It is round 22, the final round of the #NPLWNSW competition with so much on the line for a number of teams.
Football NSW Institute v Bankstown City
Football NSW Institute round off the season with a home game at Valentine Sports Park as they host Bankstown City.
Mathematically, it is still possible, realistically, Bankstown will just miss out on finals football, an incredible improvement from this team from Jensen Park.
They first off need results to go their way and then hope they defeat the Institute by 20 goals, an impossible task one would think. Nevertheless, they showed fine character coming back twice last weekend to secure all three points.
Matt Costantini will be proud of his team, they really have been fantastic this season but will lament some unnecessary points dropped this campaign.
It has not been an easy 2022 for the Institute, so many players missing on international duty throughout the year but they have never given up.
Sienna Saveska has shone brightly so far this campaign with some spectacular goals and she’ll look to add to her season tally on Sunday.
NWS Spirit v Emerging Jets
North West Sydney Spirit brought their game forward to 3:30pm on Sunday afternoon when the Emerging Jets come to town.
Tiana Gauci will be happy with Spirit’s turnaround in the second half of the season, giving them a real springboard into 2023.
Sophie Harding has been in fine form and will look to finish both her season and Spirit’s season on a high.
The Jets won their first game of the season a couple weeks ago but were brought crashing down to earth on Sunday.
They will do their best to make it difficult for Spirit and finish 2022 with a positive result.
Manly United v Illawarra Stingrays
The Illawarra Stingrays will be making the long trip north on Sunday as they take on Manly United at Cromer Park.
Along with a few other teams, the Stingrays have really had a terrible time of it this year in terms of the wet weather.
A heap of catch up games at the end of the season have caught up with Anthony Guido’s team and it seems as though they have ran out of energy at the most important time of the season.
Manly will be disappointed they let it slip last week, taking away from the opportunity to be fighting on the final day for playoffs football.
Much like Bankstown, it still would have been difficult to find themselves in the finals as the teams above them have a superior goal difference.
If anyone would be cursing dropped points during the season, it would be Tom Hopley with his team having to settle for 10 draws this season!
Northern Tigers v Sydney University
One of those three massive games on the final day take place at North Turramurra as the Northern Tigers host Premiers Sydney University.
A win for the Northern Tigers will be enough to secure their finals place. A draw could be enough but it does not guarantee anything and they are hoping on other results, similar to what will happen if they lose.
So, it’s simple for Jake Stephenson’s team, just win. They’ve only lost once in August but it was a poor and winless July that cost them a guaranteed finals place.
The Premiership and subsequent first place was secured a couple weeks ago, but since then, Uni has not won.
It’s two losses on the bounce for Emily Husband’s team and not the form they will want to be in moving into the semis in less than 14 days. A win against the Tigers will set them up perfectly for potentially a repeat of this clash the following weekend in the finals.
Annabel Martin was the difference the last time these two met as Uni came away with the odd goal victory.
Sydney Olympic v Blacktown Spartans
Sydney Olympic will look to secure finals football at Peter Moore Field on Sunday when they host Blacktown Spartans.
With a mid-week game against the Stingrays to come tomorrow night, Olympic could enter Sunday already inside the top four. It’s been a testing four weeks for Olympic but they seem to have come out of it where they want to be.
George Beltsos’ team can secure finals football with four points from these two games but can finish as high as second with two wins. They know that if they can get to the top four, they will really shake it up, in particular with a full squad available.
The Spartans have suffered with international duty and haven’t been able to recover and get themselves into the finals fight.
Brad Attard’s team had a phenomenal start to the season but fell off as the season went on. Still, the team has a lot of quality across the board and they would love nothing more but to have a say on Olympics finals future.
The Spartans won the reverse fixture between these two, 2-1.
APIA Leichhardt v Macarthur Rams
Wow, what a way to finish off round 22 with the finals match of the round kicking off at 7pm at Lambert Park between APIA Leichhardt and the Macarthur Rams.
Inconsistency has cost APIA the chance to have already secured their finals place, putting them in a position where they must win in this fixture.
Spencer Prior’s team will have to do it without Princess Ibini who was called up to the Matildas team as an injury replacement.
Sarah Hunter returns to the defence and with the attacking quality they posses, they will feel confident they can get the job done.
The Rams came into the competition as dark horses and their season has gone much the same way, sitting in second place currently.
They looked to be in trouble at one point in the season but an excellent finish to the season with only one loss in their last 10 games, they have finished the season in fine form. Anything but a loss will be enough to secure finals football for the Rams.
Veteran striker Leena Khamis has been incredible. Not only does she bring with her an unprecedented work ethic, she is also scoring and assisting.
APIA won the last fixture at Lynwood Park 3-0 with a convincing victory, I doubt we will see such dominant performance this time.
-By NPL NSW Women’s Chief Writer and Commentator Nikola Pozder