This weekend the last week of play before the Westfield W-League winter break. Heading into Round Six, Melbourne was looking to maintain their position atop the ladder, Sydney was hoping to continue their season long undefeated streak and Canberra was looking to gain momentum heading into next Round’s match with Melbourne. Read more
With Sydney back from Japan with a third place medal from the World Club Championship, the W-League was back to it’s regular four game schedule this past weekend.
Western Sydney Wanderers 3 (Petinos 45+’, Garriock 61’, Kingsley 75’) – 0 Perth Glory
The Narrative: A Wanderers team motivated by the return of three players from injury made the most of their offensive chances, ending Perth’s chance to start a winning streak. It’s certainly a rough result for Perth, as they had just ended their two-game losing streak with a close win last week and were looking to win two in a row for the first time this season. Western Sydney will be happy with three points, as they deservedly grab their first win of this year’s W-League campaign. Read more
by JJ Duke
It’s been about a week since the conclusion of the 2013 NCAA Women’s Soccer Season, giving us plenty of time to think about how to reflect on the past few months. We knew coming into 2013 that this season would be a wild and crazy ride full of unexpected twists and turns. And this season was exactly that. We saw new faces rise to the occasion, new teams take their game to the next level and the season ended with some of the old guard taking a step or two back. Also, most importantly to the plot line, we had a College Cup that involved four teams that never won a National Championship.
Just three games this week in the Westfield W-League as Sydney FC wrapped up their stay in Japan for the Mobcast Cup. More on that later on, but for now lets take a look at how things shook out in Australia this weekend.
For many years now the NCAA has coined the build up to a National Final Four as “All Roads lead to ____(insert city that the tournament will conclude in)”. After the Elite Eight matches concluded last weekend: Florida State, Virginia, Virginia Tech and UCLA will take to the road one more time, with the destination being WakeMed Park in Cary, NC. Two national semifinals will be played on this evening and the victors comes the opportunity to play for a National Championship on Sunday afternoon.
After a break due to the Westfield Matlida’s international friendlies with China, the W-League got back to business with round three. Sydney FC and Canberra United were idle this weekend in league competition, but the Sky Blues are currently playing in the International Women’s Club Championship in Japan. Sydney beat NTV Beleza 1-0 this past weekend to advance to the semifinals. They will face Chelsea of the FAWSL on Wednesday with the winner gaining a spot in the Finals on Sunday against either Nadeshiko League winners INAC Kobe Leonessa or Chile’s Colo Colo, the 2012 Copa Libertadores Feminina Champion. But here’s how Round Three played out in the W-League:
How time flies when we are having fun. It started with 64 teams two weeks ago and after 56 matches, the 2013 NCAA Tournament has been whittled down to just eight teams. And we have seen it all so far: classic 1-nil nail biters, 4-nil (and one 9-nil) shellackings, overtime winners and seven matches decided by penalty kicks. Through all that only eight teams, including all four Number One seeds, have won three straight matches and see themselves only 90 minutes away from Cary and the College Cup. Lets take a look how we got here and what to expect on Friday and Saturday.
by Olaf Goldbecker
Most games in the round of the last 16 were not very surprising. High scores were seen in nearly all games. Despite being an established club, Potsdam had the biggest surprise when they defeated Olympique Lyon, which has been in the final of the last four years. Read more