It’s somehow already October, and the year seems like it’s gone forever, but finals season is here! Chuck on your hat and grab a delicious cold drink, and join Beyond90 as we look back at the penultimate weekend of football for 2020 in The Premier State.
Saturday: Sydney Olympic vs Manly United
Late goals from Claudia Cholakian and Corinne Winkler saw Manly United complete an incredible second-half comeback to upset Sydney Olympic 3-2 at Peter Moore Field in Belmore on Saturday afternoon.
A brilliant long-range effort from club captain Teresa Polias and a sneaky close-range header from Aimee Philips weren’t enough for Olympic, as Cholakian and Winkler added to Sunny Franco’s first-half equaliser to seal the club’s first NSW NPL Women’s Grand Final appearance in three years.
The defeat will be hard to swallow for George Beltsos’ team, who have now fallen agonisingly short of qualifying for the Big Dance in both their seasons of top-flight football.
Sydney Olympic welcomed Jada Whyman back into the starting line-up, with stand-in goalkeeper Chloe Carmichael moving back to the bench, while Cortnee Vine was preferred to Kiara de Domizio up front after scoring two late goals last week against Blacktown.
Manly meanwhile retained its starting line-up from last week, with the attacking triumvirate of Remy Siemsen, Sunny Franco, and Tara Andrews looking to wreak havoc among Olympic’s tight-knit back three.
With so much at stake, it was no wonder the two sides started at such a frenetic pace; Olympic by and large controlled possession through the opening five minutes, but it wasn’t until Winkler demolished winger Sarah Yatim in a tackle that Olympic would have its first real opportunity, even if Polias’ 25-metre free kick was eventually saved by Nicole Simonsen.
Simonsen was called on again to maintain parity just after the quarter-hour mark, making a brilliant reflex kick-save to deny Jess Frampton’s powerful header from a Polias corner.
Just six minutes later and Olympic finally had the opener; not satisfied with providing assists for teammates, Polias pounced on a misplaced clearance from Simonsen to drill a first-time shot into the unguarded net from all of 40 metres, much to the Manly goalkeeper’s disappointment.
Manly could have squared the ledger just before the half hour through Siemsen, if not for a diving save from Whyman. Dropping deeper to collect possession in midfield, Siemsen turned to play Franco in behind the defence and stormed into the space created by her colleague’s intelligent run, only to fire her shot within Whyman’s reach.
Franco would however equalise moments later, running onto an Andrews flicked header near the centre circle and strong-arming defender Charlotte McLean before whipping a shot into the roof of the net to drag her side level.
That scoreline somehow lasted only six minutes, as Phillips wriggled her way between defenders Ally Green and Nicole Stuart to nod home Julia Vignes’ volleyed cross for her first goal in Olympic colours, giving her side the lead with four minutes of the first 45 to play.
Olympic would have made it three just after the break, if not for an unbelievable Simonsen save – nipping between defenders on the edge of the Manly box, Yatim found herself with only the keeper to beat, but her lashed low shot was heroically palmed away by Simonsen, who immediately sprung up to paw the spinning ball away from her goal line.
Manly’s task seemed to go from difficult to impossible just under ten minutes into the second half, as W-League Golden Boot winner Siemsen went down with a hamstring injury, leaving the visitors without their second-highest scorer heading into the most crucial half-hour of football all year.
The home side had a disaster of their own on the hour mark, as Whyman took what appeared to be a regulation catch-and-roll in the Olympic box, only to stay down clutching her shoulder. Looking to be in a world of pain and unable to continue, Whyman was helped from the field by club medics in only her second game since returning from injury, replaced by the more-than-capable Chloe Carmichael.
Olympic could have iced the game with 20 minutes to play if not for some brilliant defending from Winkler, and some questionable attacking play from Vine. Free down the right wing, Phillips burst into the box only for Vine to make the passing angle impossibly acute at the near post. Phillips however strung a gorgeous square pass across the goal to Yatim, whose shot was only denied by the sliding Winkler, sparing her side’s blushes once again.
Try as Olympic might, they simply couldn’t knock down Simonsen’s door down a third time, and Manly hit back with just over five minutes of regulation time to play; leaving Mackenzie Hawkesby tackling smoke with a neat in-and-away on the right wing, Libby Copus-Brown dinked a sweet lobbed pass to Cholakian at the back post, leaving the midfielder with the simplest of tasks to head home the equaliser.
Manly completed the comeback with three minutes of the 90 to play, through maybe the least-likely of all their outfield players. With Carmichael indecisive on whether or not to come for a Hawkesby corner, Winkler stormed through a sea of bodies to win a strong header which the keeper could only parry, before finishing the job with a close-range volley to steal the win and seal her side’s spot in the Grand Final.
Sydney Olympic 2 (Teresa Polias 21’ Aimee Phillips 41’)
Manly United 3 (Sunny Franco 35’ Claudia Cholakian 84’ Corinne Winkler 87’)
Olympic: Jada Whyman (Chloe Carmichael 59’); Julia Vignes, Emily Kos, Charlotte McLean, Jess Frampton; Angelique Hristodoulou, Teresa Polias; Sarah Yatim, Mackenzie Hawkesby, Aimee Phillips; Cortnee Vine.
Manly: Nicole Simonsen; Ally Green, Cassidy Davis, Corinne Winkler (yellow card 7’); Emily Minett (Kahli Johnson 81’), Libby Copus-Brown, Tara Andrews, Claudia Cholakian (Grace Arnold 90’+3), Nicole Stuart; Sunny Franco (Emily Bastow 89’), Remy Siemsen (Jane Vanzino 54’).
Sunday: Sydney University vs Northern Tigers
A flurry of goals just before full time from its representative contingent helped Sydney University reach its third consecutive NSW NPLW Grand Final, sweeping last year’s championship runners-up Northern Tigers aside 4-0 at Arlington Oval in Dulwich Hill on Sunday afternoon.
Demi Koulizakis’ deflected first-half goal, and late strikes from former Young Matildas midfielders Grace Maher and Clare Wheeler, and former Matildas striker Michelle Heyman, were enough to break the Tigers’ stubborn resistance, robbing Jason Eagar’s side of the chance to exact revenge for last year’s decider.
Going into the contest, Tigers’ coaching staff would have known that – considering both the weight of expectation on their hosts and their miserly defence – breaching the University backline early and holding on to the lead deep into the second half would have been their surest path to an upset victory.
And with the first oppressive rays of Sydney’s summer sun beating down on the synthetic pitch at Arlington Oval, the Tigers started brightly, taking the fight to Uni’s more experienced line-up early on, pinging their wingbacks higher up the pitch and looking to work between the lines to move forward.
University to their credit remained unflustered, calmly passing through the Tigers press to wingers Julie-Ann Russell and Teigan Collister, and to the deeper-dropping Koulizakis, whose distribution from midfield to the flanks aided her team pushing forward and getting in behind the Tigers defence.
Tigers’ task was made somewhat more difficult within the first quarter-hour, as experienced centre-half and captain Ellie Brush dragged down her opponent to stop a breakaway, collecting the first caution of the match from referee Maggie Price, while Irish international Russell couldn’t open the scoring from the succeeding freekick.
Defender Tori Tumeth should have broken the deadlock after 26 minutes, as Wheeler’s corner somehow found it’s way to her feet at the back post, only for Claire Coelho to parry her close-range volley before pouncing on the rebound.
Uni would however trouble the scorers just before the break, although they needed a helping hand – or back – from Tigers’ right-back Isabella Foletta. With play having broken down outside the Tigers box, Koulizakis tried her luck from distance, her shot cannoning off Foletta’s shoulder blade and wrong-footing Coelho to bounce softly inside her right-hand upright.
Koulizakis could – and possibly should – have had a second just after the interval, after Collister’s cross from the left flank found her in traffic inches from the goal line, only for Coelho to smother her spinning shot as if it was a burning cat.
Tigers had an opportunity to level the scores just before the hour mark, and while they should have done better with their own chance, Uni sprung an immediate counter-attack, with Bianca Galić finding the fresh legs of Heyman on the right wing, whose cross found Kendall Fletcher waiting to head home on the penalty spot, only for Coelho to once again tip her shot wide.
University coach Alex Epakis’ substitutions seemed to be working a treat, with the introduction of Rachael Soutar, Brianna Oliverio and Maher forcing Tigers to dig deep into their reserves of energy late in the second half, and it was the latter of those players who grabbed Uni’s second – and with a goal to remember.
Striding confidently through midfield, Maher lifted her head to find Coelho only a few metres off her line, before unleashing a fierce, dipping strike from all of 35 metres to strand the Tigers keeper and extend her side’s lead as time ticked down.
Barely 60 seconds later Uni had it’s third goal, through the unlikely outlet of midfield pivot Wheeler, who popped up – or, more correctly, slid in – at the back post to turn home Heyman’s brilliant square pass through traffic.
With nothing to lose, Tigers flooded forward in the closing minutes, pushing for at least a consolation goal, but their willingness to attack left them exposed at the back, and Heyman sealed the deal in the fifth minute of time added on, blasting a right-footed shot past the diving Coelho from the corner of the box to put University into the decider, and take them within 90 minutes of glory.
Sydney University 4 (Demi Koulizakis 45′ Grace Maher 85′ Clare Wheeler 87′ Michelle Heyman 90’+5)
Northern Tigers 0
University: Courtney Newbon; Gabrielle Peak (Rachael Soutar 60′), Clare Hunt, Tori Tumeth, Annabel Martin; Bianca Galić, Clare Wheeler; Julie-Ann Russell (Brianna Oliverio 64′), Kendall Fletcher (Grace Maher 79′), Teigan Collister (Taren King 85′); Demi Koulizakis (Michelle Heyman 53′).
Tigers: Claire Coelho; Gema Simon, Greta Kraszula (Molly Reckless 86′), Ellie Brush (yellow card 12′), Isabella Foletta (Sophie de Montemas 81′); Zoe Halpin, Emma Watkins (Saba Murray 85′), Maddie Bart; Lauren Allan, Daisy Arrowsmith, Hannah McNulty (Maxine Peak 34′).
NPL NSW Women’s 2020 Grand Final
Sydney University vs Manly United
4:00pm, Sunday 11 October
Valentine Sports Park, Glenwood
