NPL NSW Women’s: APIA Leichhardt, NWS Spirit, Bulls FC and Macarthur finals series preview

The NPL NSW Women’s grand final teams will be decided as APIA Leichhardt take on Bulls FC and Macarthur Rams face NWS Spirit in the semis, kicking off Wednesday.

Apr 23: Match action in the NPLNSW Womens match between APIA Leichhardt and Sydney Olympic at Lambert Park (Photos: Damian Briggs/FNSW)

APIA Leichhardt capped off a strong NSW NPL Women’s season by claiming the premiership on the weekend but will start their fight for the championship just three days later.

They’ll take on newcomers Bulls FC Academy on Wednesday in the semi-final as they look to do the premiership-championship double in 2023.

Last year’s champions Macarthur Rams are on an incredible 17-game unbeaten run and plan to continue the trend when they face NWS Spirit on Sunday.

Check out the match-ups ahead of the first semi on Wednesday.

APIA Leichhardt FC win the 2023 NPL NSW Women's premiership

APIA Leichhardt FC vs. Bulls FC Academy

After winning the NPL Men’s premiership a week ago, APIA Leichhardt have wrapped up the women’s title as they now vie for a championship to add to their collection.

Spencer Prior’s team led the league from start to finish, clinching the premiership with a win’s worth of points separating them from second-placed Macarthur Rams, while also making the finals of the Sapphire Cup.

“I won’t say the girls are optimistic, I’d say they’re ambitious,” coach Prior said of the upcoming finals series.

“We don’t go into any game thinking we’re going to lose, we go into each game focused and ready to go.”

Neither team has been able to get the upper hand in the two times they met this season and Prior said it was all down to the Bulls’ experienced goalkeeper.

“Trudy Simmons was the only thing stopping us that first game, we just couldn’t get past her,” he said.

“When we played them the second time, we just were really poor in that first half and had to chase the game.

“We got back to 2-all and we really should have gone on and won it.”

Bulls coach Jamie Gomez said those matches could have gone either way.

“I think the difference will be just converting the chances either side will have,” Gomez said.

The Bulls have done better than expected in their first season of top flight football and come into the semi off the back of some solid results, only losing one of their past six matches to just scrape through to the finals.

Coach Gomez said the team has battled through player unavailability all season and the fact they made the top four shows the depth of the squad.

“The team morale is high because we’ve shown that even with injuries and low numbers, the team can still get results,” he said.

2023 history

Round 2: 0-0 draw

Round 15: 2-2 draw

Macarthur Rams in the NSW NPL Women's 2023

NWS Spirit FC vs. Macarthur Rams FC

Under new coach Tiana Gauci, NWS Spirit have made the WNPL finals for the first time since 2016.

Finishing in third place on 47 points, the Spirit have booked a semi-final match with last year’s champions Macarthur Rams.

The two teams have traded wins over their two matches this season, and coach Gauci said she thinks it’ll be a really tough match.

“We definitely think we have a good shot,” Gauci said.

“The results from throughout the season indicate we can each beat each other on our day, but anything can happen in finals football.”

The Spirit are a much more cohesive team to the one that finished 9th last season and Gauci said it’s all been about commitment to the club and to what it’s building.

“I think the team as a collective has really gotten on board and bought into the process and committed to the greater good of the club.”

Meanwhile last year’s champions Macarthur Rams are without a loss in their last 17 matches, narrowly missing out on the premiership but come into the finals series with all the momentum.

“They’re a very good side and obviously we have to be weary of that,” Rams coach Stephen Peters said.

“But we’re still going in pretty confident, we beat them most recently and I think we’re a much better team than we were the first match.”

“We’ve got our eyes on getting into the grand final, getting that championship and going back-to-back.”

2023 history

Round 2: NWS Spirit win 2-1

Round 15: Macarthur win 3-1