Monash Uni Soccer

Monash University men's seniors consolidated the second place on the Provisional League Division One ladder on Saturday June 13th with a 1-0 home victory against improving Endeavour United.

Veteran Greg Costaras grabbed the only goal mid way through the first half (in his first senior appearance this season) with a neat finish from a Michael Goddard ball after Monash had dominated the opening periods with good passing and movement. Liam Johnson looked dangerous on the left and Monash looked comfortable with Vinecombe, Lim and Beck looking rock solid at the back.

Endeavour looked dangerous on the break and Rodrigo Becerra made an excellent point blank save to deny the visitors who got on top during the last 10 minutes of the half due to Monash repeatedly giving the ball away. In the second half Monash spurned a host of good chances in a contest which saw Endeavour rarely trouble the Monash defence. Richard Nation returned from injury and came on for Miles Rodriquez after 55 minutes and made a number of positive attacking runs into good positions only to fall short with finishing and substitute Nick Burris pressured the Endeavour defence up front to create some good passages but Monash could not find the second goal. Pleasingly, Monash kept a clean sheet to close out its sixth win from the last 8 games.

Attention now turns to the crucial away clash with third placed Old Scotch next week. C'mon you blues!

Earlier in the day, men's reserves - also placed second on the ladder - kept up the pressure on the league-leaders Old Melburnians with a 3-1 victory against the visiting Endeavour Utd. 

Max Solovyev won and converted a penalty in the first half, while Roy Chan and Paul Neumann also got on the score-sheet in the second half.

The victory keeps the team off the top spot only by the virtue of goal difference.

After collecting their first victory of the season in the previous round, the women's seniors won their 2nd game in a row by beating Southern Suburbs 2-1 in the round 7 home fixture. Nayomi Perera was the hero for the girls with a brace.

The women's reserves travelled to Ringwood City on the same day hoping for all 3 points against one of only 2 teams below them on the ladder. However, a disappointing first half saw the girls down 3-1 at the break, with Allara Walsh-Howe the scorer. Things did not improve in the 2nd half, with a 4-1 loss the final scoreline.

Men's thirds were hoping to get their season back on track with a much needed victory at third-placed Doveton. Nivan Weerakkody opened the scoring for Monash in the first half with his first goal of 2009 season, but the home team pulled a goal back after the break, with both teams having to settle for a share of the points in a 1-1 draw.

A disappointing performance from the Monash University Colts saw them miss out on a chance to move up the ladder after they fell to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Caulfield Grammarians.

The Colts never really looked up for the game, and despite creating a couple of early chances, they were made to pay, as their opposition scrambled the ball over the line from a corner 20 minutes in. Within 5 minutes it was 2-0, a slack midfield effort and defensive mix-up to blame as the Grammarians striker slipped the ball past a helpless Mark Warren.

The Colts did improve heading towards the break, Jonno Buckley's shot deflected away after some impressive trickery from Ned Rocke on the right, but this was good work was undone by a horrible free kick that was high, wide and not so handsome. Scott Josey also found the upright from a free kick to the far post, but the Colts went in to the break 2-0 down.

The second half was a slight improvement, Scott Josey finding himself in the right position on a couple of occasions from set pieces, but was unable to finish. The defensive side of things was improved, but still the midfield was overwhelmed for much of the half. However to the Colts credit, they did win the half, after a David O'Keeffe cross found the chest of Ned Rocke in between two defenders, the attacking midfielder driving the volley into the top right hand corner from 20 yards. A disappointing result and a disappointing performance in all from the Colts, leaving them with plenty of work to do over the next few weeks.

The Stallions played away against Caulfield Grammarians, part of the cream of Melbourne's educational elite. Private school facilities invariably means the players get decent changerooms (with working showers), and an awesome playing surface and Caulfield Grammar did not disappoint.

On a pitch short enough for Reza to goal-kick over the halfway line, the game had a strange compressed feel to it. What should have worked in the Stallion's favor with their players having less distance to run, seemed nullified by a home ground familiarity by the Grammarians. Nonetheless Monash looked on top, and within the first 20 minutes a Micky Thoman shot into the woodwork was snaffled up on the rebound by a roving Eddie.

Caulfield stunned the Stallions only seconds from the end of the half with a shock goal through some ugly defensive work to enter break tied at 1-1. Scoring again against the run of play early in the second half left the Stallions trailing the Grammarians 2-1. While obviously the weaker team, the Grammarians were producing regular half chances that a strong Monash defence should have been squashing.

Alex Mclean was providing the best crosses and corner kicks the Stallions have had all season but was unlucky not to have had any of his deliveries converted. Consequently, Alex played a short corner to Jin, who quickly served a low cross into the box that was converted by Micky T for his first of the season. With 15 minutes to go the game was back to 2-2.

The final nail in the Grammarians coffin was rammed home by a rampaging Chatai playing at striker. A lucky escape for the Stallions with a 3-2 victory.