NPLW 1st Grade | Canberra United 7 def. Monaro Panthers 3
The Academy won comfortably in the end, but they were kept honest by a Panthers outfit that refused to be cowed and kept themselves in the fixture for large parts without really threatening to derail the Academy’s top four prospects. Mia McGovern crashed in a shot to give the Academy the lead after eight minutes and Hayley Taylor-Young doubled that inside twenty minutes. Isabella Barac helped herself to a hat-trick and hit the post in the second half as the Academy took control but Ian Worthington’s team kept at it and goals from Kaitlyn Joy and Alicia Meuronen from range kept them in touch. Taylor-Young added a second later, with Chey Girvan pulling one back, before young Charli Mitchell won, and converted, her own penalty in stoppage time to round out a 7-3 home win.
NPLW Reserves | Canberra United Academy 3 (Babic 36′, Roden 66′, Kimpton 88′) def. Monaro Panthers 0
NPLW U/17 | Bye
NPLW U/15 | Canberra United Academy 1 (Own Goal) def. Monaro Panthers 0
Contributed by Tony Choy
This Round 13 game was brought forward due to a requested reschedule. The Academy started brightly dominating possession and building up the play either centrally or from out wide. However, time and again they could not finish promising scoring chances. Nevertheless the weight of pressure finally told and an unfortunate own goal gifted the CUA a 1-0 advantage at HT. A number of injuries had forced the Academy into various positional changes, which appeared to disrupt them in the final attacking third. Frustratingly for the CUA no solution was found during the second half and Monaro were unlucky not to equalise off almost the last play of the game. What seemed to be their only corner of the half was swung in beautifully from the left, but somehow the ball could not find its way over the goal line. A nervous finish to a game that should not have been so close.
