Stocky's Scribbles: NSW Thunder

During this year’s FFA Futsal National Titles in Canberra, we will be following the fortunes of the Victorian U14 Girls team as they strive to improve on their semi-final finish in the 2011 edition. Day to day Craig Stockdale will keep you updated with a match report and photos from their latest fixture as they represent their state and sport with pride;





Victoria 0-7 NSW Thunder

It was time for the big game on Tuesday and the main event was hit hard by the unfortunate withdrawal of the starting goal keeper for Victoria – Elizabeth Sarcevic. Ruled unable to play due to a wrist injury by the team physiotherapist, this was a critical blow before the first whistle and impacted the Vics team structure from the very beginning.

Nevertheless, the girls battled hard against a very experienced NSW Thunder team; Charlotte Bartyl was impressive in goal as she was consistently being peppered by NSW Thunder and managed to repel many attempts on goal. Her ability to play up the field from the goal line provides the Victorian team with many options during the tournament and she gave a very good account of her goal keeping ability under extreme pressure from NSW Thunder.

The first half saw the Thunder play precise futsal with some sharp passing and shooting that yielded five goals. Victoria’s starting five of Bartyl, Maddie Stockdale, Lucy Kennedy, Alicia Vakapoulos and Amy Silver tried valiantly to hold NSW Thunder but the constant pressure and pinpoint passing opened several opportunities that resulted in an impressive score line early for NSW.

The second half saw Victoria fight back with some very positive play from first year representative Katrina Bellesis who was hard on the ball and physical in her approach to the opposition. She was ably supported by Silver and Vakapoulos who continued to pressure the NSW defense and look for weaknesses in ball handling. Sienna Go, Emma Heckenberg and Dani Gudelj all worked tirelessly to retrieve some ground for Victoria, holding Thunder’s second half performance to only 2-0.

The positive play yielded from the first year players would have brought smiles to the Victorian coach John Perich. The experience of playing against a team like NSW Thunder will be something the girls can build on over the following two days with the hope of again confronting them for a second time in the finals series.

Recovery was the key issue on the mind of coach Perish as it was a positive and solid day of Futsal from the Victorian U14 Girls. A visit to the pool along with recovery massages will see the girls be ready to again do battle on Wednesday against Queensland.

Read all of Stocky's futsal reports by clicking here.