Perth RedStar made it a perfect seven wins from seven games as an emphatic second-half display saw them defeat Hyundai NTC 7-1 in Saturday’s Regional Festival of Football fixture in Geraldton.
The win also saw the defending champions retain the Regional Cup following last year’s success in Albany, on what was a sunny afternoon in front of a healthy Midwest crowd. NTC, meanwhile, remain fourth despite a fourth loss in a row.
NTC put together a strong first-half performance and scored the game’s opening goal. Klaudia Houlis was picked out by Angelique Clayton and ran at Momoko Sakairi before her deflected strike looped over Gabby Dal Busco and into the net.
But RedStar had designs on maintaining their three-point lead at the top and were presented with an opportunity to equalise just before half-time. Olivia Wood was clipped in the penalty area by Houlis and Caitlin Doeglas did the rest from the penalty spot to make it 1-1 at half time.
Carlos Vega Mena made a triple change at the break and the substitutes would play a key role in ensuring RedStar got a grip of the game and ran away with victory.
Doeglas played a one-two with one of those replacements in Jayna Ridley before bearing down on goal and curling a classy finish past Megan Phillips 10 minutes after the restart.
Another substitute in Queyan Doan headed in a Doeglas corner to make it three on the hour mark, and then Ridley got on the scoresheet for a second successive week with a close-range finish from Doeglas’ cross.
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It was turning into one of the days for the youngsters as Sakairi’s shot came back off the post and hit an unfortunate Phillips before going in for 5-1.
Carla Bennett came off the bench with quarter of an hour remaining for her first NPL minutes in 15 months, following her season-ending knee injury early last year. She made a near-immediate contribution with a perfectly weighted pass picking out Manami Arai, who lifted over substitute goalkeeper Macy Johnson for a RedStar sixth.
And it was seventh heaven late on for a rampant RedStar as their eighth corner of the game resulted in Ridley’s second goal from six yards.
That win put the pressure on second-placed Perth to stay within a win of the leaders and they duly responded with a 4-0 victory against Subiaco, who missed an opportunity to jump into the top four.
Danielle Brogan’s side started well as a slip from Carla Biegun on three minutes allowed Ella Lincoln to profit with an unerring finish into the roof of the net.
Jess Flannery doubled the lead at the second time of asking after her initial shot was saved by the goalkeeper, and the Goldfields forward struck again before the break when rolling sharply away from her marker and finishing low into the bottom corner.
With five minutes remaining, Anika Stajcic ran unchallenged to the edge of the area and curled home brilliantly to add gloss to the scoreline and make it five straight Azzurri wins.
Balcatta remain three points behind Perth SC and six off leaders RedStar after a 7-1 win at UWA Nedlands, headlined by Abbey Meakins’ hat-trick.
It was goalless until the 33 minute mark when Mackenzie Rastatter was shown a straight red card after getting tangled up with Lucy Jerram on the left wing.
Balcatta then took control of the contest with two quickfire Monique Prinsloo goals before half-time. The former NTC striker connected with Jamie-Lee Gale’s cross before heading in Jerram’s delivery which was stood up to the back post.
A minute after the restart Meakins got her first with a tap-in from six yards following Gale’s cross from the right, and it was four soon after when Prinsloo released Jerram who burst clear and fired a trademark low drive into the bottom corner.
Meakins made it 5-0 with a carbon copy of her first goal having received Gale’s pass to net from close range, and the midfielder completed a treble with a smart turn-and-finish from Kat Jukic’s pass.
There was still time for UWA skipper Emily Dinsdale to continue her good start to the campaign, as she followed in from Michaela Thawley’s shot to make it three goals now in 2024.
Jerram had the final say though as she followed up after initially being denied by Morgan Springer with the late goal taking the winger top of the NPLW goalscoring charts with nine for the season.
Finally, Fremantle City won 2-1 away at Murdoch University Melville to move up to sixth and within three points of fourth place.
All the goals were scored in the first half with Faye Chambers’ side making a rapid-fire start at Besteam Stadium. Abbey Green’s cross was met with a sweetly-timed volley from Matilda Boyle, as the midfielder opened her account for the season inside 30 seconds.
They had a second in the eighth minute when Green’s cross was cleared only as far as Tanika Lala who hammered home from just inside the box.
Taylor Reid released Tiana Botha to run in and slot past Dayle Schroeder as MUM FC pulled one back before the half-hour mark. But no equaliser would arrive as Freo pulled three points clear of the hosts, who are bottom and a point behind seventh-placed UWA.