The first four weeks of the 2021 NPLW Victoria season have come and gone and the ladder appears to be taking shape. And there’s still no slowing down of the youth revolution.
After a month of action, it remains the promising young squad at FV Emerging that stands alone atop the Victorian top-flight; Coach Helen Winterburn’s side making it four wins from four games on Monday evening in defeating Box Hill United 6-2 at the Knox Regional Football Centre.
Allegorial for their season, the league-leaders raced to an early lead in their battle with Pythagoras after Holly Furphy turned in a cutback from Francesca Iermano in just the sixth minute.
Initially, it appeared as though that would be the extent of the damage inflicted by either side in the opening stanza until Iermano was sprung in behind the defence and made it 2-0 in the 40th minute. Jessica Young subsequently drove a strong, left-footed effort into the roof of the net in the 45th.
Anais Josefski pegged one back for the visitors when she broke through one-on-one with Emerging keeper Kayla Sidzimovska and fired into the bottom corner on the hour mark, but Alana Murphy answered back for Emerging when she broke through to make it a 4-1 scoreline 12 minutes later.
Claudia Mihocic’s first goal of the season in the 91st minute then made it 5-1 and Murphy then secured a six pack of goals - the only kind of six pack most of the teenage Emerging squad will be seeing for a little while yet - when she secured a brace in the 95th.
The action wasn’t done yet, though, as Georgia Kandilas was able to sneak a shot beneath Sidzimovska in the 97th minute to secure Box Hill’s second.
Saturday afternoon’s meeting between second-placed Calder United and Heidelberg United began as an Aleks Sinclair showcase and ended as a MelindaJ Barbieri show. The latter, like second-half substitute Polly Doran, was making her first appearance for the defending champions since winning a W-League title with Melbourne Victory.
Laying the table for her side’s eventual 5-0 win, the reigning NPLW Player’s Player of the Year turned in a relatively straightforward cutback from Harriet Withers in the 7th minute to open the scoring, before meeting a Barbieri cross with a thunderous half volley that nestled in the back of the net in the 37th minute.
Calder’s young midfielder then seized the spotlight 15 minutes into the second stanza when she drove a long-range effort beyond Berger keeper Melissa Maizels and into the bottom corner of the net.
Another long-range effort that, despite Maizels best efforts, scooted home in the 75th minute secured Barbieri her brace before she turned in from close range following a Sinclair cross in the 89th to complete a hattrick and the win.
Also netting five goals in round four - albeit while conceding one up the other end - was third-placed South Melbourne, who defeated Bayside United 5-1 down at Kingston Heath Soccer Complex on Sunday afternoon.
The similarities don’t end there, though, with South also beneficiaries of a hattrick from a returning W-League champion: lethal attacker Melina Ayres netting a 33-minute triumvirate of goals to power Hellas to the win.
Though South’s Aimee Medwin struck first on the half an hour mark, the host’s hopes for securing their first points of the season were boosted less than 60 seconds later after Rachel Stirton charged down Melissa Barbieri as she attempted to clear a loose ball, stole it from the Football Victoria hall of famer and fired home.
Barbieri would make amends less than five minutes later, however, when she got down low to her right to deny a Sienna Fogarty penalty.
The visitors then promptly marched up the other end and made it 2-1 thanks to Caitlin Pickett.
Turning in a Lucy Johnson cross in the 59th minute to open her account, Ayres - who alongside MelindaJ Barbieri and Doran are taking part in a Football Australia Women’s Talent Identification Camp from today through to Friday - then added goals in the 76th and 79th minutes to seal the win.
Rounding out the NPLW Victoria top four are FC Bulleen Lions, who backed up their first win of the season in round three by seeing off a second-half challenge from Alamein FC to win 3-2 at the Knox Regional Football Centre.
Starting strongly, the Lionesses seized the lead after less than three minutes when their ravenous early press forced a turnover deep in the Alamein half and allowed Racheal Quigley to pick out Alana Jancevski for a relatively simple shot and goal.
The hosts had a golden opportunity to bring the game back to an even keel in the 12th minute when Kayla Morrison was adjudged to have fouled Emily Harbis as she attempted a desperate sliding challenge after the attacker burst in on goal.
A debuting Gaby Garton, however, proved up to the task of defending her side’s lead when she kept out Harbis’ resulting spot-kick.
Bulleen took advantage of the reprieve to make it 2-0 in the 29th minute when Quigley sprung Tiffany Eliadis in behind the defence with a lofted ball that gave her teammate enough time to gather herself and place a shot beyond keeper Beth Mason-Jones.
Mason-Jones, though, got one back on Eliadis when she sprung to her left to superbly keep a long-range shot from the Lioness out just two minutes later.
Alas for Alamain, their keeper could do little to prevent Jancevski from securing a brace two minutes into the second half after she, somehow, latched onto a ball loose atop the penalty area after a corner kick and snaked a ball through a wall of defenders and just inside the post.
A close-range finish from Katrina Nikpour in the 67th opened the door for a potential comeback, which was then opened wider still when Jamilla Hull rounded Olivia Edwards and fired a long-range effort into the bottom corner of Bulleen’s goal.
But the visitors were able to keep their foes at bay from that point - securing the three points and leapfrogging their rivals and the Bergers into the playoff slots.
