National Premier Leagues Women’s football kicks off for 2020 in South Australia on Thursday night when Salisbury Inter host Adelaide University in an intriguing season opener.
The fixture see University return to Valo Football Centre, where their 2019 campaign came to an end as Inter bundled them out of the NPLW SA Finals Series with a 2-1 result.
That result presided Inter’s own exit from the Finals Series the following week and both teams will be out to break through for a maiden NPLW South Australia title this season.
Key to the hopes of University are a raft of new recruits from last year’s Premiership and Championship winners Adelaide City, including talented midfielder Nora Peat and former City captain, and defensive rock, Daphne McLeod.
University have also welcomed back a number of key performers from last season including NPLW SA Goalkeeper of the Year Evelyn Goldsmith, and captain Perrie Weeks in her tenth campaign with the club.
Last year’s NPLW SA Reserves Player of the Year, Alysia Panagakos, is also elevated to the first team squad this season on the back of her stand-out 2019 campaign that saw her net six goals in the lower tier.
While boasting a defensive resolve that conceded just 27 goals in 21 league matches last season, University stuttered in the final third with no player able to net more than 4 goals across the entirety of last season.
Two of those players – Team of the Year selection Laura Johns and NPLW SA Rising Star award winner Mawa Sumaoro – have also departed the club and the team’s potency in attack remains the big question mark this season.
By contrast, their opponents had no trouble finding the back of the net last season as the equal second highest scoring team in the competition as the continued their year-on-year improvement of recent seasons.
This was in large part thanks to 23 league goals from Emily Condon, who returns for the coming season after being a summer stand-out with Adelaide United in the Westfield W-League.
Also adding attacking spark is the Chilean national team goal scoring machine Cote Rojas, who represented her country at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup and has played across the Americas and Europe as well as the Westfield W-League in her career.
Other key additions include speedy ex-Adelaide United midfielder Meleri Mullan, and former West Adelaide captain Chrissa Pavlomanolakos.
However, the biggest concern for Inter is a leaky defence that conceded over 50 goals last season, with returning defensive duo Chantelle Ryder and Nicole Calder crucial to fortifying the Inter formation.
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National Premier Leagues - Game of the Week
NPLW South Australia
Salisbury Inter v Wollongong Wolves
Thursday, 5 March, 2020
Kick off: 8.15pm local, 8:45pm AEDT
Venue: Valo Football Centre
Stream: www.nationalpremierleagues.com.au
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Feature image courtesy of Football South Australia
