W-League grand final: Sydney FC crowned champions on back of Savannah McCaskill double
Sydney FC’s rousing W-League triumph over Sam Kerr’s Perth Glory ensured the highest grand-final score of all time, a cracking end-to-end contest and more screamers than one could poke a stick at.
Women's sport
Don't miss out on the headlines from Women's sport. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The pain of last season has been wiped away as Sydney FC lifted their third W-League trophy in exhilarating fashion.
A rousing 4-2 triumph over Sam Kerr’s Perth Glory - the highest grand-final score of all time - gave Sydney FC a record-equalling third W-League trophy on Saturday afternoon.
And it arrive in exhilarating fashion, a cracking end-to-end contest punctuated by a brace and assist for player of the match Savannah McCaskill and more screamers than one could poke a stick at.
Entering this instalment of the premier fixture in the women’s domestic calendar, these two teams shared the extraordinary pain of having been on the losing end of the last four championship-deciders.
At Jubilee Stadium, in front of a record grand-final crowd of 6127, that ended for Ante Juric’s Sky Blues, who vanquished their visitors via a masterclass in quality finishing.
Chloe Logarzo’s 70th-minute icing on the cake was arguably the goal of the lot but McCaskill stole the overall show in front of her parents, who’d surprised her by flying from their native America to watch their daughter in the big dance.
“Today big players stepped up but Sav’s been huge the whole year,” Juric said.
“She’s not just a good player, she’s a world-class player. I’m surprised she’s not in the national team but I’m sure she’ll get there, she’s still very young.”
It sent the Glory home to the west without a maiden title, and Bobby Despotovski’s side have now finished runners-up three times in the last five seasons.
“They scored three world-class goals to beat us, you can’t take that away from them,” Despotovski said.
“On the flipside we started very poorly, very slow and sluggish and couldn’t get into the rhythm of the game quick enough ... they’re a very well-organised team and they definitely deserved what they got.”
Despotovski was less complimentary about the standard of the pitch.
After the break Ibini dribbled past several purple shirts and forced Campbell into a diving save from outside the box while Kerr and attacking partner in crime Rachel Hill tried to make magic up the other end but couldn’t find the target.
The same couldn’t be said for McCaskill, who struck again just after the hour.
The forward from South Carolina lay in wait as Colaprico whipped in a corner and watched as Huerta hooked it back in.
When the ball flew back her way she raced onto it and swung her boot through.
“It’s very disappointing that you showcase your W-League grand final on a pitch like that,” he said.
“Don’t we have any other grounds here in Sydney to play on? At the end of the day maybe that shows what FFA is all about.”
There was action from the off and McCaskill might have scored within two minutes had she not rattled the crossbar off Princess Ibini’s cross.
Four minutes later she turned provider and dinked back for Huerta, who took a settling touch and struck it sweet and straight into the top corner.
Perth were under the pump early, as Ibini slashed Sky Blue-hued holes down the left and Glory players practically fell over themselves trying to contain Caitlin Foord.
But Kerr was omnipresent – a cutback here, a just-wide header there – as she tussled with fellow Matilda Alanna Kennedy, and halfway through the first stanza the Matildas superstar won a penalty off her Chicago Red Stars teammate Danielle Colaprico.
Kerr recovered from the challenge, walked to the spot and rolled the ball past a diving Aubrey Bledsoe and into the bottom left corner.
The reprieve lasted only until Teresa Polias pinged forward one of her many pinpoint passes, and if Foord’s ball into the box was sublime, McCaskill’s first-time header was pure genius.
Utilising the forward momentum the 22-year-old US import, aware of Eliza Campbell drifting seductively off her line, leapt and lobbed delicately over the goalkeeper’s head.
“Cait put an absolute cracker of a ball in, she whipped that in perfectly,” McCaskill said.
“I think I caught the ‘keeper playing the cross a bit ... so I just kind of put it on target and hoped for the best.”
After the break Ibini dribbled past several purple shirts and forced Campbell into a diving save from outside the box, while Kerr and attacking partner in crime Rachel Hill tried to make their customary magic up the other end but couldn’t find the target.
The same couldn’t be said for McCaskill, who struck again just after the hour.
The forward from South Carolina lay in wait as Huerta hooked back in a Colaprico corner.
When the ball flew back her way she raced onto it and swung her boot through.
That would have iced the victory had a gritty Perth not returned for more.
Kerr, the star attraction, gesticulated wildly in a bid to gee up her comrades.
They duly obliged, as Nikki Stanton curled in a clever corner and Alyssa Mautz chipped it brilliantly just out of reach of Bledsoe’s outstretched fingertips.
Suddenly it was game on, though clearly Sydney didn’t get the memo.
There was scarcely time for the restart before the hosts had restored the two-goal cushion, this time through Logarzo, who rifled in the best goal of the lot - an absolute belter from outside the box that gave Campbell no chance.
But the afternoon soon went south for Logarzo when she hit the deck and immediately screamed out in pain, though was able to walk gingerly off the field.
Get every match of the 2018/19 Hyundai A-League LIVE. SIGN UP NOW!