The Hyundai Women’s State Cup begins this weekend and UWA Nedlands are looking to make a mark on the competition when they face NPLWA – Women’s side Hyundai NTC at E&D Litis Stadium.
This is UWA’s second trip to the home of Floreat Athena this year, having lifted the Women’s League Night Series there three weeks ago with a 2-0 win against NTC’s U21s.
It was a satisfying moment for the second-tier club, who lost the corresponding fixture in 2022 to the same opponents while also coming second in the league and Top Four Cup to South West Phoenix.
“The Night Series win was real reward for the hard work and belief in the system, which we’ve been working on and tweaking in the last few years,” UWA captain Alexandra Lyons said.
“It feels like we’ve had a bit of a breakthrough with it this year and we’re feeling really good about the season ahead. We’ve had a slight shift in formation which built on a lot of our fundamentals, but now we’re starting to utilise some of our strengths a bit differently and adapt to those changes.
“We’ve also had a change in team dynamic where we’ve had a core group of women learning the system for a long time, but we’ve also added some young exciting players who have added dynamism and creativity. Both sides have really complemented each other well.”
Lyons has been a mainstay at UWA Nedlands over the years in what is now her 10th season with the team. She is also vice-president at a club who are continuing to bolster their female football program on and off the pitch.
With promotion and relegation active between the top two tiers of the women’s competition this season, Lyons says effort has been made behind the scenes to prepare the club should the opportunity to play NPLWA – Women’s football emerge.
“As a club, we did a lot of work last year to be able to knock on the NPL door, and now that it’s open it’s definitely an intention of ours to try and win the league,” she said.
“We’ve been building a robust junior girls and women’s program, doubling our junior and Miniroos teams in the first year of our female football plan, which we’re consolidating now with investment in additional video analysis and strength and conditioning programs.
“We’ve also got four other women’s teams with one of those trying to mirror the U21s as it would in the NPL system. So, we do have those performance aspirations in the female side of the game to try and reach our potential.
“But we’re also conscious of not losing the place for the many women and girls who just want to play football without that NPL ambition. It’s a big part of our strategy going forward to cater to all female players going forward.”
Having lifted silverware in pre-season, and after wins over Sorrento and Port Kennedy in the first two rounds of Hyundai Women’s League matches, UWA now face NPL opposition for the third year running in Ben Anderton’s NTC side.
Lawrence Lewis’ side faced Perth RedStar (then Northern Redbacks) in the past two editions of the competition and Lyons hopes they can use Sunday’s tie as another marker of their progress.
“We were really proud of our effort against Redbacks in 2021 when we lost 3-2, and even last year when we lost 5-0 against RedStar. Particularly with the way the game unfolded against their first team, and it took them until the 40th minute to score,” Lyons said.
“We were happy with our defensive effort and to have that challenge and chance to test ourselves in a way which was different to other occasions last year. We’re hoping to take that similar mentality into this week’s game against NTC.
“We’ve somehow managed to draw the only team who has beaten RedStar in recent times! We weren’t surprised given our luck with draws, but we’ll push ourselves and take what we’ve worked on in training into that game.
“In the 10 years I’ve been playing senior football in Perth dating back to the old Premier League, NTC hasn’t really changed their approach, so we have a pretty good idea of how they’re going to try and play. But it works both ways and we’re under no illusions that any benefit we may have to understanding how they play, they will have that too because they’ve seen us play and some of the coaching staff there are ex-UWA.
“A lot of the team we are playing this week are players we lost to in the Night Series Final last year after extra-time. That was a high-quality side even if they are missing a couple of players on Sunday with the Junior Matildas. It’s going to be a strong team that they have regardless, and we’ll set up with our system and see how we go with it.”
NTC are the only side in the NPL with a 100% record following three wins from their opening three matches.
At least one Women’s League side will be in the hat for the next round with Armadale hosting leaders Hamersley at Alfred Skeet Reserve. Betim Ziba’s side have two wins from two to start the season, including a 3-0 win over Armadale who still await their first points of the campaign.
Defending NPLWA - Women’s champions RedStar make the trip to Port Kennedy, while current leaders Perth SC also face southern suburbs opposition in the form of Mandurah at Dorrien Gardens.
In other fixtures between sides from different divisions, two-time NPL champions Murdoch University Melville take on Subiaco’s Women’s League outfit, while Fremantle City welcome Sorrento to Hilton Park.
Balcatta Etna from the NPL are away to Perth AFC in the first game of a double-header at Len Packham Reserve, with Perth AFC’s men welcoming Inglewood United for an Australia Cup tie.
Curtin University face Subiaco’s NPL side in the only all-NPL fixture at Edinburgh Oval with the hosts looking to avenge a 13-0 loss in Round Two.
Fixtures
Sunday (1pm)
Port Kennedy v Perth RedStar
Armadale v Hamersley United
Hyundai NTC v UWA Nedlands
Curtin University v Subiaco (NPL)
Murdoch University Melville v Subiaco (Women's League)
Perth SC v Mandurah City
Fremantle City v Sorrento
Perth AFC v Balcatta Etna
