2025 Women’s National League – Week 1
Petone vs West Coast Rangers
On a relatively nice and only mildly windy Saturday afternoon at Petone Memorial Park began a brand new National League season... and immediately we saw an upset. The Auckland teams are supposed to dominate this thing, they usually do. Petone have a good few players with prior WNL experience but this is the club’s first stint on the women’s side and those first National League stints can be scratchy. But there was nothing scratchy about the way that Petone just beat the NRFL Premiers.
The first sign that Petone were in line for something special came a few days beforehand when it was revealed that they’d added Renee Bacon and Nicola Ross from Waterside Karori, as well as Amy Price (a former Petone player who’d playing been in Australia) plus Grace McRobie and Amy King. Only Bacon and Price went straight into the team but that was enough to raise them up a few levels, especially Bacon with her WNL pedigree and the form she finished the winter season in.
It was defence that carried Petone through the Central League, averaging less than a goal per game against them, so that was what they prioritised against WCR with a slight change in shape seeing them anchor down in a flat 4-4-2 shape. Aoife Gallagher-Forbes in goal. Nova Hill, Caelin Patterson, Marie Green, and Kate Marra across the back four (right to left). Midfield quartet of Amy Price, Ellie Johnson, Chelsea Whittaker, and Phoebe Gray. Then two very speedy strikers in Renee Bacon and Pepi Olliver-Bell... who between them scored 40 goals in the Central Lge (Bacon 21, POB 19).
Through that shape, the pattern was established early and it never really changed. West Coast Rangers had a majority of the ball and most of the territory and yet, led by CBs Patterson and Green, Petone continually repelled them or kept them to long shots, all the while trying to exploit WCR’s high line with their strikers running in behind. It was careful stuff from the home side who had to mind their steps working out from the back with WCR often pushing a midfielder up to go 4v4 in their press (particularly when they were into the wind in the first half). And while the Bacon/POB magic was limited to hints most of the way, it also remained true that Rangers couldn’t seem to create much for all their territory. Maisy Dewell and Anjelina Ujdur had deep attempts and that was about it. Almost no sight of their Golden Boot winner Shannon Henson who was isolated on the left wing while most of their attacks were shuffled down the other edge.
Getting back to that West Coast Rangers side, two of their first eleven are away at the Oceania U19 Championships: goalkeeper Sophie Campbell and striker Emily Lyon. There was no Minji Yun here either (hopefully she hasn’t left ahead of the Nats), nor captain Marissa Porteous, and, unlike many other teams, WCR haven’t done a whole lot to strengthen their squad other than adding Anjelina Ujdur (a 20yo kiwi-born, Aussie-raised midfielder) and Leyla Butler (and ex-WCR player also returning from Oz). Their eleven went: Jo Peel as GK; back four of Ella Dorward, Tessa Berger, Laney Strachan, Kailey Short; midfield three of Sienna Higinbotham, Anjelina Ujdur, Maisy Dewell; front three of Shannon Henson and Olivia Curgenven out wide with Taylor Vujnovich up top.
Awesome to see the opportunities for teenagers Curgenven and Vujnovich (Vuj is only 16yo)... but they didn’t have a lot of joy against this Petone backline – especially with the depth of the home side negating their pace. They needed more Shannon Henson yet she was a peripheral figure. They also needed the physical presence of Emily Lyon, a young striker who creates for others as well as she does for herself, and whose ability to hold the ball up and bring in others would have been huge in this type of contest. They spent a lot of this game exactly where they wanted to... but it’s hard to think back on any difficult saves that Gallagher-Forbes ever had to make. The early pattern never changed. WCR never solved the puzzle. Then, with five minutes left, they were sucker punched by Renee Bacon on the counter to lose 1-0.
To make matters worse, Maisy Dewell got sent off after the final whistle for something she must have said to the referee. It wasn’t even a very contentious game so dunno what that was about, other than the frustration of having lost the match (they may have felt Bacon was offside but the replay showed she ran from inside her own half). Down some key players it seems that the NRFL champs got caught off-guard by what Petone threw at them. This was a new opponent after all – it took them a few years to start competing regularly with Auckland United. From the way they were picked off for the winning goal to how little they created on attack to how marginalised their best striker was... this was a tactical mess from Rangers. But it was game one. No need to panic.
What a result for Petone though... and with an understrength WeeNix side next week they could easily make it 2/2. This was a win built upon flawless defence, led by Patterson and Green, although everyone did their bit. Extra credit goes to Renee Bacon who scored in seven consecutive games to end the winter season and now she’s made that eight in a row. 14 goals in those eight games too so the bacon’s been sizzling. Wasn’t quite enough to get the Wharfies back in the Nats but she’s found a loophole for herself and when Petone can also chuck Nicola Ross out wide then we’ll really see what they cook up.
Petone 1-0 West Coast Rangers
Goals (Assist)
86’ | 1-0 | P | Bacon (Lantz)
Auckland United vs Canterbury United
It’s never easy for the federation teams in this competition. You’ve got one maybe two weeks to whip a squad into shape whereas most of your opponents are club teams that’ve had all season to build those combinations. The helpful thing for Canterbury United is that they are mostly drawn from two teams: Cashmere Technical and Coastal Spirit. But it’s such a young and inexperienced squad that they’ve settled on this year... and what did the fixtures have in store for them in week tahi? A trip to the other end of the country to face the two-time defending champions. Yeah good luck with that.
The Pride tried to keep things compact in a 4-4-2 formation. Amelia Simmers in goal. Lily Fisher and Sam Crawford in central defence with Kate Berry on the right and Claudia Wilson on the left. Darsha Keogan and Frankie Morrow in midfield. Anya Stephan right wing. Petra Buyck left wing. Margi Dias played off Katie Brugh up front. Of that eleven, only Lily Fisher started more than two games for CU last year.
In the other corner, Auckland United were at home feeling good after a dominant Kate Sheppard Cup final performance a few weeks ago and not much needed to change. Zoe McMeeken’s move to Melbourne Victory (and Saskia Vosper’s ACL injury) takes her out of the frame so they’ve added Aussie defender Kris Molloy in her place. They’ve also brought in some exciting kiwi additions: Emma Rolston returning from a long injury layoff and Kiara Bercelli back in Aotearoa after a couple years with Sampdoria in Italy. Both were on the bench. As for the starting eleven, that read: Hannah Mitchell in goal; Talisha Green, Jess Philpot, Alaina Granger, Kris Molloy across the back four; usual trio of Yume Harashima, Chloe Knott, Dani Canham in midfield. Alexis Cook and Rene Wasi out wide; Ava Collins centre-forward. Eight players in common from the KS Cup final.
Do you need to be told that this game was very one-sided? Probably not. AUFC’s fluid attacking patterns were too much for the Pride to handle as speed out wide and runners from midfield continually found space and the hold-up play of Collins made sure that the ball was spread around to all of those danger zones. It took ten minutes for Chloe Knott to ghost back post and score from an Alexis Cook set-up. In fairness, Canterbury then had two very close calls both from in-swinging lefty corners via Petra Buyck... one was going straight in until Green headed it clear, while the other led to a scramble where Stephan wasn’t able to get contact on her shot from six yards out. Who knows, maybe if they’d scored one of those...?
Nah, wouldn’t have made a difference because Auckland Utd were simply too incisive. Knott scored a second midway through the half, turning home a Collins cross, and from there it got ugly as Alexis Cook’s directness on the right edge gave her further assists to Collins and Knott while she scored one of her own in between. First half hat-trick for Chloe Knott, pretty hard to deal with a midfielder who still gets into positions like these...
Down 5-0 at half-time, something had to change for Canterbury so Sara Mann replaced Keogan with Brugh also moving deeper to be an extra body in midfield. That did make a bit of a difference although that may have had more to do with Auckland United easing off. Should be said though that Canterbury Utd did have what looked like a perfectly good goal disallowed right after the fourth concession – obviously it was another Buyck corner kick, taken short this time with Dias giving it back to her on an angle to curl home a wonderful finish. They gave a phantom offside in there somewhere (presumably someone getting in the keeper’s eyeline, very harsh).
We’ll be here all day counting the almost-goals for Auckland United so let’s just stick to the ones they converted. Like the quickfire brace for Rene Wasi (58’, 61’) and then also the comeback goal for Emma Rolston near the end. Rollo’s last game for the Wellington Phoenix was in April 2023. She had to have surgery on her back to fix a recurring issue and that meant she dropped off the scene for a wee while. Two-and-a-half years later she’s back and this was a sweetly taken goal, particularly that first touch. Note the Ava Pritchard cross too. A goal for the Welly Nix throwbacks there (to go with Chloe Knott’s three-bagger).
The Pride did have one golden chance for a consolation when AU’s Mitchell made a mess of a Buyck cross but Stephan shinned it over with an open net before her. Everything good that Canterbury did on attack stemmed from Petra Buyck’s left foot. Oh well, at least they’ve gotten this fixture out of the way with because they should grow into some rhythm with more games under their belts.
8-0 was the final score for a rampant Auckland United side. Three goals and an assist for Chloe Knott leading the way as always. One goal and four assists for Alexis Cook who was pretty much unstoppable – there was only one of their five first half goals which Cook wasn’t directly involved in and she still got the secondary assist for that one. Unreal impact. Ava Collins only had one of each but so much of AU’s prowess came through her clever mahi up top, building off a very impressive KS Cup final from her. No surprises that Auckland United remain the team to beat in the Women’s National League.
Auckland United 8-0 Canterbury United
11’ | 1-0 | AU | Knott (Cook)
24’ | 2-0 | AU | Knott (Collins)
29’ | 3-0 | AU | Collins (Cook)
37’ | 4-0 | AU | Cook (Knott)
45’ | 5-0 | AU | Knott (Cook)
58’ | 6-0 | AU | Wasi (Cook)
61’ | 7-0 | AU | Wasi (Harashima)
87’ | 8-0 | AU | Rolston (Pritchard)
Central vs Eastern Suburbs
It’s going to be a long season for these Central girls. Nine weeks is going to feel like decades for a squad so young that the federation’s announcement didn’t even see the need to separate the National League players from the Youth League players (seven players in the squad to face Eastern Suburbs had also been in the matchday squad for the opening NYL game last week, just to make the point more obvious). It’s not a coincidence that Central are almost always the worst team in this competition. Think of the logistical nightmare of trying to bring a team together that spans the Taranaki, Manawatu, and Hawke’s Bay regions. Like, if you’re a star player for Taradale in your early twenties who lives in Napier and training sessions are in Palmerston North, two hours drive away, on weeknights then unless you have a very flexible job that probably rules you out.
Central have also had a coaching change this year with Mikaela Bouwmeester and Donald Piper taking over for Matt Calvert after he was been hired as one of Stephen Hoyle’s assistants at the Newcastle Jets ALW team. It’s a pity because there were four Central region clubs in the Women’s Central League this year, including solid mid-table finishes for Palmerston North Marist and Taradale, so the talent is there... but instead we’ve basically got a youth team playing National League. There are valid reasons for that. There are also valid questions to be asked about the continued presence of this team because while it’s great to see different regions represented there’s no doubt that the next best finishers in the club qualifying paths (Fencibles in NRFL, Waterside Karori in the Central League) would be much more competitive. Ironically, if Fencibles made made it then they’d have a bigger chunk of the 2024 Central squad than the 2025 Central squad does. Rosie Missen, Zara Erol-Watt, and Lilly Dowsing were all with Fencies this year (Missen was a loan player for Central but the other two are local juniors).
Anyway, it is what it is. Eastern Suburbs showed up at Massey University with intentions to win and win heavily having finished the NRFL in very good form. Anna Leat is obviously gone (signing with that same Newcastle team) but Ruby Nathan is still around, not a great indicator for her chances of another A-League stint with Canberra but great for the Lilywhites fortunes. Corina Brown has returned to the club to fill the goalkeeping void. Back three of Emily Pilbrow, Yuki Nishizono, and Kenya Brooke. Putri Ardana and Vicky Neuefeind were two very attacking wing-backs. Ella Findlay, Stacey Martin, and TJ Anderson marshalled the midfield. Nathan was joined by Fijian international Cema Nasau up top.
It only took 41 seconds for Suburbs to score the first goal. Neuefeind sent a sharp ball over the top from inside her own half and Nasau took advantage running in behind. Kenya Brook scored a bit of a fluke in the ninth minute when a cross floated into the net... though she’d later score a more deliberate long strike to make it 5-0 after 30 minutes. In between came goals for Findlay and Neuefeind. It was all way too easy... Central had some okay moments in possession but they couldn’t match the athleticism or the power of that Suburbs team. This was adults against kids. Mercifully, the onslaught slowed down from there. TJ Anderson whipped one home for 6-0 at half-time (four of those goals having been scored from outside the box) but there were only three more in the second half.
Cema Nasau finished off number seven for her second of the day. The OFC nations tend to prefer picking their squads from locally-based options rather than the diaspora so there aren’t actually that many current internationals in the NZ leagues. There especially aren’t very many current internationals who’ve moved to NZ to further their careers... but obviously Eastern Suburbs have some sorta arrangement because they’ve got Nasau in the women’s team and Thomas Dunn and Sterling Vasconcellos in the men’s team.
Number eight was scored by Ruby Nathan for an incredibly overdue contribution. Nathan’s best when she’s part of the flow but you can understand why she was getting tetchy to score in a game like this. She must have taken at least ten shots in this game, constantly shimmying into room and unleashing. Again though, that’s not prime Ruby Nathan activity so it’s telling that when she finally did score, it was a tidy finish from an Ella Findlay cross rather than something she instigated herself. Then the last goal was scored by Tayla O’Brien off the bench, set up by Sam Tawharu (whose composed link-up play was the opposite of Nathan’s single-minded approach – don’t expect Nathan to play like this every week though, she knows what works having led the WNL in assists two years ago with Auckland United).
Did we learn anything from that? Not really... but credit to Central for not wilting as the game went on. 5-0 after 30 minutes and somehow they managed to keep it to single figures – they lost this corresponding fixture 10-0 in 2024 so we actually should class this as an improvement. Eastern Suburbs did take their foot off the pedal in the second half though Central also applied a bit more ball pressure. Fullback and captain Teagan Andrews-Paul was one who stood out in that regard. For the Lilywhites, Ella Findlay is more recognised as a central defender (where she played at the last U20 World Cup) but she’s been a regular in midfield this year and had a barnstorming game making those late movements into the area, scoring one and setting up two. Easy to see how Neuefeind scored so many goals this year with that strong left foot. And Zoe Brazier, Madeleine Dwyer, and Amelia Hitchcock gave us a glimpse at the calibre of the Eastern Suburbs youth with stints off the bench. Big win for the Lilywhites. Onto the next.
Central 0-9 Eastern Suburbs
1’ | 1-0 ES | Nasau (Neuefeind)
9’ | 2-0 ES | Brooke (Nathan)
13’ | 3-0 ES | Findlay (Nasau)
22’ | 4-0 ES | Neuefeind (Anderson)
30’ | 5-0 ES | Brooke
40’ | 6-0 ES | Anderson (Neuefeind)
55’ | 7-0 ES | Nasau (Findlay)
74’ | 8-0 ES | Nathan (Findlay)
90’ | 9-0 ES | O’Brien (Tawharu)
Western Springs vs Wellington United
Western Springs were a distant fourth of the four NRFL qualifiers for this competition, so you know what they did? They signed the two best goal-scorers from their region whose clubs didn’t make it. Maddi Ollington was a revelation for Ellerslie after moving up from the Waikato and Britney Cunningham-Lee just spent another year in the second tier where she won Golden Boot for Franklin United with a whopping 28 goals. BCL played for Eastern Suburbs last year (and Ellerslie the year before) making this a superb get from the Swans. Two signings who genuinely move the needle for them, each going directly into the starting line-up at Seddon Fields: Angelique TuiSamoa (GK), Tiana Hill (RCB), Sarah Morton (CB), Arisa Takeda (LCB), Liz Savage (RWB), Jaedeci Uluvili (CM), Alosi Bloomfield (CM), Nanami Omasa (LWB), Anna McPhie (CAM), Maddi Ollington (CAM), Britney Cunningham-Lee (CF).
Their opponents were Wellington United who’ve stocked the shelves themselves by adding a trio of the legendary 2018 U17 World Cup squad in Blair Currie, Amelia Abbott, and Maggie Jenkins... plus also Sammie Senior who would have gone to the 2020 U17 WC had it not been cancelled (she captained NZ at an U16 prep tour in China). Add them to the already glittering squad carried the Diamonds to a perfect Central League season. They lined up with Molly Simons in goal; Georgie Furnell, Zoe Barrott, Hannah Cooper, and Lara Smith in the back four; Abbott and Jade Di Mattina in midfield; attacking three of Nat Olson, Hannah Pilley, and Summer Laskey; with Jenkins up top.
The level of dominance that Wellington United showed over the Central League makes then automatic contenders in the Nats but the worry for them was whether they’d be caught off guard against tougher opposition having been so comfortably above all challengers in their region. And, yeah, you’d have to say they were because 12 minutes into this thing they were trailing 2-0. First it was Liz Savage running onto a flick pass around the corner from McPhie, charging into the area where she chopped back and shot. Then it was Savage’s cross being allowed to bounce in the box before Maddi Ollington touched it home at the back stick. Magnificent start from Western Springs with Cunningham-Lee and Ollington looking like they’ve been around all season. What’s more is that Nanami Omasa could have had a hatty inside twenty minutes, going close on three occasions including a strike off the crossbar after quarter of an hour.
Wellington United’s defence wasn’t looking comfortable against the movement of those Springs forwards... though they had also shown that they packed a punch on the counter themselves. The Diamonds found a foothold when a Zoe Barrott free kick swerved and spun inside the far post untouched and straight after that Summer Laskey worked a one-two with Nat Olson before nestling her attempt in the net. Two goals in the space of a minute and just like that it was 2-2. But don’t relax because, folks, we weren’t even halfway done.
Springs retook the lead when Maddi Ollington drifted wide and created room for a cross which was headed into her own net by Zoe Barrott. Unlucky. Then Maddi Ollington picked up a ball in the midfield, shook her marker, and smashed in a magnificent goal from distance to make it 4-2 shortly before the break. Hannah Pilley nearly pulled one back trying to chip an out-of-position TuiSamoa but she placed it slightly wide. No reason to think the goals would dry up from there... even if the Diamonds did sub Sammie Senior into their midfield at HT to try and give them some more stability.
Tiana Hill copped about three knocks in ten minutes to start the second spell yet that still didn’t stop her from making an incredible last-defender tackle to deny Nat Olson. For a while there, the game settled into a pattern of Welly Utd attempting to combined between their front four and Springs repelling them. Had the Diamonds scored during those stages then who knows. Instead Rina Hirano was subbed on for the Swans, promptly won a free kick, and that set piece ended up with McPhie teeing up Savage for a shot from the perimeter. A sneaky deflected gave Savage her brace. 5-2 to Western Springs after 67 minutes.
Hold up though, this wasn’t over. Five mins later, Maggie Jenkins won and scored a penalty kick, bit of a delayed whistle from the ref – the replay didn’t look like much but you can’t always tell. Jenkins had sparked the move with some tenacious work fighting for a loose ball so credit to her. Then with a minute left in the ninety, Jenkins smacked one in from the edge of the box, leaving four minutes of stoppage time in which to chase an equaliser. Jenkins did force once close-range save from TuiSamoa... but that was it. Western Springs held on for the 5-4 victory in what was easily the most dramatic and entertaining fixture of this first round of National League footy for 2025. What a game.
Western Springs have struck gold with Maddi Ollington, she was magnificent and when you combine her addition with Britney Cunningham-Lee this Swans team now has some amazing power going forward. They lacked a goal-scorer in the NRFL with Liz Savage’s seven leading the way (Ollington scored 11 for a team that finished lower)... now they have two. Those moves change the whole complexion of this team (and this was with Rina Hirano only featuring off the bench!). Don’t reckon they’ll concede four very often either with that defence.
Wellington United will be gutted by how their own mistakes cost them badly in this game but they still scored four goals on the road. You’re not going to lose very often doing that. Maggie Jenkins already has two to her name, shouldn’t be long before she’s back in the professional realms. It will be confronting to have conceded five times after only allowing six in 18 Central League games but at least they learned that lesson in week one with plenty of time to adapt. They’ll be a force this season.
Western Springs 5-4 Wellington United
6’ | 1-0 | WS | Savage (McPhie)
12’ | 2-0 | WS | Ollington (Savage)
25’ | 2-1 | WU | Barrott
26’ | 2-2 | WU | Laskey (Olson)
30’ | 3-2 | WS | Own Goal (Ollington)
39’ | 4-2 | WS | Ollington
67’ | 5-2 | WS | Savage (McPhie)
71’ | 5-3 | WU | Jenkins [p]
89’ | 5-4 | WU | Jenkins (Senior)
Southern United vs Wellington Phoenix Reserves
The Southerners had a lot to live up to as they hosted the Phoenix Reserves at Logan Park after the other to federation teams had lost by a combined scoreline of 17-0 in their opening games. But that’s not something we’d ever expect of a Southern United team which, unlike the Central or Canterbury, does actually seem to represent the best players in the region (built around a very good Dunedin City Royals team but with contributions from all over Otago). They’ve been hugely competitive for the last couple years and should remain a really difficult team to beat. Even as they face far trickier tests than what they were dealt here against an understrength WeeNix.
Starters for SU: Lauren Patterson (GK); back four of Mackenzie Rastatter, Hannah Mackay-Wright, Kelsey Kennard, Gracie Va’afusuaga; midfield trio of Rose Morton, Florence MacIntyre, Abby Rankin; front three of Emma Vane, Georgia Nixon, Zara Pratley. Rastatter and Vane are American imports signed for this campaign (they only arrived in the country a few days earlier). Georgia Nixon, picked as the striker, was Otago Uni’s star player as they finished second in the South Island League. That spine of Paterson, HMW/Kennard, Morton, and Rankin has been bossing it in blue for several seasons.
The Oceania U19 Championships are going on right now where 10/18 players plus coach Callum Holmes have come from the Wellington Phoenix (from the Phoenix but not necessarily from Wellington, having been recruited from around the country). But they weren’t the only ones missing as the Nix U20s rolled out just one player in common between this eleven and the Kate Sheppard Cup final a few weeks ago – as well as three more subs from the KSC who were elevated. Brooke Neary, Mackenzie Greene, Alyssha Eglinton, Grace Bartlett, Lily Brazendale, Daisy Brazendale, Poppy O’Brien, Amber De Wit, and Ela Jerez are all away with the NZ U19s (as well as Isla Cleall-Harding who didn’t make the KSC final squad) and it seems that A-League preseason understandably took priority for Ella McMillan and Manaia Elliott. Perhaps also for Natalie Young and Katie Pugh whose absences are otherwise unexplained by either option.
What did that leave the Phoenix with? It left them with Emma Humphries and Jess Fuller in the dugout. Harriet Muller in goal. Freya Des Fountain, Gigi Freeman, and Holly Robins in the back three. Maisy McDonald and Kya Solomon as wing-backs. Eliza Vincent and Amelia McClintock in midfield. Sienna Candy and Dorothy Yek as the tens. Ruby Barber up top. Des Fountain (a former Southern United and Roslyn Wakari player) was the lone starter in common from the KSC final. Robins, Candy, and McDonald were also involved that day. Even for an U20s team, this was youthful – the oldest player in that eleven was 18yo Dorothy Yek. Only Robins, McClintock, Freeman, Candy, and McDonald got National League minutes last season. Well, for the WeeNix at least. Des Fountain featured for Southern, Yek for Canterbury United, and Solomon for Central. They also only had three subs on the bench for this trip to further illustrate how stretched they were.
No matter who is playing in these A-League academy sides, male or female, there’s always a baseline of good technical football and calm possession play. That’s what we saw for the first seven minutes... until keeper Muller hit a poor clearance straight to Georgia Nixon and then sliced her down to allow Hannah Mackay-Wright (gotta love a penalty specialist centre-back) to smash Southern into the lead. We saw it in both AFC and Welly Nix men’s games too: the way to beat these sides is to let them play around at the back and then punish the inevitable inexperienced mistakes that emerge. Case and point right there as Southern United took the ascendency.
The match then resumed its previous stylings except its funny how different everything looks when it’s 1-0 rather than 0-0. The Nix’s composed passing wasn’t as much fun when they were losing and failing to create much. Sienna Candy did at least add some dribbling to the mix and there was an opportunistic volley from Holly Robins that dropped onto the crossbar. But not much else, granted it’s easier said than done when Hannah Mackay-Wright is out there intercepting absolutely everything. Meanwhile Florence McIntyre had to be replaced in the Southern midfield after 40 minutes, must have been an injury (although she did jog off). Amelia East-Giles replaced her... and the first thing she did was get the ball smashed at her while standing in the wall for a free kick.
If it hadn’t been for that unforced error then Southern would have been the team under pressure because, aside from the penalty, they weren’t forging any more scoring chances than the Nix. Defensively superb, sure, but not a lot in the other direction... until the second minute of stoppage time when Abby Rankin collected a half-cleared corner and fed Georgia Nixon in the area. Touch and shoot. There ya go. 2-0 to Southern United on the very brink of half-time.
Seven minutes into the second spell, a Zara Pratley shot struck the arm of a Nix defender allowing Hannah Mackay-Wright to make it 3-0 with her second successful penalty of the afternoon. No sweat there. Southern would eventually add a fourth when Emma Vane capped her debut in kiwi football with a goal, rounding the keeper on the end of a smart through ball, beating the offside trap thanks to a lingering defender. That through ball was played by Mackay-Wright after stepping out of her line to win yet another interception. Just an unbelievably good performance from HMW. Very nice work from Vane too.
There was one moment of consolation for the WeeNix when Freya Des Fountain scored against her old team, scrambling a corner kick melee over the line in the closing seconds. Fine reward for what was, all things considered, a pretty decent performance from a massively understrength WeeNix group. They deserved something to show for their efforts. Several of them were on WNL debut... although all of them were part of the U18s team that finished second in the Central League so this wasn’t the steep step upwards that it would have been in previous years. They’re not going to get their NZ U20s players back before next week but they are home against Petone so maybe some fringe first-teamers will be spared?
This is Kris Ridley’s fourth year in charge of Southern United and the first time that he’s won his opening game. They did it easily too. In control defensively thanks to the magnificent Mackay-Wright and then capitalised up top when they could. Perfect gameplan execution apart from the clean sheet bit. Georgia Nixon looked great, carrying on from her excellent mahi with Otago University. She’ll probably settle into an attacking midfield role when Amy Hislop is available (which is more to her preference, as you could tell from how much she wandered from her position). The Americans looked useful... and Aussie returnee Georgia Keen only played a small role off the bench so Southern have plenty more where all this came from.
Southern United 4-1 Wellington Phoenix Reserves
8’ | 1-0 | SU | Mackay-Wright [p] (Nixon)
45+2’ | 2-0 | SU | Nixon (Rankin)
53’ | 3-0 | SU | Mackay-Wright [p]
77’ | 4-0 | SU | Vane (Mackay-Wright)
90+6’ | 4-1 | WP | Des Fountain
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eastern Suburbs | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 9 | 3 |
| Auckland United | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 8 | 3 |
| Southern United | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| Western Springs | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 3 |
| Petone | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Wellington United | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 5 | -1 | 0 |
| West Coast Rangers | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 0 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | -3 | 0 |
| Canterbury United | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8 | -8 | 0 |
| Central | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9 | -9 | 0 |
| Top Scorers | Most Assists | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chloe Knott | Auckland United | 3 | Alexis Cook | Auckland United | 4 |
| Hannah Mackay-Wright | Southern United | 2 | Ella Findlay | Eastern Suburbs | 2 |
| Rene Wasi | Auckland United | 2 | Victoria Neuefeind | Eastern Suburbs | 2 |
| Cema Nasau | Eastern Suburbs | 2 | Anna McPhie | Western Springs | 2 |
| Kenya Brooke | Eastern Suburbs | 2 | |||
| Maddi Ollington | Western Springs | 2 | |||
| Liz Savage | Western Springs | 2 | |||
| Maggie Jenkins | Wellington United | 2 |
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