Blue Lake v Naracoorte United
In an exciting encounter at Malseed Park the Blue Lake Women secured an impressive 5-2 victory over Naracoorte United in the third round of the Barry Maney Limestone Coast Women’s Premier League.
Blue Lake started the game strongly, with the Rangers attack placing pressure on Naracoorte’s defence early on.
In the 30th minute Aimee Brooks skillfully converted the opening goal of the match, giving her team a 1-0 lead.
Naracoorte United did its best to fight off the Blue Lake attack and find an equaliser, with Masoma Panahi scoring in the 34th minute to level scores 1-1 going into the second half.
The second half commenced with an immediate impact from Brooks who scored a second brilliant goal in the 56th minute, putting her team in the lead for the first time at 2-1.
Blue Lake continued to intensify its efforts and took control of the match.
In the 66th minute, Rebecca Turner struck a powerful shot that found the back of the net, giving her side a 3-1 advantage.
Lauren Mather responded for Naracoorte, netting a goal in the 68th minute to give United some hope of securing some points.
In the 70th minute, a penalty was awarded to the Rangers and Chelsea Frost confidently converted it into a goal, increasing their lead to 4-2.
The match concluded with an excellent performance from Frost, who netted her second goal in the 77th minute, putting the nail in the coffin of Naracoorte’s hopes.
Frost and Brooks were the stand out for the reigning premiers as the Rangers continue to gain momentum into the season.
Naracoorte will be disappointed to see the game slip away but will hope to find improvement next week against Centrals.
Apollo v Centrals
The Apollo women emerged victorious with a 4-2 win over Gambier Centrals as they continued to pile on the points early in the season.
The match offered something different with a night match and Centrals started the game strongly, with Kiah Connolly opening the scoring in the 13th minute from a penalty, giving her team a 0-1 lead.
However, Apollo quickly responded, showing its resilience with Zoe Brooksby finding the back of the net in the 19th minute, levelling the score at 1-1.
As the first half progressed, Apollo seized control of the match and applied pressure to Centrals’ defence and in the 35th minute Charlotte Stafford scored a well-taken goal, giving her team a 2-1 advantage.
Their dominance continued as Deni Atkin extended the lead further with a goal in the 42nd minute, making it 3-1 in favour of Apollo.
At halftime the Lions found themselves behind and looking for a way back into the game.
They found it in the 54th minute when Connolly scored her second goal of the match, narrowing the deficit to 3-2.
With the match hanging in the balance, the next goal would be crucial and it was Apollo that found the back of the net next.
In the 79th minute Atkin converted a penalty for her second goal of the game, securing a two-goal cushion at 4-2 with limited time on the clock.
The remaining minutes saw both teams pushing for more goals, but the scoreline remained unchanged with both defences holding strong.
Apollo now sits second on the table after two consecutive wins and a round one defeat, while Centrals sits second to last on goal difference as the Lion still are yet to claim a point despite a good display against a high quality opponent.
Millicent V Inter
International has secured top spot on the ladder for another week thanks to a good win over a strong Millicent side.
While both sides had opportunities early neither could convert until Leonie Robinson found the opening goal in the 20th minute.
April Hockey then joined Robinson on the scoresheet with an impressive strike to give her side a 0-2 lead in the 25th minute.
Despite going two down early the Millicent players refused to drop their heads and managed to fight their way back into the game before half time.
Millicent was awarded a penalty in the 36th minute which was converted by Leonie McCallum.
With the momentum now in their favour Millicent capitalised, scoring in the 38th minute thanks to a Lana Shepherd strike.
With the game all tied up at half time International came out with serious purpose and blew Millicent out of the game.
An early penalty was converted by Stephanie Gilbert to give International the 2-3 advantage and Millicent was unable to recover.
Hockey scored two goals in as many minutes to seal the game in her side’s favour and secure a hat-trick for herself.
At 2-5 down Millicent was unable to recover and suffered its first defeat of the season.
