Building on a highly successful regular season, the Boomerangs club started the finals series with a bang. Having eight team contest finals was the equal highest of any PL2 team (level with Raiders Futsal). Hakoah had seven teams contesting finals, Mt Druitt six, Sydney City Eagles five and Phoenix two.
For the Boomers this meant six teams playing qualifying finals and just two in elimination finals.
And aside from a stumble in the first match of the day – the 12 boys – the other seven Boomerangs teams won their encounters – a truly remarkable achievement in the higher pressure finals environment. Against top four teams, these were not easy matches. All teams and players are to be congratulated for the way they handled this first round of finals matches.
The two teams in the elimination matches came through with flying colours, and whilst their wins were by narrow margins, the game results were almost never in doubt.
The five teams that won their qualifying finals – all the female teams (13s, 15s, 17s and Women) and the Youth Men, all have the benefit of a week off by booking themselves directly into the Grand Final decider. The 12 boys, by virtue of their qualifying final loss, will play in the sudden death Preliminary Final next weekend against Sydney City Eagles as will the 16 Boys (v Raiders) and the Open Men (v Sydney City Eagles).
Clubs remaining in the finals series after week one are Boomerangs (still with eight teams), Raiders with six, Hakoah with five, Eagles with four and Mt Druitt and Phoenix both with two teams.
A summary of the day’s results:
ELIMINATION SEMI-FINALS
16 Boys
Boomerangs FS 3 – 2 Sydney City Eagles
(Goals: John O’Gorman, Harry Williams, Conner Falusi)
During the regular season, the 16 Boys split their competition matches with the Sydney City Eagles, and both games were won by a healthy four goal margin. Finals though are usually much tighter affairs, and the Boomers 16s did particularly well in maintaining control and focus during the forty minutes. The team made better of their opportunities in front of goal and the 2-0 halftime lead was converted to a 3-0 margin before the Eagles lifted and scored two as the match was drawing to a close. Some high pressure moments in the last few minutes saw a composed Boomers 16s hold out for a terrific win.
Open Men
Boomerangs FS 2 – 1 Hakoah
(Goals: Brad Sawyer, Brett Forward)
The regular season saw two victories to the Boomerangs over Hakoah, so they went into this match with a reasonable level of confidence. 0-0 at half time though meant they had to lift in the second period – which they did with a terrific back post goal by Brad Sawyer from a top notch assist by Cal Smith. This was a rare moment where the solid Hakoah defence was breached; and was followed not long after by a fast break scorcher by Brett Forward. A goal by Hakoah meant the game was never truly safe, but the lads did enough to hold on to the slender lead – under some immense pressure in the dying moments.
QUALIFYING SEMI-FINALS
12 Boys
Boomerangs FS 1 – 2 Hakoah
(Goals: Seb Woods)
The 12 boys had not beaten Hakoah during the regular season, with an early loss away, and a draw at home. The boys though, knew they were good enough if they could be strong defensively and be smart at the offensive end. The half time score of 1-2 meant that the boys had to work a bit harder in the second half – which they did. But alas both teams’ defences held out in the second stanza with no further addition to the scores, giving the victory to the top quality Hakoah unit.
13 Girls
Boomerangs FS 4 – 0 Mt Druitt Town Rangers
(Goals: Emma Ilijoski 3, Ellen Brown)
The 13 girls were pumped and on fire from the get go, and gave their opposition no time nor space to get into the match. This strong Mt Druitt team were the bogey team for the Boomers 13s during the season, inflicting the only two defeats suffered by the youngest Boomerangs girls.
Finals though add another dimension and it was the Boomerangs team that showed maturity, composure and confidence beyond their years. Mt Druitt will need to play in an elimination preliminary final next week if they want to set up a rematch between the season’s best two teams in the ultimate match of the season.
15 Girls
Boomerangs FS 4 – 1 Raiders
(Goals: Isabella Tammaro, Cec Matic, Stella De Marco, Emma Ilijoski)
The 15 girls had been defeated by Raiders both times they met during the home and away rounds – and indeed the Raiders Futsal 15s were undefeated during the regular season of the competition, This result then was truly a fantastic one for the Boomers club – as not only did the 15s girls work hard to limit the scoring opportunities of their opposition (who averaged four goals per game during the season), the 13s girls that played up in their second final for the day, delivered big time at the offensive end, scoring three of the four goals.
No doubt a rematch with Raiders is in the offing for the Grand Final in two week’s time!
17 Girls
Boomerangs FS 4 – 3 Hakoah (after extra time)
(Goals: Alicia Meuronen 2, Rachel Corbett, Alex Martens)
The 17 girls looked sluggish in this match and it took a while for them to get into finals mode and to match it with the Hakoah team – perhaps the early start to the day upset their ‘game day’ rhythm. After being level 1-1 at half time, the girls had to play catch up for the majority of the game to level it up at 3-3 in the final few minutes. Ten minutes of extra time was needed – and it was during this period that the girls turned on their finals-mode to score once and to defend a clean sheet.
An intriguing match given that the Boomers girls had comfortably defeated this Hakoah team both times they met in the regular season.
Youth Men
Boomerangs FS 4 -2 Sydney City Eagles
(Goals: Michael Rinaudo, Nicholas Rathjen, Grant Barlow, Ahmed Ugool)
The last time the Youth Men lost a match in this competition was in Round 8, back in mid December – and it was to the Sydney City Eagles. This team though, has now had much experience in finals futsal and lifted their intensity and performance another notch, and in the end, easily accounting for this strong Eagles outfit.
Even as the Eagles levelled the score at 1-1 going into the half time break, the Boomerangs Youth looked comfortable and confident as the second half began. The final scoreline of 4-2 a good indication of the match. The Eagles (who topped the season ladder over the Boomers by goal difference alone), will need to defeated the strong Raiders team next week in order to book a rematch with the Boomers Youth in the Grand Final.
Open Women
Boomerangs FS 3 – 2 Mt Druitt Town Rangers
(Goals: Alex Martens 2, Olivia Gurney)
The Boomerangs Open Women’s team have been the stand out team of the club for the season, with zero losses and only a solitary draw putting a dint in an otherwise perfect season. Two defeats during the regular season over Mt Druitt had the ladies possibly a bit complacent going into this match.
At one all half way through the match, the women knew they needed to lift, to defend more strongly and to be more productive at the offensive end. And as well as they knew what they needed to do, they demonstrated this on the court. Two second half goals to one meant they came away victors by the solitary goal. Mt Druitt will need to overcome Hakoah next weekend if they are to meet the Boomers women in the Grand Final in two weeks time.
(Match day photos can be found HERE)