WPL Round 21 - Heidleberg vs. Ashburton
Ashburton took one point away today after an exciting nil-all draw at Olympic Park. Despite an early corner to Heidelberg within one minute of play commencing, Ashburton dominated play for most of the first half. The reward for this effort came at the 15 minute mark when Kelly Eaton sent a perfectly weighted cross from the right towards Christine Pfeiffer who duly headed the ball into the net. 10 minutes later a Kelly Eaton corner found Rosey Mortellaro  on her own but the shot missed to the right. At the 30 minute mark Ashy seemed to be holding its own with midfielders Cindy Dussoye and Rosey Mortellaro  getting plenty of the ball and distributing it well. The defence seemed tight with Rosie Buretta, Kelly Eaton, Stacy Louras and Linette Lavadure holding the Heidelberg attack well enough. With 15 minutes remaining in the first half the whole complexion of the game changed and the Bergers mounted a constant attack on the Ashy goal. Heidelberg had pushed a third player into attack and had Julia Nicolaci and Sarah Groenewald rotating through the forward line. Luckily for Ashburton their goal keeper, Antoinette Michail, was in outstanding form. Through her incredible efforts at least 3 certain goals were saved by her outstretched fists which knocked the ball over the cross bar. Although these saves resulted in corners for the Bergers these were ably cleared by the Ashy defence.

The second half started ominously for Ashburton with a clash in the goal which saw Michail require attention from the bench along with a Heidelberg player. Heidelberg continued to press for an equaliser with Balta shooting over the cross bar from 20 meters followed by a free kick, taken by Archer, which missed to the right but was perilously close. Groenewald hit the crossbar at the 63 minute mark, but the equaliser came from a dubious penalty some 5 minutes later courtesy of Melanie Camilleri. For Heildberg, Pannella had managed to slip the Ashy shakles and was making her presence felt until she was awarded a red card (second yellow) for a reckless foul on Stacy Louras who was racing down the left wing and threatening to create a rare scoring opportunity for Ashburton. This incident created a bit of feeling out on the pitch and frees were being dished out at regular intervals. Unfortunately, towards the end of the game, Christine Pfeiffer came off with a knee injury and with her the chances of an Ashburton victory diminished significantly.

Photos of the game are here.

WPL Round 20 - Sandringham vs. Ashburton
Ashburton had to be satisfied with a nil-all draw today against a physical Sandringham outfit. Despite the physicality of the game this was essentially a lackluster game with few, if any highlights. The first half was played with a strong wind favoring Sandringham and the play was consequently mostly in the Sandy attacking half. The only real chance for the home side occurred at the 34 minute mark when the ball spilled over the line following what looked like a charge on the Ashy goalkeeper Antoinette Michail. The resultant corner was easily cleared by the Ashburton defence. In the first half it was clear that the Sandringham tactic was to use their physical strength to counteract the normally free flowing  Ashburton passing game. Many of the Sandringham challenges seemed to be outside of the rules of the game but were not picked up by the match referee.
In the second half Ashburton lifted its game and Rosey Mortellaro controlled the midfield and created chance upon chance for the Ashburton forwards who could simply could not buy a goal. During this period Rosey won no less than 5 free kicks in the Ashburton forward line, however these were ably cleared by the Sandringham defence who were working overtime, with Peta Horman especially effective in goal. Despite controlling possession, having significantly more scoring shots and corners Ashburton would seem to have be unlucky in not coming away with the 3 points. There is no doubt that the Ashburton team missed Annabelle Gibney, Seyma Erenli and Kristin Stensholt who have left to take up soccer opportunities in the USA.

Meanwhile in other matches Ashburton's Premier League reserves side lost its first game in three years to Sandringham, while the unbeaten U18 side easily accounted for Croydon City Arrows 11:0 despite fielding only 9 players for most of the game. The State League Division 3 S/E team accounted for South Melbourne 4:3, hopefully saving then from relegation. Ashburton's State  League Division 2 S/E team lost to Beaumaris 2:0.

Photos of today's WPL matches are here:

Reserves
Seniors