News
DOM 02.10.2016
Levante's first victory of the Liga Iberdrola season came courtesy of a Maria Jose Perez brace on Matchday 2, while the following time out it was Charlyn Corral who was at the double.
On this occasion, the pair served another notice of their potency by linking up to devastating effect, with Maria Jose setting up Charlyn for her team's first goal and the Mexican repaying the favour for their third. Sandwiched in between those strikes was an opportunistic finish by Carol Marin, who made it 2-0 after stealing in behind the hosts' backline and seizing on a poor attempted headed clearance.
They may have fallen to another defeat, but winless Espanyol could at least console themselves with having become the first club to score past Noelia Bermudez this term, with Anair Lombi beating the Costa Rican shotstopper with the help of a deflection. Nevertheless, it was far too little, too late as Levante comfortably kept up their undefeated start.
Betis are another club for whom victories are proving elusive, but their matches so far have offered plenty of thrills and spills.
The promoted team were not fazed by the visit of the reigning Liga Iberdrola champions and duly forged ahead after a quarter of an hour. It was Yaiza Relea, better known as Yiyi, who opened the scoring, capitalising on a defensive lapse and calmly stroking home. The Verdiblancas appeared set to go into the half-time break in the driving seat until Yulema Corres popped up to equalise before the interval, getting her name on the scoresheet for the third straight matchday.
It was one-way traffic in the second half, but home goalkeeper Miriam Lopez kept her side in it with a series of fine stops behind a defence who showed concentration and heart in abundance in resisting the onslaught. However, the Andalusians' hearts were broken in the 90th minute when Erika Vazquez stepped up and curled a free-kick into the corner of the net, leaving Miriam powerless.
The last-gasp winner handed Athletic a huge morale boost ahead of their return to European action in midweek. For Betis, meanwhile, seeing a point slip away at the death must have been a real kick in the teeth.
Real Sociedad 0-1 Santa Teresa CD
The San Sebastian outfit are really struggling to get going this Liga Iberdrola season and although they made every effort to finally open their goalscoring account, they drew yet another blank.
With the Basques blunted and luckless in front of goal again, the stage was set for the visitors to snatch the three points. They did just that thanks to Nayadet Lopez, who climbed off the bench in the 57th minute and grabbed the headlines half an hour later, firing home a free-kick to secure the spoils for her side. The late win leaves Santa Teresa in sixth with three wins from four matches.
Zaragoza CFF 1-1 Granadilla Egatesa
They may have a new name, but the hosts showed that nothing has changed on one front: the Estadio Pedro Sancho is going to keep proving a tough nut to crack for visiting teams.
After holding Atletico Madrid to a draw in their first fixture on their own patch, the Aragonese outfit repeated the feat second time round up against a Granadilla side who came flying out of the traps and will have considered themselves unfortunate not to take the lead. The identity of Zaragoza's scorer will have only added insult to injury, with Carla Gomez finding the net to get one over on her former employers. However, the away team were not behind for long, levelling five minutes later through Pisco's set-piece strike.
Chances for further goals went begging at both ends, so ultimately both teams had to settle for a share of the points.
Tenerife is another place where winning is going to be an arduous task for the rest of the Liga Iberdrola field. Just ask Oiartzun, who went away grateful for a dramatic equaliser in the dying minutes.
Reichel(Raquel Gil Viera)fired the Canary Islanders ahead with their first ever goal in the top flight and Andrea Marrero promptly added a brace to put the Liga Iberdrola newcomers in a commanding position.
The momentum shifted somewhat when Oiartzun pulled a goal back before the break through Eguzkiñe Peña. Carol (Carolina Gonzalez) held her nerve from the spot to cut the deficit further in the second half, and then another penalty, this one converted by Joana Arranz, saw the Basques salvage a point at the last.
Sporting Huelva 0–0 Valencia CF
The good news for Valencia is that they remain unbeaten and have still yet to concede. The downside is that they failed to claim maximum points for the first time this term after being kept at bay by Huelva, who also haven't tasted defeat and were more than worthy of their third consecutive draw.
Indeed, the hosts initially had the better of the proceedings in what was the only goalless game of the matchday, but the visitors finished it on top. However, neither team were able to press home their advantage by scoring while they had the upper hand and so this hard-fought encounter fittingly ended with honours even.
Three is very much a charm for Sonia Bermudez, aka Soni, lately. The Atletico attacker enjoyed a dream visit to Albacete, bagging her second hat-trick in as many matches and in the process taking her tally for the campaign to seven goals and shooting to the top of the league's scoring charts.
It took a while for the Rojiblancas to get their noses in front, with Esther Gonzalez eventually breaking the deadlock after the half-hour mark. That opened the floodgates and paved the way for Soni's treble, the first of which came from the penalty spot. The prolific striker made it 3-0 following some nifty footwork in the box and then sealed the deal in the 90th minute after Miri (Miriam Perez) had reduced the arrears.
This resounding triumph was enough to move Atletico into second in the table, level on points with Valencia, Athletic and Levante, while Albacete are down in 10th with just a solitary win to date.
F.Albacete 1-4 Atletico Madrid
Three is very much a charm for Sonia Bermudez, aka Soni, lately. The Atletico attacker enjoyed a dream visit to Albacete, bagging her second hat-trick in as many matches and in the process taking her tally for the campaign to seven goals and shooting to the top of the league's scoring charts.
It took a while for the Rojiblancas to get their noses in front, with Esther Gonzalez eventually breaking the deadlock after the half-hour mark. That opened the floodgates and paved the way for Soni's treble, the first of which came from the penalty spot. The prolific striker made it 3-0 following some nifty footwork in the box and then sealed the deal in the 90th minute after Miri (Miriam Perez) had reduced the arrears.
This resounding triumph was enough to move Atletico into second in the table, level on points with Valencia, Athletic and Levante, while Albacete are down in 10th with just a solitary win to date.
Rayo Vallecano 0-4 FC Barcelona
Before turning their attention to the first leg of their Champions League round-of-16 tie, the onus was on the Catalans to make the most of Valencia's stumble and return to Barcelona as outright Liga Iberdrola leaders. The Azulgranas got the job done in style, kicking off a marathon run of five games in 15 days with an emphatic victory in Vallecas.
Olga Garcia, Marta Unzue, Leila Ouahabi and Barbara Latorre were all left out of the squad with one eye on Europe, but an inspirational display from Alexia Putellas ensured their absence was hardly felt. The attacking midfielder assumed the mantle of the missing Olga – the team's top scorer before kick-off – and notched a hat-trick to make it three games on the spin in which she has netted.
Rayo held out until the final five minutes of the first half, only to fall behind when Alexia expertly controlled a lofted pass and drilled into the net. The star of the show struck again on the brink of half-time and then completed her treble after the restart, before Koko Ange added more gloss to the scoreline with her first Liga Iberdrola goal.
The result leaves Rayo still languishing at the bottom of the table, having yet to collect a single point, while Barça continue to fly high at the summit and are now the only team to have won all of their matches.
© LALIGA - 2016