Round 6 of the MyState Bank Women’s Super League proved an interesting one as the weekend gave us multiple close games that were in the balance till very late on. South Hobart and Clarence Zebras produced a gripping arm-wrestle of a game where South perhaps announced themselves as the biggest threat to Launceston United by winning 2-0, whilst Taroona broke through for their first win of the season, downing Olympia 3-1 in a game that could’ve gone either way. The other game was not quite so close, as we saw Launceston United maintain their dominance of the competition, by shutting out a Lions outfit who had scored 9 goals just a week earlier, registering a 5-0 win.
Davies Double Downs Zebras
A brace from Bonnie Davies and an assured defensive display saw South Hobart running out 2-0 winners over the Clarence Zebras to move outright second on the table after 6 rounds. Just as they did in the Summer Cup Final, South proved too strong for the Zebras and struck a major blow in the title race by claiming three vital points.
The speed of Bonnie Davies has terrorized defences for a while now and it was her raw pace that was probably the difference between the sides in this one. Both goals were brought about by her incredible closing speed, putting her into a position to score goals that few other players would have been capable of getting into.
On 6 minutes she bagged her first despite starting about 2-3 metres behind her defensive marker as the ball was played through into the box by Mia Cane. With a lightning burst of speed Davies ran onto the ball, beating the keeper to it and somehow finding herself now a metre ahead of the defender. She made no mistake and fired home the opening goal with a well taken first-time finish. For most other sides it would have ended up with the defender shielding the ball through to the keeper to comfortably collect, but such is the speed that Davies possesses, that in this case it led to a scoring chance instead.
Her second to make sure of the result in the 88th minute was also a result of her pace causing panic at the back for the Zebras. Her frenetic pressing forced a rather rushed back pass from Leon and induced a heavy touch from Ponting receiving the pass. That allowed Davies to swoop in, steal it away and deposit it into the back of the net. A result of defensive mistakes certainly, but one I would say is down to the perception of threat Davies brings with her closing speed that just unnerves those at the back.
In between those 2 Davies goals the Zebras certainly had their moments and they will feel they should have gotten something out of the match. On 33 minutes they had a huge penalty shout for a handball against Westwood in the box turned away and Isabella De Clerk was called into action on multiple occasions to save her side.
South largely handled the pressure thrown at them throughout the 90 though and they were looking structurally sound, with Talia White absolutely outstanding, offering a strong defensive presence and repeatedly breaking up Zebras attacks or tracking runners.
Yet as the game wore to its conclusion it felt like South’s defensive resistance was going to fall just short. The Zebras were getting increasingly closer to a goal and Allie Berry should have squared it up when she headed over Marmions cross from all of 2 yards out on 83 minutes.
Then they did have the ball in the net as Zara Dixon went full Maradona mode and tried a hand of god style goal, leaping tremendously with her arm raised and directing the ball over the line. But unfortunately for her, unlike the Argentine, her infringement was spotted by the referee who duly booked her and South remained a goal to the good.
That allowed Davies to wrap up the game a minute later with her second goal that killed the contest and secured a massive win for South.
The top sides in the league all look well and truly capable of taking points from each other so there is still a long way to go in the title race but this certainly felt a significant result for South. The Zebras are still yet to take a point from any of the top sides in the league yet and whilst not out of it by any stretch, with so long to go, the aura of invincibility the Zebras had in 2021 is certainly dissipated now and they have it all to do in the coming weeks.
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La Monte Treble Downs Lions
Launceston United maintained their place atop the table as they downed Kingborough 5-0 to chalk up a fifth consecutive win to start the season. United dominated this contest from start to finish, racing to an early lead that they never looked like relinquishing.
Madi Gilpin bundled in the first of the afternoon on 9 minutes when Liv Gardner failed to handle Dani Gunton’s goal-bound header, allowing Gilpin to walk it in from a yard out.
The second and La Monte’s first came from the penalty spot after La Monte had slalomed her way past 3 defenders before being clumsily brought down in the box to win the spot-kick.
Her second was courtesy of a keeping howler as Gardner dropped La Monte’s shot over the line to make it 3-0 inside of 30 minutes and have United racing away with the contest. This is simply not an opposition you can afford to gift goals to and expect to take anything away from the match. With two rather soft goals coughed up so early on, the Lions hopes of pulling off an upset looked rather shot from this point and United seemed to be in complete command.
Gardner fought back by making some good saves in the second half as the chances mounted for United but the score remained at 3-0 till the final 10 minutes when the cherry was placed on top of the cake. La Monte was again at the heart of it, sending a raking through ball over the top for Dani Gunton to run onto and finish off with aplomb.
La Monte then completed her dominant day by grabbing het hat-trick 3 minutes from full time and securing the 5-0 win as she ran in behind and picked out the bottom corner with a tidy finish.
United continue to look the class of the competition and have to be considered the title favourites at this, albeit early point of the season. They are yet to put a foot wrong and sit a game clear on top as the competition takes a week off for the Statewide Cup.
The Lions continue to struggle to keep out the stronger sides but can now look forward to a pretty favorable quarter final fixture at home against Ulverstone next week which gives them an excellent opportunity to advance to the final four in that competition.
Parsell Helps Fire Taroona Past Olympia
Taroona have claimed their first win of the WSL season as they downed Olympia 3-1 in an entertaining affair at Kelvedon Park. Daisy Parsell was the star of the show for Taroona, scoring twice and setting up another as the Pirates emerged victorious for the first time in the WSL in 2022.
With both sides eager for the win, we saw two sides really looking to attack the other and the chances flowed throughout the 90 minutes. In some respects, it was a little surprising it only ended 3-1 so frequent were the scoring looks, particularly in the first half. There was no doubting the importance of this game for both sides with both entering winless and as a result, both sides were clearly fired up for this one and left it all out there in search of the win.
Olympia almost led within 30 seconds when Mamic fired a good chance wide and it was a strong start for the Warriors who were creating plenty of openings and looking the more likely side to score, testing Ottavi multiple times in the early exchanges.
But it was the Pirates who would strike first when Parsell, who had hit the woodwork moments earlier, skipped around her marker into the penalty area and played a perfect ball across the goal to Caitlin Riley who dispatched it to make it 1-0.
Olympia then started to get right on top and should’ve been level but just couldn’t find a way to take one of the half a dozen chances they created, due to some poor finishing but also thanks in no small part to the excellence of Izzy Ottavi in Taroona’s net.
They were then made to rue those misses as Daisy Parsell took advantage of a miss-control at the back and found herself in behind all alone with only the keeper to beat which she duly did.
The Warriors expected a flag for offside but replays show the right call was made, even if the defender didn’t get a touch on Ayton’s initial through ball, with Parsell timing her run perfectly.
The final 15 minutes of the half was probably Taroona’s best of the game and they should’ve extended their lead but couldn’t find a way past Shelley Cook who made an outstanding 1 on 1 save to deny a rocket of a shot from Ava Ashby just before the break.
The halftime break was an extended one with an ambulance called for Adele Jarvis who suffered a head knock on the stroke of halftime and fingers crossed that she is alright and won’t be out long term as a result.
After the resumption of play it was the Warriors who started the brighter and got a well-deserved goal on 51 minutes when Kimberley Cure got the better of Lane with a well faked shot, before cutting back onto her left foot and driving it home to cut the lead to 2-1.
Taroona almost responded instantly with only the woodwork denying Blackwood Coyle from close range. After that early flurry, the second half saw the rate that scoring chances arrived at decrease quite significantly. Taroona were shading the contest now, but the game was very much in the balance with Olympia pushing for the equaliser.
But on 81 minutes Taroona were given the breathing room they needed as Cook clumsily brought down Blackwood Coyle in the penalty area giving the Pirates a spot kick.
Up stepped Parsell who emphatically dispatched the penalty into the roof of the net and secured a massive 3-1 win for the Pirates.