The third match week of a historic National Women’s League season takes place this weekend, find out what’s in store with the official preview. One match is set to take place on Saturday with Capital hosting the Northern Lights while there are two matches in store on Sunday with Central welcoming the Canterbury United Pride and Auckland making the lengthy trek down the country to take on Southern United. WaiBOP sit out the action with the bye.

Capital Football vs Northern Lights
Memorial Park, Petone
Saturday 29 September, 1.30pm
#NWL #CAvNL

Referee: M Archer
Assistant Referees: B Buchanan, B Oosterbaan
Fourth Official: J Williams

Squads

Capital Football: 1. Courtney Norman (GK), 2. Sarah Alder, 3. Zoe Barrott, 4. Danielle Ohlsson, 5. Molly Woodhead, 7. Kelsi Rutene, 8. Katie Barrott, 9. Emma Main, 10. Jemma Robertson, 11. Kennedy Bryant, 12. Charlotte Wilford-Carroll, 13. Danielle Turton, 14. Asha Strom, 15. Anna Green, 16. Meisha Boone, 18. Ronisa Lipi (GK)
Coach: Emma Evans

Northern Lights: 1. Anna Leat (GK), 2. Arabella Maynard, 3. Kate Loye, 4. Emma Turnbull, 5. Claudia Bunge, 6. Nicole Stratford, 7. Malia Steinmetz, 8. Dayna Stevens, 9. Samantha Tawharu, 10. Maggie Jenkins, 11. Helen Kelderman, 12. Liz Savage, 14. Hannah MacKay-Wright, 15. Laney Strachan, 16. Rose Luxton, 18. Emily Couchman (GK)
Coach: Gemma Lewis

Lowdown

After a heavy defeat first up against Canterbury, Capital got their campaign off and running in fine style by sticking five unanswered goals past Central last week with Football Fern Sarah Gregorius and youth international Emma Main causing carnage. Gregorius is one of several players unavailable this weekend though and Capital are likely to find the rear-guard of Northern much more difficult to break down, as Southern did in drawing nil-all after likewise facing Northern on the back of a big win over Central. Capital and Northern both harbour hopes of making the final so, even at this early stage, the pressure to pick up points is already being applied as the South Island pair of Canterbury and Southern are yet to be beaten and the Pride are likely to extend their lead with another win against pointless Central this weekend. After having the bye in the opening round, Northern are playing catch up to a degree and a defeat here could therefore leave them off the pace with a lot of work to do to break into the all-important top two. An attack featuring the firepower of Samantha Tawharu, Maggie Jenkins and Dayna Stevens is not likely to draw a blank for the second week running though so Capital will need to put in an accomplished display on defence.

Quotes

Emma Evans (Capital coach): “This week will see us introduce a slightly different starting line-up to previous weeks with a few of our more experienced players out of action but we are really excited to see some of the younger players rise to the occasion and challenge themselves against a strong Northern side. We have full confidence that every player in our squad can implement what we’re asking of them and are looking forward to continuing to build on last weekend’s performance in what will no doubt be a highly-competitive match.”

Gemma Lewis (Northern coach): “The initial thoughts after last week was a little bit of disappointment but, once we’d reflected on it and thought more about it, we definitely think there’s lots of positives to take out of that game. It was only our first game together and we had a small lead in. Capital will be on a high after scoring a few goals so I think they’ll be quite dangerous to play. They’ve got some talented young girls in that squad and there’s some players to be worried about so across the board they’ll be well equipped.”

Central Football vs Canterbury United Pride
Massey University, Palmerston North
Sunday 30 September, 1pm
#NWL #CEvCU

Referee: B Baker
Assistant Referees: B Walker, D Crawford
Fourth Official: J Marshall

Squads

Central: 1. Amelia Simmers (GK), 2. Jana Niedermayr, 3. Kate Watson, 4. Mackenzie Barry, 5. Freya Partridge-Moore , 6. Tyler Wood, 7. Lydia Bamford, 8. Florence MacIntyre, 9. Jessica Mason, 11. Aimee Atkins, 12. Maggie Pedersen, 13. Sophie Crewe, 14. Casey Ralph, 15. Jenna Barry, 16. Charlotte Lancaster, 20. Carina Flannagan (GK)
Co-coaches: Matt Kilsby/Barry Scullion

Canterbury United Pride: 1. Victoria Esson (GK), 2. Marisa Van Der Meer, 4. Arna Roberts, 6. Chloe Jones, 7. Gabrielle Rennie, 8. Tahlia Herman-Watt, 9. Jayda Stewart, 10. Annalie Longo, 11. Macey Fraser, 12. Amelia Abbott, 13. Whitney Hepburn, 14. Jasmine Donald, 15. Monique Barker, 17. Cody Taylor, 20. Kate Taylor
Coach: Alana Gunn

Lowdown

Judging by the table and recent history in the competition, this is a significant mismatch and it would be a major surprise if Central can pick up any points. The sides have contrasting records so far with Canterbury flying high after scoring ten goals and letting in none across their two wins while Central have scored just once and conceded 11 times already. A visit by the league’s most dominant side over the past five years is therefore the last thing Central need right now but it will at least give their young charges the chance to measure themselves against the best. The performances of Football Fern Annalie Longo have been inspirational in the opening weeks but Central will need to keep just as close a watch on Monique Barker, who netted a hat-trick against WaiBOP in the previous round. She will be relishing the prospect of adding to that tally against the most porous defence in the league and Central will need to be highly organised in that area to have any chance of an upset.

Southern United vs Auckland Football
Tahuna Park, Dunedin
Sunday 30 September, 2pm
#NWL #SUvAF

Referee: N Browning
Assistant Referees: B Hart, C Marsh
Fourth Official: D Woulahan

Squads

Southern United: 16. Jordan Woodward (GK), 3. Kelsey Kennard, 4. Mikaela Hunt, 5. Lena De Ronde, 7. Shontelle Smith, 8. Renee Bacon, 9. Chelsea Whittaker, 10. Kirsty Hayr, 11. Coral Seath, 12. Emily Morison, 14. Lara Wall, 17. Amy Hislop, 20. Britney-Lee Nicholson, 21. Mikayla Gray, 23. Georgia Brown, 24. Jade Middleditch (GK)
Coach: Ignacio Sande

Auckland: 16. Corina Brown (GK), 2. Bernadette Goulding, 3. Liz Anton, 5. Nicole Mettam, 6. Stephanie Skilton, 7. Britney Cunningham-Lee, 10. Paige Satchell, 11. Sam Muirhead, 12. Sarah Morton, 13. Kathryn-Anne Gow, 14. Bianca Stiles, 19. Lucy Carter, 22. Genevieve Ryan, 23. Kim Nottingham, 24. Jade Morrissey, 25. Nadia Olla (GK)
Coach: Tracy Wrigley

Lowdown

Southern have followed up their best-ever campaign last season with a bright start to the new one, posting a big win over Central on the opening day before earning a point at Northern – a place most sides are likely to find it difficult to take anything from. With a clash against winless WaiBOP to follow next week, Southern could put themselves in a very promising position after the first four rounds if they can earn another positive result against Auckland. Ominously for the defending champions, Auckland did not fare well on their trip to the south last season, falling to a 3-2 loss. Frustratingly for new coach Tracy Wrigley, Auckland were not able to build on their impressive 4-0 win over WaiBOP on the opening day after sitting out last weekend with the draw and will hope that disruption to their momentum does not prove costly. Southern have only had their defence breached on one occasion while Auckland are yet to concede so this could be a tight encounter but, with the likes of Auckland’s Paige Satchell and Southern’s Shontelle Smith about, there will be more than enough attacking talent on the pitch to break the deadlock. Auckland will be particularly wary of the threat of Renee Bacon as she scored in both encounters between the sides last season.

Quotes

Shontelle Smith (Southern United): “It’s been a really good start for us, I think we showed what we’re capable of in our first game and that second game really showed that we’re out there to fight. Even though Northern dominated us, we still managed to pull one point from the game and we’d never done that while travelling in the North Island. As soon as we started pressing, we got a lot more possession and I think that really helped. We showed we’re not just going to sit down in a challenge, we’re going to rise up to that challenge and go for it.”

Tracy Wrigley (Auckland coach): “We went into the first week with several injuries so we’ve been able to get some players back and have constructive trainings with those numbers around. The negative is that it’s almost a start again situation in terms of match preparation but it was actually the best timing possible for the bye so we’ll take that and move on. I’m looking forward to seeing how the girls perform against a team that has decided to set a few bench marks, it should be a really good test for us and a good indicator of where we’re at.”

BYE – WaiBOP Football

Article added: Friday 28 September 2018