Around the grounds in Melbourne and Sydney soccer

MELBOURNE FOOTBALL

JUNIORS

Maccabi FC Caulfield boys enjoy round one thriller

After weeks of grading games – sometimes playing against boys two years older – the Maccabi FC Caulfield U14 Orange team won their first game of the season last Sunday at Caulfield Park, edging Casey FC 5-4 in a thriller.

Their first goal came in the first minute, and the joy that brought is captured in this photo.

Maccabi led 3-1 at half-time, but Casey fought back to 4-4, before Maccabi scored again with two minutes remaining.

Team manager Tony Aarons said, “The boys worked hard, and used the skills learned in the past month to get a teammate open to score the winning goal.”

Benny Segal scored a hat-trick in Maccabi U12 Blue’s 6-2 win over Malvern City, and Abby Bass, Eden Eckstein, and Jayde Goldman scored braces in their 6-0 U12 girls’ win versus Whitehorse.

WOMEN

In the women’s State League 1, Maccabi FC had their first win of the season, by 5-2 over Croydon, through goals to Georgia Mutimer (2), Lizzie Quinton (2), and Rachel Kochen. And they also won in reserve grade, 6-0.

MEN

In the men’s State League 2, North Caulfield Maccabi FC defeated Mooroolbark 3-2, in both first and reserve grades, with Devin Goralsky scoring a brace in the latter.

EAST SYDNEY MEN’S FOOTBALL

Brace by Gruia lifts Maccabi-Hakoah over Lokomotiv

Round 8 of the Easts men’s football competition was a tough one overall for Maccabi-Hakoah FC, with only its Saturday division 2 side picking up any points.

They decisively defeated Lokomotiv 3-1 at their home ground, Heffron synthetic field, which was an important result moving them up to seventh spot on the 10-team ladder, after their close last start loss to the competition leaders Easts.

The match was never in doubt, with Maccabi-Hakoah in charge for the full 90 minutes.

Oliver Gruia scored their first two goals, and Jonathan Solomon the third.

The club’s over-45s division 1 side, who are on top of the ladder, came crashing back to earth with a 0-7 loss to third-placed Dunbar Rovers – a team they’d only lost 0-1 to at the start of the season, preceding a four-game winning streak.

Maccabi-Hakoah went into the match a big chance of winning, but a few mistakes in the first half put them on the back foot, and they never recovered.

Although there were several players out with injury, the team had expected to do better than the scoreline suggested, and will look to bounce back into winning form this Sunday versus Maroubra United.

Maccabi-Hakoah’s division 3 team had a big battle against the Lions, eventually losing 2-3 with Aaron Kantor scoring both goals for his team, who are coming sixth.

In Sunday division 1 action, Jeremy Morgenstern – who is in Australia’s open men’s Maccabiah Games squad – scored the goal in third-placed Maccabi-Hakoah’s 1-2 loss to second-placed Dunbar.

A wet pitch meant Maccabi-Hakoah’s Saturday division 1 match was cancelled.