Michaela Thornton’s perfectly placed top-right corner strike from 20 yards out just before half-time to make it 2-1 set the game up tantalisingly, and the gathered crowd wouldn’t be disappointed with what unfolded.
Yuen’s entry to the game close to the hour mark signalled another uptick in fortunes for Canberra Croatia. Following successive corners, her throw-in to April Hill was quickly moved to Riley McQueenie in the Olympic box, and then to Berkeley to shoot. While her first attempt was forgettable, the second was true, sliding under King to level the game.
Maddy Whittall and Olivia Gurney added energy to the Canberra Olympic attack in the last 15 minutes of the half, as chances now presented themselves at either end of the field. None were to bear fruit, however, and with the floodlights on and the temperature dropping, the game entered two periods of extra time.
Miro took the game by the scruff of the neck in the fourth minute of the first period of extra time, sliding past Coleman on the left edge of the CCFC penalty box and unleashing a wonderstrike in the top right corner of the net. This moment of pure quality lifted her team for the rest of the match, which Olympic largely managed to control until the final whistle confirmed their win.
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2025 was a fine season for the new CCFC coaching team of Musie Elongo and Nik Brozinic, one in which they boosted the playing stocks of the squad to a level of depth not seen at the club for several seasons. They managed to add in a mix of experience and youth, with players like Tiana Boots, Ellie Summers, Riley McQueenie, Luella Coleman, and EJ Norris thriving, thanks in part to some of the older heads around them.
If there was a lot to like about how CCFC went about this season, their opponent will also stand a little taller after their performance in this preliminary final. The level of winning experience in the Olympic squad is one point of difference they have over the undefeated Blue Devils, and we know coach Frank Cachia will leave no stone unturned in preparing his charges for the final trophy on offer this season: the fourth successive grand final between Canberra Olympic and Belconnen United.
>>> Full match timeline and team line-ups can be found here <<<
Final score:
Canberra Olympic 3 (Katrina Peric 18′, Tatum Mazis 19′, Tianah Miro 94′ (extra time period 1))
Canberra Croatia 2 (Michaela Thornton 46′, Jamie Berkeley 61′)
Next up: Grand Final
