Monash Uni Soccer

MUSC men's Seniors team suffered it's second loss of the season away to Old Camberwell Grammar on Saturday 27th June to return to second place on the Provisional League Division 1 table. 

Mid-table Old Camberwell started well and pressured Monash early hitting the cross bar after 10 minutes. Monash constantly gave the ball away in the first half, gifting the home side opportunities to attack them.  In a scrappy game Monash struggled to get the ball down and play, although when they did Monash looked the better side.  Nick Burris again proved a live wire up front and Liam Johnson looked dangerous from the left hand side.  The defences triumphed in the first half and it was 0-0 at half time.

The second half saw Monash play better and start to create openings. Unfortunately Old Camberwell scored against the run of play when Justin Beck tried to shield the ball out of play and got caught inside the penalty box.  The ball was fired into a dangerous  area inside the box and scrambled home to give Old Camberwell a 1-0 lead.

Monash quickly responded by bringing on Wellington Munyaradzi and Richard Nation in a double substitution and struck back when good link play from Nation found Johnson on the left who whipped a great ball into the box where Nick Burris thundered a contested header into the back of the net to make it 1-1.  Monash started to get on top of the match and create several openings and Old Camberwell looked tired and overrun.

However Nick Mallios received a second yellow card for dissent and was sent off with 20 minutes to go which spurred Old Camberwell on.  Monash continued to press but were hit on the break by a great run down the right hand side which Monash failed to block and a quality ball into the box was met and bundled over the line by the Old Camberwell striker.  Monash threw everything at Old Camberwell in the dying minutes with Munyardzi proving effective but the blues could not find a second goal.

Top team Fitzroy City travels to Monash this week in a first versus second clash which promises to prove decisive to the fortunes of both clubs currently at the top of the table.  Go Blues!

The Colts threw away a golden opportunity to move within 2 points of ladder leaders, Old Melburnians, after giving up a 1-0 lead away from home.

A terrible start almost saw them behind after less than a minute, but a good stop from goalkeeper Guri Grewal kept the scores level. The game continued at a frantic pace, due to the matchbox sized pitch, with frequent chances at both ends - Sebastian McLellan and Tom Millard with the pick of the chances for Colts. But it was the Monash University side that took their chance first though with one of the best team goals of the season. The ball was played wide to Tom Millard who played a one-two with Pedro Pires before lofting a perfect ball up the line for Ned Rocke, who carried the ball into the box before squaring to Darius Rohanian, who bundled the ball home from close range. The Colts maintained their lead until 10 minutes before the break, when a free kick into the penalty box wasn't dealt with giving the opposition strikers far too much space for the equaliser.

The second half began in a similar fashion to the first, with free-flowing football and numerous goal-scoring opportunities. A free kick and an unlucky deflection ensured the opposition had a simple finish to take the lead after 10 minutes before the Colts began playing well again, as they dominated their higher-ranked opponents. But despite a number of chances, they were unable to find the elusive equaliser and were forced to settle for a defeat to end the opening half of the season with 3 wins, 3 draws and 3 losses.

The Stallions played away against an excellent RMIT side coming off two straight losses. On a tiny pitch worn down to the bare earth (like the Monash training pitch) the Stallions were lucky not to concede a goal within the first minute from an enterprising start by RMIT's large and fast strikers. Monash regrouped quickly and was heartbreakingly close to scoring first after an RMIT player handballed a Micky Thoman bunt over the bar. A penalty shot and a red card for the deliberate handball would have been the turning point of the game, if only the ref saw it. Instead RMIT gradually began to get on top scoring three times before the break.

In the second half with Monash kicking into the wind, RMIT pinned the Stallions down in their own half. With the Stallion defence under constant pressure, the big RMIT strikers started lining up, and the result was inevitable. A couple half chances created by Tim Li were unfortunately all Monash could muster finishing the half and the game with a 0-7 loss.