The Women's Statewide Cup is set to get underway this weekend, with four games in the Preliminary round set to cut the numbers down to a final eight. Olympia, Beachside, Taroona and Northern Rangers were all lucky enough to be drawn through to the Quarter finals when the draw was held back in March, with four more sides now set to join them. Lets take a look who those sides might be.
The action begins down at the Den on Good Friday, with a Super League v Super League game pitting the Kingborough Lions up against Clarence United. Clarence will want to have 'goldfish memories' this week after finding themselves on the receiving end of a 16-0 Olympia smack down last weekend. Suffice to say it will take a massive improvement if they are to advance, with Kingborough playing Olympia a week earlier and only falling 1-0. They met back in the Summer Cup, with Kingborough winning 2-0 though the Lions dominated the general play in that game. Clarence defended well under pressure that night and will need a similar type of defensive effort here, and will also need to find a spark in attack if they are to cause the boil over. I'm not sure the Lions have the consistency just yet to push for the Super League title, but can they win 4 games and claim the Statewide Cup? Absolutely they can! They made the final last year after all and they have only improved since then.
On Saturday in another all WSL affair, South Hobart face Ulverstone in a rematch from the quarter final stage last year. That ended 6-1 in favour of Ulverstone and it was as close as South Hobart got to them all year, copping some heavy defeats in the Super League. The physicality and strength of the Ulverstone side really overwhelmed South and they got a hold of them in a manner that other sides simply didn't. Both will be fielding pretty different XI's on Saturday to what we saw in those games last season and South are probably the only other side who have been more rocked by player departures and injuries than Ulverstone have. As such the visitors will be expecting to progress through to the quarter finals, whilst South will want to show they can compete with a side they still play have to play four more times in the league.
Up on the coast there is the most intriguing fixture of the qualifying round as the Somerset Sharks from the Veto Northern Championship entertain University from the Veto Southern Championship. The Students have retained most their squad from last seasons ultimately relegated Super League side and are unbeaten so far, winning their four league games and looking good in the process. Somerset have a 2-3 record after five rounds of the Northern Championship and with an average of 8.2 goals being scored in their games, you can probably expect the goals to flow in this one. The trio of White, Wyllie and Ann have scored 17 goals between them in five games and so will be key to the Sharks hopes. With players like the Young sisters, Mikhala George and the outstanding Mich Tadros, there is still plenty of well established quality in this University side though and despite the travel factor, they should advance.
On Monday, forming part of a double header with their NPL sides, the Hobart Zebras will play the Devonport Strikers at KGV. This is the only WSL v non-WSL game from the Round and the Strikers will be right up against it. The Zebras of 2019 look a lot closer to their 2017 selves than the 2018 version and they sit among the lead contenders to hoist the Cup on June 10. At home against a team who are currently sitting with a negative goal differential in the Northern Championship, they will be expecting to win this one comfortably. Admittedly that record is painted somewhat by Ulverstone fielding an eleven pretty near what they field in the Super League, in their first round Northern Championship game and winning 11-1. But that's the level of opponent, if not an even tougher one that Devonport will be facing on Monday. The cup can throw up the occasional upset, but I'd suggest this is more about performance than result for the Strikers.
Women’s Statewide Cup Qualifying Round
Friday 19 April
Kingborough v Clarence, Lightwood Park, 1:30pm
Saturday 20 April
Somerset v University, Cardigan Street, 12:00pm
South Hobart v Ulverstone, Darcy Street, 2:00pm
Monday 22 April
Hobart Zebras v Devonport, KGV, 12:00pm
Up on the coast there is the most intriguing fixture of the qualifying round as the Somerset Sharks from the Veto Northern Championship entertain University from the Veto Southern Championship. The Students have retained most their squad from last seasons ultimately relegated Super League side and are unbeaten so far, winning their four league games and looking good in the process. Somerset have a 2-3 record after five rounds of the Northern Championship and with an average of 8.2 goals being scored in their games, you can probably expect the goals to flow in this one. The trio of White, Wyllie and Ann have scored 17 goals between them in five games and so will be key to the Sharks hopes. With players like the Young sisters, Mikhala George and the outstanding Mich Tadros, there is still plenty of well established quality in this University side though and despite the travel factor, they should advance.
On Monday, forming part of a double header with their NPL sides, the Hobart Zebras will play the Devonport Strikers at KGV. This is the only WSL v non-WSL game from the Round and the Strikers will be right up against it. The Zebras of 2019 look a lot closer to their 2017 selves than the 2018 version and they sit among the lead contenders to hoist the Cup on June 10. At home against a team who are currently sitting with a negative goal differential in the Northern Championship, they will be expecting to win this one comfortably. Admittedly that record is painted somewhat by Ulverstone fielding an eleven pretty near what they field in the Super League, in their first round Northern Championship game and winning 11-1. But that's the level of opponent, if not an even tougher one that Devonport will be facing on Monday. The cup can throw up the occasional upset, but I'd suggest this is more about performance than result for the Strikers.
Women’s Statewide Cup Qualifying Round
Friday 19 April
Kingborough v Clarence, Lightwood Park, 1:30pm
Saturday 20 April
Somerset v University, Cardigan Street, 12:00pm
South Hobart v Ulverstone, Darcy Street, 2:00pm
Monday 22 April
Hobart Zebras v Devonport, KGV, 12:00pm