By Lachlan Onions
APOLLO 4 d GAMBIER CENTRALS 2
ROUND 3 of the Limestone Coast Women’s Premier League kicked off last Friday with an entertaining clash between Apollo and Gambier Centrals under lights.
The Girls in blue and white put in a commanding performance to pick up the three points on their home turf.
The Lions took the ascendancy early when Kiah Connolly converted from the sot to give the visitors a 1-0 lead after 13 minutes.
However, it did not take long for Apollo to hit back as Zoe Brooksby levelled the scores in the 19th minute.
The hosts continued to show their class as they hit the front five minutes before the end of the half thanks to Charlotte Stafford.
Things went from bad to worse for Centrals as Apollo doubled its advantage just two minutes after the half time break.
However, Connolly had another chance from the penalty spot, which she converted to set up a thrilling contest with 25 minutes to go.
As the visitors began to throw everything forward in the dying minutes, Deni Atkin scored her second goal of the game in the 79th minute to seal the win for Apollo.
INTERNATIONAL 5 d MILLICENT UNITED 2
International continued its perfect start to the season with a solid win over Millicent on Saturday.
Inter made the trip to McLaughlin Park off the back of two impressive wins in the first two rounds and showed its class early as it took the lead after 20 minutes through Leonie Robertson.
Captain April Hockey stepped up five minutes later for the away side to make it 2-0 and the pressure was on the hosts.
However, United won a penalty in the 36th minute, which was converted by Leonie McCallum and Millicent was back in the contest just before half time.
The home side could have been forgiven for settling for one goal before the half as going in a 2-1 down would still have put them in a competitive position.
However, Millicent continued to push on and just two minutes after McCallum struck, Lana Shepherd scored her sixth goal of the campaign to level the scores.
Shepherd has been in fine form this season and currently leads the golden boot race.
With momentum on their side, United went out for the second half with a chance of taking one or three points against the juggernaut that is Inter.
After an arm-wrestle to begin the second half, Inter was awarded a penalty in the 58th minute.
Stephanie Gilbert held her nerve and scored to give the black and blue the lead once again with just over 20 minutes to play.
With minutes ticking away and the pressure rising, Inter remained firm at the back and Hockey put the icing on the cake with two goals in the final three minutes to seal her hat-trick and the win.
BLUE LAKE 5 d NARACOORTE UNITED 2
Blue Lake bounced back from defeat in Round 2 with a victory over Naracoorte in a goal-fest at Malseed Park on Sunday.
Blue Lake controlled possession early and created opportunities but the visitors remained a threat on the counter-attack.
After a back and forth opening half hour, Aimee Brooks broke the deadlock in the 34th minute to give the Rangers the lead heading into half time.
The second half proved to be a polar opposite to the first with six goals scored in the final 25 minutes.
Masoma Panahi brought Naracoorte back into the game as she found the back of the net in the 56th minute.
However, parity was only restored for eight minutes as Brooks scored for the second time shortly after before Rebecca Turner made it 3-1 in the 66th minute.
Yet just two minutes later, Lauren Mather gave United a glimmer of hope as she scored to make it 3-2 with 12 minutes left to play.
Her work was cancelled out just two minutes later as Chelsea Frost scored from the spot to make it 4-2 and capped off a frenetic six-minute period where goals were scored at two-minute intervals.
Frost then put the game beyond doubt with a goal in the 77th minute to cap off an entertaining second stanza.
Looking ahead to this weekend, Blue Lake will look to back up its strong performance when it travels to Millicent on Saturday.
Inter and Apollo will face-off at 1pm on Sunday at Casadio Park in a repeat of last season’s preliminary final where the latter prevailed.
Centrals will continue their search for their first win of the season when they take on Naracoorte on Sunday.
