ESSENDON
Saturday evening at the Home of the Matildas, 6pm, and Essendon Royals play for the first piece of silverware the women’s program has ever contested. Four cup ties to get here, only two of them settled inside the 90 minutes. Nobody could accuse this group of taking the short way.
Heidelberg United arrive with a record that needs reading carefully. They sit 10th in the NPLW on 23 points with a negative goal difference, 24 behind Essendon, and they were beaten 4-0 at home by Avondale on the same afternoon the Royals were putting six past Victory. On the league table alone this looks settled.
The cup says otherwise. Heidelberg have scored 14 goals in four ties and won three of them on the road, including a genuinely absurd 6-4 at Caroline Springs George Cross and a 1-0 at Lakeside that knocked out South Melbourne. Haley Phillips scored in both the quarter-final and the semi-final, which makes her the obvious one to watch. The only meeting between these two this season came at Heidelberg in May and finished 1-1, which remains the only real evidence of how this fixture behaves.
The Royals go in second on the ladder with four rounds still to play and a goal difference of plus 39, the best in the competition. None of that counts on Saturday. Cup finals carry nothing forward and offer nothing to make up later, which is both the whole appeal and the whole risk.
Jaiden van der Heijden asked for one thing after the semi-final and it was not tactical. As much red in the ground as the club can manage. The players said the support at Bulleen made a difference. Six o’clock Saturday, and there is no second final scheduled.
The road to the final
Round 4: Essendon Royals 2-1 Melbourne Victory
Tuesday 12 May, Cross Keys Reserve
The run started at home under lights on a Tuesday night, and for an hour it was comfortable. Maggie Jenkins opened the scoring on 34 minutes and Bronte Peel doubled it five minutes later, two goals in a five-minute window that looked like settling the tie well before the break.
Victory had other ideas late. Fiorina Iaria pulled one back on 87 minutes and the closing stages were considerably more uncomfortable than the previous eighty had suggested. The Royals held on, and in hindsight the first lesson of the campaign had already been delivered: nothing in this competition was going to be straightforward.
Round 5: Eltham Redbacks 0-3 Essendon Royals, after extra time
Wednesday 3 June, Eltham North Reserve
For 90 minutes this one produced nothing at all. A goalless first half became a goalless second, the Royals could not find a way through on Eltham’s synthetic surface, and the tie went to extra time still level and still without a shot that counted.
Then it broke all at once. Kelli McGroarty finally opened it on 98 minutes, Ayano Koizumi added a second barely 60 seconds later, and what had been a stalemate for an hour and a half became a two-goal lead inside a minute. McGroarty scored again in the 117th minute to finish it 3-0, a scoreline that flatters a night which was, for the vast majority of it, deeply awkward.
Quarter final: Alamein 1-1 Essendon Royals, Royals won on penalties
Tuesday 30 June, away
If Eltham was awkward, this was worse. Goalless again through regulation, a second consecutive tie that refused to yield anything in 90 minutes, and again it went to extra time. Grace Maher looked to have won it with the goal of the campaign, scoring direct from a corner, the sort of strike that normally decides a cup tie by itself.
It did not decide this one. Chelsea Blissett equalised late for Alamein and the match went to penalties, where Zara Board saved two and Isabella Sewards scored the kick that put Essendon into the semi-finals. Two rounds had produced no goals at all inside regulation time, and the Royals had come through both.
Semi final: FC Bulleen Lions 2-4 Essendon Royals
Tuesday 15 July, FC Bulleen Lions
Seven minutes in, this looked finished. Claudia Mihocic converted the very first corner of the night from a Maja Markovski delivery, Markovski scored the second herself shortly after, and the Royals were two down away from home against the side sitting third in the league.
The response was arguably the best performance of the campaign. A Bulleen own goal on 13 minutes gave Essendon something to build on, and Maher levelled it before the break with a free-kick from outside the box. Paige Kingston-Hogg put the Royals in front for the first time on 58, finishing a Bronte Peel cut-back for her first goal for the club, and McGroarty settled it on 66 with her 27th of the season. Four goals in 53 minutes, away from home, from two behind.
Heidelberg United’s road
Round 4, Avondale 1-3 Heidelberg, Tuesday 19 May. Heidelberg fell behind to a Cameron Barreiro penalty on 22 minutes before Irena Razumic levelled on 41 and an own goal on the stroke of half time put them in front. Eve Tiktikakis sealed it on 90. A comeback win away from home, and a pattern that would repeat.
Round 5, Caroline Springs George Cross 4-6 Heidelberg, Wednesday 3 June. 10 goals, and Heidelberg were two up inside six minutes through Ruby King and Sarah Assumma. Caroline Springs pulled it back to within one on three separate occasions and Heidelberg answered every time, through Hayley Geurts, Minori Akiyama, King again and finally Olivia Wood on 85. It is the sort of scoreline that says a great deal about their attack and rather less about their defence.
Quarter final, Heidelberg 4-0 FC Clifton Hill, Wednesday 24 June. Their most controlled performance of the run and the opposite of the Caroline Springs tie. Haley Phillips, Wood, Razumic and Annalee Bidwell all scored inside the opening 42 minutes, and the match was effectively over by half time.
Semi final, South Melbourne 0-1 Heidelberg, Tuesday 14 July. A single goal from Phillips on the stroke of half time at Lakeside Stadium was enough to eliminate South Melbourne. Heidelberg defended a one-goal lead for the entire second half to reach the final, which is worth remembering if Saturday turns tight.
Full results
Essendon Royals
| Round | Date | Opponent | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Round 4 | Tue 12 May | Melbourne Victory (H) | 2-1 · Jenkins 34, Peel 39 |
| Round 5 | Wed 3 Jun | Eltham Redbacks (A) | 3-0 after extra time · McGroarty 98, Koizumi 99, McGroarty 117 |
| Quarter final | Tue 30 Jun | Alamein (A) | 1-1 after extra time, won on penalties · Maher; Board saves two, Sewards scores the winner |
| Semi final | Wed 15 Jul | FC Bulleen Lions (A) | 4-2 · Own goal 13, Maher 40, Kingston-Hogg 58, McGroarty 66 |
Heidelberg United
| Round | Date | Opponent | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Round 4 | Tue 19 May | Avondale (A) | 3-1 · Razumic 41, own goal 45, Tiktikakis 90 |
| Round 5 | Wed 3 Jun | Caroline Springs George Cross (A) | 6-4 · King 2 and 46, Assumma 6, Geurts 39, Akiyama 43, Wood 85 |
| Quarter final | Wed 24 Jun | FC Clifton Hill (H) | 4-0 · Phillips 20, Wood 25, Razumic 38, Bidwell 42 |
| Semi final | Tue 14 Jul | South Melbourne (A) | 1-0 · Phillips 45 |