Veronica Latsko continued her impressive goal-scoring form but it proved inconsequential as Adelaide United suffered their first loss of the Westfield W-League 2018/19 season going down 5-2 to Sydney FC.
The Round 7 match at Cromer Park on Thursday night literally had everything – goals, and two inconvenient stoppages due to weather and a floodlight failure.
Latsko opened the scoring before Sofia Huerta cancelled out the Reds’ strike on half-time.
Another former Red in Danielle Colaprico scored after half-time but minutes later Latsko again replied to net a league leading sixth goal.
Sydney took full control in the final 30 minutes though with Savannah McCaskill and a Princes Ibini double late on sealing the win for the Sky Blues.
Head Coach, Ivan Karlović, made just the one change, with Charlotte Grant given her starting debut and replacing the injured Fanndís Fridriksdóttir on the wing.
Sydney made a promising start to the match throwing a lot of players forward and forcing United on the back foot.
Sydney though were unable to capitalise on their ascendency.
Huerta curled a sumptuous cross into the box which picked out the unmarked McCaskill, who wasted the glorious chance after mistiming her volley.
Adelaide threatened on the counter-attack but could not muster any real openings as the Sky Blues showed more incisiveness going forward.
⛈⛈⛈#WLeague #SYDvADL pic.twitter.com/uhS4XXOjKN
— Liberty A-League (@aleaguewomen) December 13, 2018
Lisa De Vanna fired a cross from the left which caught Sarah Willacy by surprise and she did brilliantly to react, tipping the ball onto the crossbar.
McCaskill nearly broke the deadlock when she latched on to a through ball, and chipped her effort over the scrambling Willacy. But much to her and Adelaide’s relief it landed over the bar and onto the roof of the net.
However, 20 minutes into proceedings play was halted for over an hour due to a thunderstorm with player safety the main priority.
Adelaide adapted quicker after the re-start and took the lead through Latsko.
The American pounced on a long ball which was flicked on by Michelle Heyman and shrugged off the attentions of Alanna Kennedy to emphatically dispatch her one-on-one effort into the bottom left corner.
But Sydney managed to restore parity deep in first-half stoppage time as Adelaide’s resistance would be finally broken with the hosts piling on the pressure.
Huerta rose highest to glance her header into the far corner following a darting run to meet Caitlin Foord’s cross.
The second-half continued to be played at a high intensity with chances exchanged at both ends.
Colaprico made it 2-1 when she profited from a kind rebound in the area before United responded.
Gunnhildur Jónsdóttir’s delightful cross was brilliantly met by the head of Latsko in the 66th minute to grab the equaliser.
However, it was only fleeting with McCaskill finding the net from a set-piece.
The game then experienced another interruption – this time approximately 15 minutes – with the lights going out.
Substitute, Ibini, then bagged a late brace to consign United to a maiden defeat of the campaign.
Key moments:
22’ | GOAL! Latsko nets her fifth goal of the season in clinical fashion, after Heyman flicked on Willacy’s long ball, slotting her finish past Aubrey Bledsoe.
https://players.brightcove.net/5498268479001/default_default/index.html?videoId=5978986673001
45’+3’ | GOAL: Huerta scores against her former team meeting Foord’s cross with a glancing header into the far post.
48’ | SAVE! Willacy denies De Vanna from point-blank range after Huerta’s lay-off across the face of goal.
https://players.brightcove.net/5498268479001/default_default/index.html?videoId=5979007313001
58’ | GOAL: The ball ricochets to Colaprico fortuitously and she calmly buries her shot.
66’ | GOAL! Latsko completes her brace after expertly heading home Jónsdóttir’s pin-point cross.
https://players.brightcove.net/5498268479001/default_default/index.html?videoId=5979014918001
71’ | GOAL: Colaprico’s curling free-kick bounces back off the upright, falling to McCaskill and heads past Willacy.
89’ | GOAL: Chloe Logarzo’s shot hits the post and falls to Ibini whose shot beats Willacy despite getting a glove on it.
90’+5’ | GOAL: Ibini aims her shot into the bottom right corner from 20 metres out.
Match details:
Thursday, 13 December 2018
Westfield W-League 2018/19 – Round 7
Sydney FC 5 (Huerta 45’+4’ Colaprico 58’ McCaskill 71’ Ibini 89’ 90’+5’)
Adelaide United 2 (Latsko 22’ 66’)
Venue: Cromer Park
Attendance: 2,226
