James Murphy
GAMBIER CENTRALS 1 d/w NARACOORTE 1
THE evenness of the Limestone Coast women’s soccer competition remains in tact with another tight round of games in the senior grade.
The closest Round 6 fixture was a one-all draw between Gambier Centrals and Naracoorte at MGA Park on Sunday.
Both goals came in the first half within the span of three minutes, with the scoreboard untouched for the remainder of the day.
Naracoorte opened the ledger in the 32nd minute when Lauren Smart found an opportunity and scored, much to the delight of Smart and her teammates.
However, off the next centre pass Centrals created a chance of its own and Isla Dickson found a run into goal to score and level the playing field again.
Play continued back and forth up until half time and despite best efforts neither side could break through the opposing defences in the second term.
As such they shared the points for the round, leaving Centrals as the wooden spoon holders, while Naracoorte sits a single point above in fifth place.
APOLLO 2 d INTERNATIONAL 1
Apollo’s women remain undefeated in 2023, with their latest win a hard-fought 2-1 triumph over International.
The ladder leaders were made to work for it and after a tough start to the match, a late goal to Inter’s Leonie Robertson put the away team up by one at the break.
Not to be undone, Apollo returned to the pitch with purpose in the second half and after a build up Deni Atkin converted to level the game in the 56th minute.
Just 10 minutes later Atkin was under the spotlight again and with her second goal came the match-winner.
Despite best efforts Inter was unable to recover and now finds itself delegated to third position.
BLUE LAKE 2 d MILLICENT 0
Millicent managed to hold off its Blue Lake hosts for much of their Round 6 meeting on Saturday, but in the end the Rangers prevailed by two goals.
The opening half was a stalemate with neither team finding the back of the net.
However, Blue Lake’s weight of supply eventually proved enough to break through after half time and in the 62nd minute Jasmine White scored the opener to put her team in front.
She went on to score again for good measure in the 80th minute, icing the game and pushing the Rangers out to a more-than-defendable 2-0 lead.
The win keeps Blue Lake locked in second place, with the reigning premiers still well in the hunt for a title defence.
