Comets shoot to the top

By Marc McGowan
THE Casey Comets shot to the top of the Women’s Premier League table with a 9-1 destruction of Geelong at Comets Stadium on Sunday.
The match was as good as over after 10 minutes, with the Comets establishing a 4-0 lead.
Nicola Prins started the rot when she blasted home Casey’s first in the second minute and then fellow teenagers Marcie Algeria and Alex Gummer (two) got in on the act.
Gummer wound up netting a first-half hat-trick before making way for Gabrielle Lee in the 60th minute.
She was as elusive as ever on the left wing and didn’t give Geelong’s goalkeeper a chance, with all of her strikes thundering into the back of the net.
Talia Silivestros also scored as the Comets entered half-time 6-0 up.
Casey coach Debbie Nichols made a raft of changes in the second half, with Silivestros, Laura Croft and Melissa Atherton joining Gummer on the sidelines.
Lana Bonnet, Jeni Black and Marisa Sipcic replaced the trio and the former slotted the Comets’ seventh not long after coming onto the field.
Atherton also managed a score before departing and Lee joined the feast with a strike in the 74th minute.
But the one lowlight for the day came four minutes later, when – after what Casey’s defenders thought was a hand ball – Gabbriella Mazza slotted the visitors’ opener.
The Comets stopped in unison in expectation of the referee’s call, but it never came.
It dampened Emma Bracken’s otherwise brilliant day in the goals.Nichols said her side could have played even better despite the result.
The Comets and South Melbourne clash at Bob Jane Stadium on Sunday from 1pm.