It was the week when South Melbourne pulled even further away from their rivals after handing a footballing lesson to a young EAP side, while Box Hill’s charge faltered once again against a stubborn Sandringham team.
It was also the week in which Bundoora’s Sarah Richardson scored the only hattrick of the round to put her in contention for a forward spot in the absence of team mates Caitlin Friend and Rachel Alonso, but who else made the grade in Round 5?
Here we give you the best performers from the weekend that was.
Starting Eleven
South Melbourne’s 5-0 win against EAP meant that goalkeeper Cassandra Dimovski has kept an amazing five shutouts in a row, an achievement that has as much to do with the rock-solid defence in front of her as it does her undoubted ability. Over at Cairnlea Park, fellow goalkeeper Alexandra Bogdanovski wasn’t having it so easy though. The Preston custodian could do nothing as Nilsen Ozcan blasted Cairnlea into an early lead, but three magnificent saves in the second half kept her team in the running right before a disappointing sending off and penalty concession by team mate Balinda Petrovska. Bogdanovski has been a rare shining light in a poor Preston side, and if the team from Reservoir could just get their act together like they did after being reduced to ten players they might just pull through.
A three-man defence needs some stability through the middle, and Casey’s Laura Croft provided plenty of that against a quick Heidelberg side. The Comets captain was once again unbeatable in the air, snuffing out most of the Bergers attacks and keeping them scoreless till late in the game. The Heidelberg duo of captain Belinda Pannella and new American import Erin Brennan looked promising, but on this occasion had to make do with half-chances.
Backing Croft up will be the young Emma Heckenberg from Box Hill, who started on the right of defence before moving to the left on Friday night. The versatile full back proved more than a match for the Sandringham attackers, helping to keep the likes of Sienna Fogarty and Kirstie Shearing quiet for the majority of the match.
There was also a stellar defensive effort from the Ashburton defence against Bulleen too on Monday evening, as the central defensive duo of Maria Patrikis and Kristin Stensholt rebuffed every Bulleen attack to hold on to their slender one goal lead. Even the introduction of returning star Ashleigh Beagley was unable to affect matters for the hosts as the Ashburton defence held. Stensholt has been at Ashburton for the past 19 years, and on the basis of this last performance they’re very lucky to have her.
There were plenty of outstanding midfielders to choose from this weekend, so we were a little spoilt for choice. Jesse Kotsikas and Christine Pfeiffer were the standouts for Ashburton, linking up for the only goal of the contest. Kotsikas’ set piece ability has long been one of her strong points, as a 20 yard free kick found her captain Pfeiffer on the end of the it to head strongly into the net. Besides the assist for the goal, the Ashy midfielder also effectively marked Jessica Tay out of the game as the Bulleen midfielder had a rare off day and failed to stamp her mark on the match. Doing an even more impressive job for South Melbourne in a defensive role was Canadian midfielder Natalie Martineau.
The pint-sized midfielder curbed her attacking instincts admirably in an unusually deep role just in front of the South defence, throwing herself into tackles with gusto and breaking up EAP attacks before they even began. This allowed the more adventurous Morany Chek to rampage forward, and this she did with deadly effect. The French midfielder/forward proved a class above her EAP opponents in midfield, dazzling them with some nifty footwork before sliding in to convert South Melbourne’s third goal. Chek might even have had a second shortly after halftime, but the goal was chalked off for offside.
Joining her in central midfield is the powerful form of Alexandra Gummer after the Casey midfielder produced an all-action display against Heidelberg. Fresh from 120 minutes of cup action against Bulleen eight a scant 5 days ago, Gummer lasted another 80 minutes at Olympic Village where she scored a goal and assisted another. An incident shortly before she was taken off for a rest showed her commitment to the course though, as she joined a Comets drive upfield before turning and running the entire length of the pitch to make a saving tackle on the edge of the box after the ball had been turned over. Amazing.
Heidelberg’s consolation goal did come in the end though, as Tahlia Tisocco scored what was probably the goal of the week. Running onto a Taylah Metaxas cross-field ball, the twinkle-toed winger hardly broke her stride before curling a stunning effort into the opposite top corner of the Comets net. This would probably have got her into the Team of the Week any other round, but there was plenty of competition in terms of link-up players and Tisocco just misses out.
Stephanie Tanti was one of them, as the Sandringham ball-magnet showed what an asset she was to her team once again. The Sandy playmaker was in the middle of every attacking move, her passes seldom going astray and her driving runs often causing Box Hill no small amount of difficulties. Tanti might not have scored a goal, but she was definitely a real threat over 90 minutes.
Someone who did score this weekend was Bundoora’s captain Enza Barilla. Twice, in fact. The Melbourne Victory veteran was once again the spark in Bundy’s midfield as her team knocked in nine unanswered goals against a hapless Altona. Barilla is a midfield dynamo who never stops running and she simply tore the Altona defence to shreds, creating countless chances as well as scoring two well-taken goals. That leaves no space in our starting lineup for the unfortunate Seyma Erenli, who started in midfield without complaint for Box Hill before being thrown forward into a more familiar attacking role as they chased the result in the second half. Erenli worked hard and scrapped for every ball, finally coming up with the through ball that led to Ellvana Curo’s equaliser.
We had competition up front too, as Sarah Richardson grabbed one of the two spots on offer with a three goal haul against Altona. ‘Richo’ has filled the void left by the injured strike pair of Caitlin Friend and Rachel Alonso, her versatility offering Bundoora an extra option up front. Altona were put to the sword, unable to cope with Richardson’s finishing as she scored in the 4th, 42nd and 63rd minute. Laura Spiranovic was doing similar things to the EAP defenders over at DISC, as they struggled to cope with her powerful forward play. Two goals were her reward as she shot to the top of the Golden Boot standings again but while the South Melbourne centre forward is a regular nominee in our Team of the Week selections, she just misses the cut this weekend. So too, does the consistent Bridie Kean over at Cairnlea Park as she threw herself at every cross and got the winning goal with a cracking header on target in the 71st minute.
Our last spot goes to the deadly Kiwi striker Brittany Dudley-Smith who grabbed a goal and an assist against Heidelberg. The Comets forward looks bang on form and it was her partnership with midfield maestro Alexandra Gummer that led to two of the team’s four goals. Dudley-Smith could be found roaming all around the forward third of the pitch, even dropping deep or out wide on occasion to facilitate her team’s attacking play. Casey’s recent good form has much to do with Dudley-Smith’s performances and if she can keep it up, they will shape up to be a Finals threat.
Team of the Week XI: Bogdanovski (Preston); Stensholt (Ashburton), Croft (Casey), Heckenberg (Box Hill); Martineau (South Melbourne), Chek (South Melbourne), Gummer (Casey), Tanti (Sandringham), Barilla (Bundoora); Richardson (Bundoora), Dudley-Smith (Bundoora)
Substitutes: Dimovski (South Melbourne), Kotsikas (Ashburton), Tisocco (Heidelberg), Erenli (Box Hill), Kean (Cairnlea)
Many thanks to all those who contributed to this week’s edition of the Team of the Week, including reporters Sean Ellicott, Tomasz Ng, Shaun Moran, Xavier Player, Jasmine Ceni and Anna Harrington, as well as numerous club officials and players.