2009 ROUND 6

Melbourne Bears vs LUSC Women 0-4

Goals:

Marum, Justine (21)
Veltri , Kami (35)
Pettit , Tory (37)
Garner , Nikki (70)

Goals Assists:

Mills, Nicole (1)
Holgate, Rosie (2)

Go Back to Women's First Team Page here


Latrobe Uni Ease Past Bears

Latrobe Uni Womens Soccer team played the Melbourne Bears at Darebin International Sports Centre (DISC) and walked away comfortable 4-0 winners. It was the first time this season that Latrobe had played on the artificial grass at DISC and Coach Victor Sekulov got his team there early so the players could get familiar with the surface.

From the kick off Latrobe quickly took control of the game and were passing the ball well, moving the ball cleverly up the field and threatening the Bear’s goal. In quick succession Nicole Mills shot wide as did Jenna Carson. Tory Pettit won the ball in the middle and played Nicole through but her shot went wide. Tory then found Tina Schmidt. Whose clever shielding of the ball enabled her to lay the ball back to Nikki Garner, but here too her shot went wide.

Though Latrobe were in the ascendency there was a level of desperation creeping in as the players sought out that elusive goal. Passes were hurried and not to their teammates. Despite this Nicole played a clever pass to Jenna but her shot was well saved by the Bear’s keeper. On a few occasions the ball would be played into the Bears penalty area and a desperate scramble would clear the danger, only for Latrobe to launch another attack. Nicole once again threatened when a cross went narrowly wide.

Kami Veltri was tormenting the defenders on her side of the field and her crosses into the penalty area forced the Bear defence to clear the danger in sixes and sevens. With 21 minutes on the clock another telling pass from Kami was cleared only to Tory and her pass found Nicole. She played it in first time and Justine Marum was there to tap the ball past the keeper and defence. It was 1-0. The initial move originated from Lisa Doyle who was having a solid game in defence and making telling passes to the midfield and forwards.

Now Latrobe improved their passing play and Nikki had successive chances to add to the score sheet but her shots went across goal. Jenna also managed a clever cross that hit the post and rebounded back into play. Justine was put through but her shot was charged down.

Coach Victor Sekulov then put on Rosie Holgate and it brought instant success. Rosie ran past her marker and played a pass to Kami. Kami turned and slammed it past the Bears Keeper. It was 2-0. Two minutes later it was 3-0. Once again Rosie was in the thick of the action and after beating a defender she played the ball back to Tory. Tory had time to look up and place her shot out of the reach of the Bears keeper for Latrobe’s third of the game and Tory’s third for the season.

But Melbourne Bears were not giving up. A threatening move resulted in Hannah Matthew-Prosser having to make a rare save and Lisa was there to clear away the danger. Lisa was having one of her best games as she won many tackles and was playing the ball cleverly forward.

The second half was a scrappy affair compared to the first. It was all Latrobe but the passing was letting the team down as the players were overeager in getting the ball forward and scoring. Despite this Latrobe had numerous chances to add to the score. Rhiannon Streitberger had a shot well saved by the keeper and she made successive saves from Nikki, Tory and Justine. It was shaping up that a goal would inevitably come. After some nice defensive tackles from Emily Ryan, she broke free and gave the ball to Nikki. With a defender tightly marking her Nikki brushed her aside and headed towards the Bear’s goal. Her shot beat the keeper and it was 4-0. It was pleasing that Nikki had finally got on the scoresheet. Her first full game back from injury and she finished it with a nice goal.

Latrobe had more chances to add to the score line but for some good goalkeeping and out of sorts shooting the score line remained at 4-0 to Latrobe.

Lisa Doyle, who had an outstanding game, said after the match “Our team work in the second part of the first half was very effective, with passes hitting targets and strong attacking play. I think we let ourselves down a little bit in the second half with weak passes that were easily intercepted. Overall though I think it was a pleasing result and we adapted satisfactorily to the new surface and extra width in the pitch”.

Latrobe Uni coach Victor Sekulov commented, “We scored when we needed to and there were times in the game where we played extremely well. I think that our lack of actual match practice has got some part to play in us not being as sharp as we would like to be.

Having said that I was reasonably happy with our performance and it was nice to get the three points. Unfortunately once again we will have a week’s break and we must not allow these disruptions to the fixture affect our concentration and focus.”

Latrobe Uni will be playing at home this Sunday against Fawkner Blues. Kickoff is at 11.00am.