2011–12 Melbourne Victory W-League season

The 2011–12 season was the fourth season that Melbourne Victory competed in the Australian W-League. The team finished fourth for the second time in two seasons and was eliminated in the semi-finals by eventual champions Canberra United.

Melbourne Victory FC
2011–12 season
Head coachVicki Linton
StadiumsVeneto Club
Kardinia Park
W-League4th
Top goalscorerJodie Taylor (8)
Biggest win5–0
Biggest defeat2–1

Background

The Victory entered the 2011–12 season having finished fourth in 2010–11 and being eliminated in the semi-finals in their first finals appearance.[1][2]

Vicki Linton returned for a second year as head coach, the only female coach in the W-League.[3]

W-League

Regular season

Victory opened the season with a 2–0 victory over Perth Glory at the Veneto Club with Caitlin Friend and Amy Jackson scoring either side of half-time.[4][5]

Playing against Sydney FC in their second match, the Victory lost a tight battle 2–1 with Sydney's guest player Megan Rapinoe scoring a winner late in the match.[6][7]

Travelling to Canberra, Victory faced Canberra United at McKellar Park. Victory conceded two goals in the first half and Kendall Fletcher could only score a consolation goal with twelve minutes to play.[8]

Returning to Victoria, the team faced winless Adelaide United at Veneto Club. Victory prevailed 4–0, with Caitlin Friend scoring three times.[9]

In their sixth match of the season, Victory played Newcastle Jets in Geelong, marking Melissa Barbieri's return to Victoria. The Victory used her return to market the match and tried, unsuccessfully, to attract a W-League record crowd. Before the match, Barbieri complained, saying, "they are billing me, in front of their own players, to market the game and I think that's poor form." Ultimately, the Victory prevailed 2–1, with Jodie Taylor scoring two goals for the home team.[10][11][12][13]

Playing in Perth a week later, Victory faced a Perth Glory team who had been defeated 11–0 by Sydney FC the previous week. The Glory were also missing two players who had been suspended after a fight at training. Victory recorded their biggest win of the season in a 5–0 defeat with Katrina Gorry scoring a brace and Jodie Taylor a hat-trick.[14][15]

Facing the undefeated Canberra United in late December, the Victory led early with Taylor converting a 20th minute penalty after Fletcher was brought down in the penalty area. Michelle Heyman equalised for Canberra in the 81st minute and the final score remained 1–1.[16]

Entering their final match of the season against Adelaide United at Burton Park in Adelaide, the Victory were guaranteed of making the finals, with the Newcastle Jets losing to Perth Glory the day before. Had the Jets won, the Victory would have needed a point to lock in fourth spot. The Victory won comfortably with four players sharing in the goals in a 4–1 win over the Reds.[17][18][19][20]

Date Opponents H / A Result
F – A		 Scorers Refs
22 October 2011 Perth Glory H[lower-alpha 1] 2–0 Friend  38'
Jackson  48'		 [4][5][21]
29 October 2011 Sydney FC A 1–2 Taylor  63' (pen) [6][7][8]
12 November 2011 Canberra United A 1–2 Fletcher  78' [22][23][24]
19 November 2011 Adelaide United H[lower-alpha 1] 4–0 Friend  16'  56'  80'
Taylor  23'		 [9][25][26]
26 November 2011 Brisbane Roar A 0–1 [27][28][29]
3 December 2011 Newcastle Jets H[lower-alpha 2] 2–1 Taylor  41'  65' [12][30][31]
10 December 2011 Perth Glory A 5–0 Gorry  3'  23'
Taylor  24'  62'  78'		 [32][33][34]
17 December 2011 Brisbane Roar H[lower-alpha 2] 1–1 Fletcher  78' [35][36][37]
30 December 2011 Canberra United H[lower-alpha 1] 1–1 Taylor  20' (pen) [16][38][39]
15 January 2012 Adelaide United A 4–1 Gorry  31'
Brown  36'
Friend  45'
Fletcher  90'		 [18][20][40]
  1. Played at Veneto Club
  2. Played at Kardinia Park

Finals

Having finished fourth, Victory faced Canberra United for the chance to play in the grand final. Canberra entered the match as firm favourites having gone through the season undefeated.[41][42]

Victory were beaten 1–0 in Canberra having missed several chances to take the match. The winning goal was scored after 83 minutes when a shot from Michelle Heyman deflected off Victory defender Rebekah Stott into the top right-hand corner of the goal.[43][44][45][46]

Date Opponents H / A Result
F – A		 Scorers
21 January 2012 Canberra United A 0–1

League table
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Canberra United (C) 10 7 3 0 23 9 +14 24 Qualification to Finals series
2 Brisbane Roar 10 6 3 1 20 11 +9 21
3 Sydney FC 10 5 2 3 26 8 +18 17
4 Melbourne Victory 10 5 2 3 21 9 +12 17
5 Newcastle Jets 10 4 0 6 18 22 −4 12
6 Perth Glory 10 2 0 8 11 36 −25 6
7 Adelaide United 10 1 0 9 6 30 −24 3
Source: au.soccerway.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champion.

Results summary
OverallHomeAway
PldWDLGFGAGDPtsWDLGFGAGDWDLGFGAGD
10 5 2 3 21 9  +12 17 3 2 0 10 3  +7 2 0 3 11 6  +5

Results by round
Round12345678910
GroundHAAHAHAHHA
ResultWLLWLWWDDW
Source:
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Venues

Melbourne Victory hosted five matches in the 2011–12 W-League season. Three matches were at the Veneto Club in Bulleen and two were played at Kardinia Park in Geelong.[47][48][49][50][51]

Squad statistics
No.Pos.NameAppsGoals
1GK Brianna Davey10000
2DF Rita Mankowska5000
3MF Ashley Brown11100
4DF Kendall Fletcher11300
5DF Rebekah Stott11010
6DF Maika Ruyter-Hooley10010
7DF Steph Catley10000
8MF Enza Barilla5000
9FW Georgie Koutrouvelis6000
10FW Jodie Taylor11810
11FW Caitlin Friend11400
12MF Amy Jackson11110
13MF Katrina Gorry9320
14MF Stephanie Tanti1000
15DF Danielle Johnson11000
16MF Louisa Bisby6000
17DF Gülcan Koca2000
18DF Jackie Vogt0000
19FW Laura Spiranovic3000
20GK Cassandra Dimovski1000

Source: Soccerway[52]

Coaching staff

Vicki Linton returned for a second season at Melbourne Victory. Michael Edwards acted as an assistant for several matches before taking control of the 12 November match against Canberra United while Linton was coaching the Australia women's national under-17 soccer team at the 2011 AFC U-16 Women's Championship in China.[53][54]

Transfers

In September, Linton made the decision to release national team goalkeeper Melissa Barbieri ahead of the season in favour of 16-year-old Brianna Davey.[55][56][57]

England international Jodie Taylor returned to the club from Birmingham City in the FA Women's Super League (WSL).[58] American players, Kendall Fletcher and Danielle Johnson from Sky Blue FC in Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) returned for a second season.[55]

In October 2011, the Victory recruited Laura Spiranovic, sister of Australian men's international Matthew Spiranovic, from South Melbourne. Spiranovic had come off a big season in the Victorian Women's Premier League having won both the best player award as well as being the league's leading goalscorer.[58][59][60]

Linton also brought in local players, Jackie Vogt, Cassandra Dimovski and Georgie Koutrouvelis.[55]

In
Pos.NameFromRef.
FW Jodie Taylor Birmingham City[58]
DF Kendall Fletcher Sky Blue FC[61]
DF Danielle Johnson Sky Blue FC[55]
FW Laura Spiranovic South Melbourne FC[55]
DF Rebekah Stott Brisbane Roar[55]
MF Katrina Gorry Adelaide United[55]
MF Stephanie Tanti Sandringham[55]
DF Jackie Vogt NTC[55]
GK Cassandra Dimovski Box Hill[55]
FW Georgie Koutrouvelis Box Hill[55]

Out
Pos.NameToRef.
GK Melissa Barbieri Newcastle Jets[56]
DF Snez Veljanovska Canberra United[62]
DF Ella Mastrantonio Perth Glory[55]
MF Ursula HughsonReleased[55]
FW Deanna NiceskiReleased[55]
DF Marlies OostdamReleased[55]
MF Nicole PaulReleased[55]

Awards

References
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  2. "Victory routed". Herald Sun. News Limited. 7 February 2011. p. 79.
  3. Polkinghorne, David (15 June 2011). "Quest for female coaches". The Canberra Times. Fairfax Media.
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