After taking season defining victories in the Easter Showdown clashes against St George City, Nepean and Western Sydney Wanderers, our Academy sides were eager to continue on from such important victories.
Women’s:
After putting on impressive performances against St George City and Nepean in less than two-days over the Easter Long-weekend, our Academy Girls sides faced off against Hills United.
The 14’s started the day picking up a close-fought 2-1 victory over Hills while the 15’s enjoyed a wide 5-0 victory against United.
The 16’s despite picking up two comfortable victories against St George and Nepean, unfortunately went down 2-1 at Bella Vista Public School. While the 20’s side played out a 0-0 draw.
Peter Preston’s side were coming off a back-to-back victories against their last two opponents and were looking to pick up another valuable three-points away from home against the current league leaders.
Kaitlin Murphy gave the Yellow and Navy a shock lead just before half-time but Imogen Lane, Ellen Berios and Stefanie Trovato all found the back of the net for Hills United which allowed the new-side to comeback and pick up the points despite being behind before half-time.
Speaking to Academy Media post-match, Preston was disappointed his side were unable to hold their momentum.
“The Girls did extremely well for 60 minutes and they were very competitive against the top team in the competition,” he said.
“Unfortunately, we couldn’t turn the momentum in our favour and Hills were able to control the final 30.
“In the end they deserved the win and we now look forward to next week against SD Raiders.”
Men’s:
Looking to follow on from a last-minute victory over Western Sydney Wanderers on the Easter long-weekend, the Mariners Men’s Academy sides played out some exciting ties against Blacktown Spartans and Western Sydney Wanderers.
Across the Youth, only our 15’s sides were able to pick up a victory as they defeated the Wanderers 4-2 away from home while the 13’s were defeated 6-0, the 14’s 1-0, the 16’s 3-1 and the 18’s 3-1.
However, despite some mixed results across the Youth grades, the 20’s picked up a resounding 5-0 victory over Blacktown Spartans.
Disappointingly though, the Mariners First Grade Men’s side were outgunned by the Spartans and were downed for a 2-0 victory away from home.
Goals either side of the half time break to Emmanuel Gonzalez and Hamish Lamberton were enough to see the hosts prevail despite the Yellow and Navy having chances through Nikola Skataric and Jordan Segreto.
Speaking to media post-match, Andrew Christiansen was disappointed with his side’s performance against Blacktown Spartans
“It was a disappointing performance and result from the group overall, we will review and I hope to see a positive reaction from them this week,” He said.
FULL CENTRAL COAST ACADEMY RESULTS:
League One Women’s:
Hills United 14’s 1-2 Central Coast Mariners 14’s
Hills United 15’s 0-5 Central Coast Mariners 15’s
Hills United 16’s 2-1 Central Coast Mariners 16’s
Hills United 20’s 0-0 Central Coast Mariners 20’s
Hills United First Grade 3-1 Central Coast Mariners First Grade
League One Men’s: Western Sydney Wanderers 13’s 6-0 Central Coast Mariners 13’s
Western Sydney Wanderers 14’s 1-0 Central Coast Mariners 14’s
Western Sydney Wanderers 15’s 2-4 Central Coast Mariners 15’s
Western Sydney Wanderers 16’s 3-1 Central Coast Mariners 16’s
Western Sydney Wanderers 18’s 4-1 Central Coast Mariners 18’s
Blacktown Spartans 20’s 0-5 Central Coast Mariners 20’s
Blacktown Spartans First Grade 2-0 Central Coast Mariners First Grade
