A 9-goal thriller played out at The Village Green on Sunday evening, with Sydney Olympic defeating UNSW 6-3.
Having shown their quality throughout the new season already, UNSW were no doubt excited to host Olympic at the Village Green after an unbeaten start. By contrast, Olympic were looking for a quick reaction after their loss against APIA Leichardt last weekend.
Goals in quick succession epitomized the early stages of the match, with Olympic opening the scoring through Maxine Peak’s self-assured finish across goal in the 14th minute.
UNSW would equalise almost immediately after in the 16th minute via Sarah Moore, who had to react quickly to the ball finding its way to her on the edge of the box, which the No. 88 did successfully and with some style as she buried the ball into the bottom left corner from range.
Demi Koulizakis deserves plenty of credit for her goal in the 17th minute, with the wily forward spectacularly fashioning herself a half chance in amongst a sea of UNSW defenders and taking it to give her side a 2-1 lead.
Mali Stanton then gave her side further reprieve in the 41st minute having made a smart run in behind the UNSW defence to meet an excellent ball from Brianna Oliverio and tap the ball in for 3-1.
An intelligent piece of improvisational play gave UNSW an avenue back into the match as Amanda Levaskevich latched onto a loose shot to hook the ball over Olympic keeper Sayaka Koyama and in for 3-2.
Despite UNSW’s best efforts, Olympic would retain the ascendancy for the remainder of the second half, with Koulizakis again showing her class as she calmly picked up the ball from outside the 18-yard box, and weaved in and out to set herself up in a comfortable shooting position where she smashed the ball into the bottom right corner. 4-2 to Olympic in the 64th minute.
Danielle Rutstein scored Olympic’s fifth of the night in the 83rd minute, the substitute able to place a header into the back of the net after UNSW were unable to deal with a cross from the away side.
A header in the 90th minute to Ebony Mccue-Shore ensured that it was back-to-back goals from corners for Olympic, who would eventually see out the match as the victors despite a late consolation in the form of Levaskevich’s well-guided header. 6-3 the final score in the end.
