We’ve reached the business end of the Westfield W-League 2018/19 Season with the Finals Series getting underway with two cut-throat Semi Finals to look forward to on Sunday.
Ahead of the two sudden-death matches, we’re looking back at the seasons of each club that made the top four.
And we start with a team that knows all about finals football in Sydney FC, who have played in the semis in every year of the competition.
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Sydney FC will travel to Dolphin Stadium in Redcliffe for their Semi Final on Sunday to take on Brisbane Roar, with the match kicking off at 7.15pm (AEDT).
Here’s how the Sky Blues got to the finals.
Sky Blues hit by slow start
Sydney FC had the honour of opening the season with a huge Thursday night Derby clash against the Wanderers.
And thanks to their Westfield Matildas stars, they cruised to a 3-0 win over their fierce rivals thanks to goals from Chloe Logarzo and a Caitlin Foord brace.
But that was as good as it got for Ante Juric’s side in the first month of the season as the Sky Blues lost their next three matches in a row.
Defeats to Melbourne City (3-1), Melbourne Victory (3-2) and Canberra United (2-0) had them playing catch-up for the top four.
Finding their attacking mojo
They needed results to turn quickly and they certainly did, hitting five goals in back-to-back matches to get their season onto the right path.
First it was Brisbane Roar to feel Sydney FC’s wrath, with a Foord hat-trick inspiring the Sky Blues to a 5-1 victory in Round 6.
They backed it up the following week as Princess Ibini came off the bench to score a late double as they trounced Adelaide United 5-2 on a crazy night at Cromer Park.
Sydney’s last match of 2018 came against the Glory in Perth, which ended in a 2-1 defeat as Sam Kerr scored both goals to snap their impressive run.
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Surging into the finals picture
The New Year brought a fresh start for the Sky Blues and they quickly reinforced their top-four credentials with three straight wins.
The first came against the Jets with Savannah McCaskill scoring twice in a 3-1 win, while they completed their double over the Wanderers with another 3-0 victory in Round 11.
Perhaps their best performance came the following round in Brisbane, as Foord hit another brace in a 3-1 success.
While they ended the regular season with a thrilling 2-2 draw against eventual Premiers Victory and a 2-0 loss to City, the Sky Blues did enough to finish in third position.
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Star player – Caitlin Foord
Injury saw Foord miss the Grand Final for Sydney FC last season and the Westfield Matildas star came into this campaign with a point to prove.
The 24-year-old played all 12 games, scoring nine goals from just 16 shots on target.
Foord also backed it up with four assists, while her 31 chances created was second only to Glory’s Kerr, while she also had 17 successful dribbles and a passing accuracy of almost 77%.
https://players.brightcove.net/5519514572001/default_default/index.html?videoId=5987825656001
Record against Brisbane Roar
While the Sky Blues may be on the road this weekend, they do head to Brisbane with the confidence of recording two massive wins over Roar this season.
The first of those saw Sydney FC put on a second-half masterclass at Seymour Shaw, as they scored four unanswered goals after the break to run out convincing 5-1 winners.
The most recent meeting was just three weeks ago and again the Sky Blues had too much class for Brisbane.
Foord was the chief destroyer, scoring a goal in each half on the way to a 3-1 win at Lions Stadium.
https://players.brightcove.net/5519514572001/default_default/index.html?videoId=5991345522001
