Five into four just won’t go. Sydney University had already sealed the Premiership and Macarthur Rams confirmed their finals participation in Round 21, but there were still three teams fighting for the two remaining postseason places – Northern Tigers, APIA Leichhardt and Sydney Olympic.
Northern Tigers started the weekend in third place on 38 points. APIA were in fourth on 37 points, and Olympic were in fifth on 36 points. Both Tigers and APIA knew victory would be enough to secure a top four spot, while Olympic needed to win and hope either Tigers or APIA dropped points.
On such a pivotal round, we had to cover all three games that would affect the finals race. We started with the late afternoon clash between Northern Tigers and Sydney University.
Northern Tigers v Sydney University
Things didn’t go to plan for the Tigers at North Turramurra Recreation Area.
Sydney University ended their mini losing streak in spectacular fashion, defeating Northern Tigers 4-2 and surpassing the 50 point mark for the 2022 campaign. A Holly Caspers double, plus goals from Rola Badawiya and Cushla Rue, ensured a successful outing for The Students and their 16th victory of the season. The Tigers added respectability to the scoreline with late strikes from Ashlee Brodigan and Abbey Green.
Uni raced out of the blocks and when Ashley Irwin out-jumped the defence in the ninth minute, heading Annabel Martin’s corner kick onto the post, it was a sign of things to come. The visitors had a flurry of chances at the quarter hour mark, with Caspers being denied by Ella Tonkin’s goal line block and a Morgan Aquino save, then winning a penalty. Badawiya stepped up but Aquino came up big, pushing the American’s spot kick to safety.
The Tigers goal was certainly leading a charmed life – from the resulting corner kick, Martin picked out Badawiya and her header hit the post. A minute later, Caspers was the unlucky one to be denied by the frame of the goal, also sending a header off the post after meeting Badawiya’s right wing cross.
A Uni goal just had to arrive and Caspers duly obliged on 40 minutes. Gabrielle Peak found space on the right touchline and played a precise ball behind the Tigers backline, allowing the flying forward to dart into the penalty area and sidefoot past Aquino.
After all those Uni chances, Tigers almost hit back immediately when Josie Wilson overlapped from right back and found Lily McMahon on the edge of the area, but the youngster’s shot rebounded off the crossbar.
Six minutes into the second period, Badawiya atoned for her earlier penalty miss with a stunning dead ball strike. After winning a free kick 25 yards out, the Uni no. 9 fired the ball over the wall and past Aquino to double Uni’s lead.
View this post on Instagram
The game continued to be an open affair – Aquino made impressive one on one saves from Caspers and Badawiya, while Martin cleared a Shadeene Evans header off the goal line at the other end.
Uni made the game safe midway through the second half when Rue won a penalty and displayed impressive confidence to take the spot kick despite having only been on the field for a few minutes, with her shot placed unerringly into the bottom corner.
Two minutes later, it was 4-0. Brianna Oliverio played a neat one-two with Badawiya and split the defence with a through ball – Caspers made no mistake, slotting the ball into the net for her tenth goal of the campaign.
As the wind and rain picked up, Tigers went for broke and were rewarded with two goals in the closing stages. Brodigan showed off her dead ball ability on 90 minutes with a stunning 40 yard free kick which had Uni custodian Courtney Newbon grasping at thin air. Then in the third minute of time added on, Brodigan turned provider by picking out Green with a corner kick, and the Western Australian headed home to make it 4-2.
This result left Tigers looking nervously at the two evening games – events in either Leichhardt or Miranda needed to fall their way for the Tigers to secure a third consecutive finals appearance.
Northern Tigers 2 (Ashlee Brodigan 90′, Abbey Green 90+3′)
Sydney University 4 (Holly Caspers 40′ 70′, Rola Badawiya 51′, Cushla Rue 68′)
APIA Leichhardt v Macarthur Rams
APIA earned their maiden NPL NSW finals appearance with a convincing 2-0 victory at Lambert Park – second half goals from Sarah Hunter and Sophie Hoban helped the Inner West side to leapfrog their opponents on the ladder.
It was the Rams who had the game’s first clear chance. Miku Sunaga stole possession in the third minute and fed Leena Khamis, who made space with a clever drop of the shoulder, but Sarah Langman was equal to the shot. At the other end, Estelle Fragale set up Rhianna Pollicina on 15 minutes, and the resulting 25 yard drive was athletically tipped wide by Sham Khamis.
Pollicina could have been the creator in the 33rd minute when her clever lob found Nicki Flannery racing into the penalty area, however the speedster’s shot lacked the power to trouble Sham Khamis. Three minutes later, it was Macarthur’s turn to go close, with Leena Khamis getting on the end of a Patty Charalambous free kick and sending a tantalising ball across the face of goal – none of her teammates were able to convert. There were more Sham Khamis acrobatics on 38 minutes, as the Rams goalkeeper needed to be at her best to keep Kaitlyn Torpey’s fierce first time shot out of the net.
Early in the second half, Flannery showed quick feet to dance past a tackle and go for goal, but the angle was too acute and Sham Khamis made another save. The contest was finely poised and waiting for a breakthrough – while Flannery wouldn’t end up on the score sheet, she would play a key part in the opening goal.
In the 62nd minute, Flannery gained possession and left players in her wake before delivering a perfect through ball to Fragale, who was brought down inside the area. Hunter took responsibility for the penalty and coolly struck the ball past Sham Khamis’s despairing dive for a 1-0 lead.
Having scored the first goal, Hunter would assist APIA’s second on 74 minutes. The Young Matilda lobbed a pass over the defence and Hoban outmuscled her opponent before squeezing the ball past Sham Khamis – Hoban’s eighth goal in 2022.
The hosts weren’t willing to settle for a two goal lead and nearly scored again with three minutes left in normal time, as Hoban charged into space and set up Shea Connors, only for Sham Khamis to deny the American. Macarthur then thought for a brief moment they had pulled a goal back in stoppage time when Leena Khamis received Laura Murtagh’s pass and forced the ball into the net, but the flag was up for offside.
APIA had sealed second spot and a home semi-final, so Northern Tigers needed to hope that Blacktown Spartans could do them a favour at Seymour Shaw.
APIA Leichhardt 2 (Sarah Hunter 62′, Sophie Hoban 74′)
Macarthur Rams 0
Sydney Olympic v Blacktown Spartans
In the end, Olympic’s crowded end-of-season schedule (nine games in 29 days) proved to be their undoing.
Blacktown Spartans ended a difficult season on a high, winning 3-1 in the rain at Seymour Shaw to ensure that Annie Daczko’s 200th game for the club was a happy one. Spartans and Young Matildas winger Abbey Lemon struck twice in the second half after Alyssa Rose had opened the scoring, meaning that a late Kiara de Domizio goal was mere consolation for Olympic.
Sydney Olympic started brightly, with de Domizio’s 20 yard shot testing Spartans shotstopper Anna Norton in the third minute. Olympic’s high pressing made it tricky for Spartans in the early stages, but the team in orange would turn things their way.
Rosie Galea set up Lemon for a couple of headed chances as the game progressed, and in the final ten minutes of the first half Spartans went close from two dead ball situations – Rose’s 35th minute free kick which clipped the crossbar, and a 30 yard Galea set piece six minutes later which brought the best out of Olympic custodian Kate Anthonisz.
Although Spartans couldn’t capitalise on opportunities before the interval, it didn’t take them long to hit the front when play restarted. Four minutes into the second half, Galea and Bryleeh Henry combined to create a chance for Rose, who finished confidently from eight yards out.
In a role reversal of the game’s opening exchanges, now Spartans were the team pressing high and making it awkward for their opponents. The western Sydney side doubled their advantage with just over 20 minutes left when Lemon rose above the pack to meet Galea’s left wing cross and send a towering header into the net.
Spartans were clearly in the mood for more, and they would find a third goal with a quarter of an hour remaining. Once again Lemon would put her name on the score sheet, sealing the game when her ball from the right sailed over Anthonisz, off the far post and over the line.
Lemon almost set up a goal in stoppage time after she exchanged passes with Henry and crossed from the right side, but Galea couldn’t keep her shot down. Instead it was Olympic who would score in time added on as de Domizio pounced on Norton’s goalkeeping error to finish from close range – it’s been a good week for the young winger on a personal level, with this strike following on from her long range goal four days earlier against Illawarra Stingrays.
Sydney Olympic 1 (Kiara de Domizio 90+3′)
Blacktown Spartans 3 (Alyssa Rose 49′, Abbey Lemon 69′ 75′)
Around the Grounds
(Wednesday) Illawarra Stingrays 3-1 Sydney Olympic
Football NSW Institute 2-0 Bankstown City
Manly United 0-2 Illawarra Stingrays
NWS Spirit 1-0 Emerging Jets
This weekend’s semi-finals
Sat 10 Sep, 6pm: APIA Leichhardt v Macarthur Rams @ Lambert Park
Sun 11 Sep, 6pm: Sydney University v Northern Tigers @ Valentine Sports Park
Table
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Sydney University | 22 | 16 | 3 | 3 | 37 | 14 | 23 | 51 |
| 2 | APIA Leichhardt | 22 | 12 | 4 | 6 | 48 | 25 | 23 | 40 |
| 3 | Macarthur Rams | 22 | 12 | 4 | 6 | 41 | 25 | 16 | 40 |
| 4 | Northern Tigers | 22 | 10 | 8 | 4 | 47 | 28 | 19 | 38 |
| 5 | Sydney Olympic | 22 | 11 | 3 | 8 | 42 | 28 | 14 | 36 |
| 6 | Bankstown City | 22 | 10 | 4 | 8 | 34 | 33 | 1 | 34 |
| 7 | Manly United | 22 | 7 | 10 | 5 | 40 | 33 | 7 | 31 |
| 8 | Illawarra Stingrays | 22 | 8 | 5 | 9 | 35 | 37 | -2 | 29 |
| 9 | NWS Spirit | 22 | 7 | 4 | 11 | 31 | 42 | -11 | 25 |
| 10 | Blacktown Spartans | 22 | 7 | 3 | 12 | 25 | 36 | -11 | 24 |
| 11 | Football NSW Institute | 22 | 4 | 5 | 13 | 19 | 36 | -17 | 17 |
| 12 | Emerging Jets | 22 | 1 | 1 | 20 | 16 | 78 | -62 | 4 |
