Match Of The Round- Shellharbour City FC-4, Coniston FC-1 @Myimbarr Park
Shellharbour routs Coniston out of the top four with four goals in the first half to wrap up the result in their favour.
City kept their presence in Coniston’s half from the moment the whistle was blown.
After five minutes, Kari Gonzalez followed in on the through ball between the defensive line.
Her low shot to the left of the goal was parried away, but not far enough for Madelaine Constanzo, who anticipated the rebound and smashed it into the roof of the net from a few yards out.
In the 9th minute, Samara Wehmeyer received a ball open between the two centre-backs, and the pace was too much for the defence.
She got one on one with the keeper and, without pressure, slotted it to the left bin before the keeper got down to it in time.
In the 19th minute, Coniston made Shellharbour pay for the earlier goals with Tianna Tortorella, who touched down a high ball from midfield by Elena Miccoli.
Tortorella caught the keeper off her line and stroked her shot outside the box into the left side of the keeper’s net, with the keeper unable to get there in time.
2-1 in Shellharbour’s favour still.
Three minutes after Coniston’s first goal, City fired back with a corner by Kristina Janeska.
The ball flew to the centre of the box with Mikayla De Jong at the ready to direct her header into the bottom right, and gave the keeper no chance.
In the 36th minute, Costanzo’s anticipated another chance at goal, this time with a slipped-in through ball to her through the centre backs, tightly marked on her.
She shrugged off her defender, who pursued her, and then she fired a low-power shot into the bottom left corner to end with a brace.
In the second half, Coniston’s efforts to reduce the trailed lead were unsuccessful.
Tara Cannon came close in the 65th minute to perpetuate a comeback as she won the ball high up the pitch and rocketed a shot from distance through the crowd, but it went wide.
Shellharbour’s goals in the first half were enough to finalise the result in their favour.
City are put up against the second-placed university, who look to take their seat in first place. The game will be a must-watch for all spectators.
Coniston have the opportunity to restore their spot in the top four with a home game against the opposite end of the table in Bulli FC.
Shoalhaven FC-5, Thirroul JFC-0 @Ison Park
Shoalhaven turned their prior misfortune into a positive result with five goals to the good to down lock out Thirroul.
Before the game could hit the ten-minute mark, Melanie Leedham took her early chance fast and put Shoalhaven on the front foot in the 9th minute.
Kaitlyn Sennitt ruined Thirroul’s hopes for an equaliser as she finished two chances in both the 38th minute and 42nd minute to make it a four-minute brace for the forward.
Before the half closed, Sarah Kilby scored her effort to make it four in one half for the home side.
Sennit, on red-hot form in the game, rifled in a third in the 70th minute to win the match ball in, much to the misery of the Thunderbolts, who couldn’t strike a consolation goal.
Shoalhaven are the host for their next match against Woonona, who have to travel far for a tight-knit game for third spot in the ladder.
Thirroul anticipate to stay in the second last spot while on their break with a bye, but an upset by Bulli against Coniston could disrupt that.
University Of Wollongong FC-3, Woonona Sharks FC-2 @Kooloobong Oval
Woonona’s control is put on its head after a late comeback by the University to seal a win to protect their five-match win streak.
The Sharks bit first with Matilda Armitt putting her side in the lead position in the 16th minute.
Before University could claw back to find a way back into the game, Laura Green capitalised on her teammates first, as she found the net in the 30th minute.
The hosts trailed by two as the first half closed.
With what looked to be the first game to dent their win streak, Sian McGavock came up with the goods to give her side a lifeline in the 54th minute.
The game was close to over as there was less than half an hour to go, but Amy Morrell sparked the second for her side in the 73rd, to draw both teams level in an even clash.
In the dying embers, Sophie Boyd showed up as the hero for the University in the 89th minute as she knocked the goal in to make her side end up victorious.
The University of Wollongong are tested with a first verse second place encounter between Shellhabour City, with one point to separate the two.
Woonona hopes not to fall victim to another late comeback against a Shoalhaven in another top-four clash.
Thomas Panayiotou
