By Peter Stephenson
A lovely sunny evening greeted the Barkerettes women’s soccer team at Esther Park for their earliest-ever start to a season.
This first-round Nike FC cup-tie was the first-ever meeting between the Mooroolbark and Moreland sides, and there were debuts for Coad, Dhariwal, McCullough and Treverton.
Barkers forced an early corner. It was delivered from the left to the near post to find McCullough, but Eagles’ keeper Nasreen Shabo was on hand to steal the ball.
Eagles broke downfield immediately with Carcaarfi in on goal. She shot and it was a goal all the way, but Fraraccio somehow got a hand to it to turn the ball onto her left-hand post. The Barkers’ keeper was at work again two minutes later, punching the ball out as far as Shenel Develioglu, who lobbed the ball wide.
Barkerettes had an uncertain start, but on 24 minutes Coad, who was having a fine game, was persistent and had three attempts at the ball but couldn’t quite set up the forwards. Eagles then broke again and crossed from the right to Carcaarfi, but her weak shot was gathered by Fraraccio at her near post.
Barkers’ best move so far came in the 27th minute, when Farrance fed Richardson on the right wing. Her cross was aimed at McCullough, but Shabo just beat her to the ball. Five minutes later, the Eagles almost broke the deadlock. They had a corner from the right, which produced a shot that had to be cleared off the Barkers’ goal line.
After a quiet opening, this stirred Barkers into action. Eight minutes before the break, Lobo collected the ball about 25 yards from goal. It sat up nicely so she tried a speculative lob, which arced perfectly over Shabo’s head for the opening goal – 1-0 Barkers.
Five minutes later, the lively McCullough was through on goal, but her first touch let her down and the danger passed for Eagles. In stoppage time, Eagles had a shot from distance,which crashed against the bar, and the sides went in at the break at Mooroolbark 1-0 Moreland. Eagles could maybe feel aggrieved at not being level, but Barkers finally woke up.
The second half almost began with McCullough doubling the lead. Her shot was spilled by Shabo, but a defender cleared the ball off the line. Eagles replied on 55 minutes with Carcaarfi’s shot being held by Fraraccio at her near post.
From this point, Barkers simply ran the legs off the tiring Eagles. First, Walsh went on a blistering run down the right before shooting narrowly past the far post. Then just before the hour, McCullough robbed a defender and passed the ball out to Walsh, whose near post shot was just wide. Surely the next goal wasn’t far away.
Sure enough, the next Barkers attack saw Lobo and McCullough combine to set up Walsh, whose rasping shot from close quarters found the roof of the net for 2-0. Three minutes later, Lee, in just her 3rd appearance, collected the ball on halfway. She outpaced the defenders before shooting past Shabo to make it 3-0 – a stunning solo effort.
Barkers were now running the show with ease, and next up was McCullough, who ran down the right wing, cut inside and shot at Shabo on her near post. Then Barkers worked the ball across to Coad on the left of the penalty area. Her lob just cleared the bar – how she and McCullough deserved goals, but they would not come.
With 15 minutes to go, a long ball from Farrance was caught Eagles napping. Walsh and McCullough were too fast for them and gave chase, before Walsh blasted the ball into the bottom corner of the net for 4-0.
Walsh then chased the ball down again and hit a shot onto the roof of the net, before a glorious passing move involving Lee and Coad saw the luckless McCullough have a shot blocked by Shabo. With 7 minutes left, Barkers had a corner on the left. It was delivered to the far post, from where Coad shot wide, but by then the game was well and truly over as a contest.
Barkerettes took a while to hit their straps, but eventually ran completely over the top of Eagles finishing 4-0. The speed of the Barkers forwards left Eagles in their wake, and there were some encouraging debuts. Round two is scheduled for next weekend.
