The National Women’s League continues this weekend when the sixth match week takes place across the country, find out what’s in store with the official preview.

Canterbury United Pride vs Northern Lights
English Park, Christchurch
Saturday 19 October, 1pm
#NWL #CUvNL

Referee: Sarah Jones
Assistant Referees: Jayden Brown, Henri Croft
Fourth Official: Subho Sarkar

Squads

Canterbury United Pride: 1. Una Foyle (GK), 2. Marisa van der Meer, 3. Rebecca Lake (c), 4. Lara Wall, 5. Annabel Gilchrist, 6. Chloe Jones, 7. Gabi Rennie, 8. Tahlia Herman-Watt, 9. Jayda Stewart, 11. Macey Fraser, 12. Lauren Dabner, 13. Whitney Hepburn, 15. Britney-Lee Nicholson, 20. Kate Taylor, 21. Nicola Dominikovich, 23. Bel van Noorden
Coach: Alana Gunn

Northern Lights: 1. Lily Alfeld (GK), 2. Arabella Maynard, 4. Aneka Mittendorff, 5. Saskia Vosper (c), 6. Claudia Bunge, 7. Chloe Knott, 8. Geena Gross, 9. Maggie Jenkins, 10. Greer MacIntosh, 11. Kelli Brown, 12. Liz Savage, 14. Lily Jervis, 15. Catherine Pretty, 16. Ava Pritchard, 17. Mackenzie Barry, 18. Emily Couchman (GK)
Coach: Shane Verma

Lowdown

This is undoubtedly the highlight of the weekend as it pits last year’s best performers together in a repeat of the 2018 final. Both sides appear to be very much in the running for the glory again as they are the only ones yet to be beaten and occupy the top two places on the ladder. The Lights are more than capable of springing an upset and will be out for revenge after being edged out in a thrilling final last year. But the Pride will go in as favourites as they have not even conceded a goal yet and have made English Park a fortress in recent years. The Lights will take heart from the fact that the last team to pick up three points in Christchurch was in fact themselves, back in November of last year with a 3-0 win.

Quotes

Jesse Rawlings (Canterbury assistant coach): “Any team that Shane (Verma) is in charge of will be extremely organised, he’s done a really good job with them over the last couple of years since he left us. It will be a really tough game because they’re an experienced team that’s got some talent, it will be a good challenge for our girls this weekend.”

Shane Verma (Northern coach): “Canterbury have been the stand-out team in the league for a number of years now so to test ourselves against the team that’s coming first and who have had a really good history in the competition is going to be really exciting for us. The big thing for us is to focus on ourselves, the performances have been getting better every week so it’s just about continuing that progression. We have to show them due respect but we have quality players on our side as well and on our day we can beat anyone.”

Southern United vs Capital Football
Logan Park, Dunedin
Saturday 19 October, 1pm
#NWL #SUvCA

Referee: Nadia Browning
Assistant Referees: Allys Clipsham, Sean Lau
Fourth Official: Becky Hart

Squads

Southern United: 3. Kelsey Kennard, 4. Mikaela Hunt (c), 5. Lena de Ronde, 7. Shontelle Smith, 8. Renee Bacon, 9. Chelsea Whittaker, 10. Amy Hislop, 14. Hannah Mackay-Wright, 16. Jade Middleditch (GK), 17. Ruby Anderson, 18. Mikayla Gray, 19. Juliette Lewis, 20. Erin Roxburgh, 22. Kirsty Hayr, 23. Tahlia Roome, 24. Samantha Richards (GK)
Coach: Ignacio Sande

Capital: 1. Molly Simons (GK), 2. Francesca Grange, 3. Zoe Barrott, 4. Ellen Fibbes, 5. Katie Barrott (c), 6. Nina Kondo, 7. Jemma Robertson, 8. Charlotte Wilford-Carroll, 9. Kelsey Wilkinson, 10. Emma Rolston, 11. Jemma Catherwood, 13. Molly Woodhead, 14. Danielle Ohlsson, 15. Tupelo Dugan, 16. Jayden Watts, 18. Ariana Gray (GK)
Coach: Natalie Lawrence

Lowdown

With the possibility of Canterbury and Northern dropping points in their clash against each other, this is a good opportunity for third-placed Southern to make up ground on the leading pair. Three points are therefore a must here and they will expect to get the job done but Capital are certainly a potential banana skin. The visitors have only posted one win so far but proved they can foot it with the better teams in the league with a 3-3 draw against 2017 champions Auckland and also scored three goals in their most recent outing, a 3-2 win over Central. They will fancy their chances of continuing that hot streak in front of goal as Southern have conceded nine times in their previous two matches.  

Quotes

Natalie Lawrence (Capital coach): “Southern away is always a really tough trip, obviously with the travel we have to take but they’ve also got some pretty good results down there already this season. They’re a strong team and definitely make it hard for you when you head down there. We’ve looked at their strengths and they’re scoring a lot of goals, especially from set pieces. We’ve looked at what we can do to hurt them in their times of weakness.”

Central Football vs Auckland Football
Massey University, Palmerston North
Sunday 20 October, 1pm
#NWL #CEvAF

Referee: Edward Cook
Assistant Referees: Devyn Crawford, Smiritika Gosai
Fourth Official: Charlie Brown

Squads

Central: 1. Brooke Bennett (GK), 2. Freya Partridge-Moore, 3. Jessica Gates, 4. Jana Niedermayr, 5. Charlotte Lancaster, 6. Florence MacIntyre, 7. Eve Barry, 8. Abby Rankin, 9. Mikaela Boxall (c), 10. Natalie Olson, 11. Georgie Furnell, 12. Torijan Lyne-Lewis, 13. Tyler Wood, 14. Emma Lees, 15. Rubi Perano, 16. Peta van Hattum
Coach: Barry Scullion

Auckland: 2. Genevieve Ryan, 3. Elizabeth Anton, 5. Maisy Dewell, 6. Stephanie Skilton (c), 7. Britney Cunningham-Lee, 9. Jade Parris, 10. Lily Taitimu, 12. Sarah Morton, 14. Ella Russ, 15. Emma Leaming, 16. Nadine Robberts (GK), 17. Hannah Pilley, 19. Lucy Carter, 20. Jaedeci Uluvili, 25. Alisha Perry (GK), 26. Sophie Bradley
Coach: Nic Downes

Lowdown

A clash against the bottom-placed team is good timing for Auckland as they are in need of getting back on track following a 1-0 loss to Canterbury. With the Pride and the Lights both setting such a sharp pace at the top of the table, Auckland can’t afford too many more slip-ups if they are to repeat their title-winning heroics of two years ago. Maximum reward will therefore be necessary on this trip south but that won’t be a given against a Central side that is showing signs of improvement. Central failed to score on the first two weekends but have found the net in every game since, including against second-placed Northern. They have had more of a problem at the other end, where they are currently conceding five goals per game on average.

Quotes

Stephanie Skilton (Auckland captain): “A loss is always hard to take but we couldn’t fault the effort of the team. We worked really hard in the game and it was unfortunate not to come away with a point at least. But we can learn a lot from the game and one of those things is switching the point of the attack. The plan is to really come at Central this weekend.”

BYE – WaiBOP Football

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Article added: Friday 18 October 2019