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Hat-Tricks Abound In Second Round Action
by Jeremy Ruane
Hat-tricks were the order of the day in second round action in the National Women’s League, with three players grabbing the match-ball after securing victory for their respective sides.
Nicole Cooper was the star turn for Eastern Suburbs as the reigning champions came from behind to down Auckland United 3-2 at Madills Farm, where the visitors should have been three goals to the good inside the first ten minutes of play.
Rene Wasi opened the scoring after just seventy seconds, but squandered a great chance to double United’s lead just two minutes later. And Bree Johnson was similarly guilty of profligate finishing in the tenth minute when she lifted her shot over the approaching Brooke Bennett but past the post with the goal yawning invitingly.
Suburbs struck back four minutes later, Cooper heading home to crown a super move which featured fine contributions from wing-backs Aimee Atkins and Erinna Wong. Halfway through the second half, the home team thought they had equalised, but the offside flag denied Saki Yoshida’s close-range header, much to Suburbs’ consternation.
The cross-field wind was making life challenging for both teams, but it was “The Lilywhites” who made the most of it in the second spell, plugging away until ten minutes from time, when Cooper volleyed home the equaliser.
Six minutes later, she completed her hat-trick in brilliant fashion, improvising a back-heeled finish with her back to goal which flummoxed the three United players in close attendance and clinched Suburbs’ second victory of the campaign, one of only two teams boasting a perfect record after two rounds.
The other is their Grand Final opponents from last season, Western Springs, who cruised to a 3-0 win over Ellerslie at Seddon Fields, a game notable for a hat-trick of a different kind – “The Hoops” had three goals denied them by the offside flag.
As a contest, this one was all over bar the shouting inside the first twelve minutes, during which time Liz Savage and Lily Jervis put Springs well in charge against “The Ponies”, who, not for the first time this year, found the going tough against their cross-town rivals.
Megan Lee had a 33rd minute effort ruled out for offside, while Sofia Garcia and Maia Lythe were both prevented from celebrating goals for the same reason inside the final five minutes of play. But Garcia had long since made the game safe for Springs, her 63rd minute strike confirming victory and top spot on the table for Maia Vink’s charges.
Wellington Phoenix’s hopes of making it a three-way tie at the top were dashed in no uncertain fashion at Fraser Park, as Southern United put them to the sword to the tune of 5-0, led by Amy Hislop’s hat-trick-scoring exploits.
The folly of fielding a stacked side in their opening round fixture – four A-League players featured in Wellington’s 4-0 win at Ellerslie - came back to bite the home team, who, without any of their professionals to call upon this week, found themselves trailing to a Hislop goal just six minutes into the contest.
Two goals in as many minutes inside the final ten minutes of the half put United on easy street, a Kendrah Smith cracker swiftly supplemented by
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another Hislop strike. And she wrapped up the scoring – and her hat-trick - from the penalty spot halfway through the second spell after Margi Dias had made it four for the travelling team, for whom this was a welcome win.
Across town at Newtown Park, Jemma Robertson gave Wellington United the ideal start in their clash with Central Football, although her fifth minute shot deflected wildly off Aimee MacNee and looped over Leonie Heck before crossing the line.
That goal put “The Diamonds” on course for a 3-0 victory, one confirmed by goals in the last twenty minutes from Natalie Olson and Pepi Olliver-Bell, who slotted home through the legs of Heck upon receipt of Hope Gilchrist’s pinpoint delivery from halfway.
It was a good round for the other team from the capital, with Waterside Karori handing Canterbury United Pride another four-goal hiding, the six-time champions succumbing 4-1 to “The Magpies” at English Park.
Nikki Furukawa was the star turn for the visitors in this contest, volleying home from twenty yards four minutes before half-time for the first goal of her hat-trick. But the scores could very easily have been level at the interval, Sarah Morton’s goal-line clearance preventing a headed equaliser from Nicola Dominikovich.
Half-time substitute Charlotte Roche got the locals back on level terms soon after the interval, but “The Magpies” finished over the top of the Cantabrians in the final fifteen minutes, although there was a hint of offside about Furukawa’s second goal as she touched home a Saskia Vosper shot in the 77th minute.
There was no stopping the visitors after taking the lead again, Furukawa wrapping up her “hatty” before Kennedy Bryant iced the cake with a stoppage time strike to leave the beaten team in unfamiliar territory on the table, without a point to their name after two rounds of action.
Some interesting encounters are in store in this weekend’s third round, with Southern welcoming Western Springs to Logan Park on Sunday, while the clash of the champions of the Central and Northern Premier Women’s Leagues should attract a decent crowd to Martin Luckie Park on Saturday as “The Magpies” entertain Auckland.
Suburbs should hold too many guns for Wellington Phoenix at Fraser Park on Saturday, a day when Central and Canterbury lock horns at Massey University in a clash of two of the teams who are seeking their first points of the campaign. The other member of this trio, Ellerslie, entertains Wellington United at Michaels Avenue on Sunday.
Details:
Canterbury United Pride 1 (C. Roche (48)), Waterside Karori 4 (N. Furukawa (41, 77, 88), K. Bryant (90)) HT 0-1
Eastern Suburbs 3 (N. Cooper (14, 80, 86)), Auckland United 2 (R. Wasi (2), B. Johnson (15)) HT 1-2
Wellington Phoenix 0, Southern United 5 (A. Hislop (6, 38, 67 pen), K. Smith (37), M. Dias (59)) HT 0-3
Wellington United 3 (J. Robertson (5), N. Olson (71), P. Olliver-Bell (81)), Central Football 0 HT 1-0
Western Springs 3 (L. Savage (2), L. Jervis (12), S. Garcia (63)), Ellerslie 0 HT 2-0
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