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Melbourne Victory (W-League)

2011–12 season
Chairman	Anthony Di Pietro
Head Coach	Vicki Linton
Stadiums	Veneto Club Skilled Stadium
W-League	4th
W-League Finals	Semi-finals
Top goalscorer	League: Jodie Taylor (8) All: Jodie Taylor (8)
Biggest win	5–0 vs. Perth Glory (A) (10 December 2011) W-League
Biggest defeat	1–2 (twice) 0–1 (twice)
Home colours Away colours
← 2010–112012–13 →

The 2011–12 season was Melbourne Victory Football Club (W-League)'s fourth season, in the W-League. Melbourne Victory finished 4th in their W-League season, finishing in the semi-finals.

Review

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.

Vicki Linton returned for a second year as head coach, the only female coach in the 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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

In

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

Out

Pos.	Name	To	Ref.
GK	Melissa Barbieri	Newcastle Jets
DF	Snez Veljanovska	Canberra United
DF	Ella Mastrantonio	Perth Glory
MF	Ursula Hughson	Released
FW	Deanna Niceski	Released
DF	Marlies Oostdam	Released
MF	Nicole Paul	Released

Competitions

Overall record

Source: Competitions

W-League

League table

Results summary

Source: worldfootball.net

Results by round

Matches

The league fixtures were announced on 27 September 2011.

  Win   Draw   Loss

Finals series

Squad statistics

No.	Pos.	Name	Apps	Goals
1	GK	Brianna Davey	10	0	0	0
2	DF	Rita Mankowska	5	0	0	0
3	MF	Ashley Brown	11	1	0	0
4	DF	Kendall Fletcher	11	3	0	0
5	DF	Rebekah Stott	11	0	1	0
6	DF	Maika Ruyter-Hooley	10	0	1	0
7	DF	Steph Catley	10	0	0	0
8	MF	Enza Barilla	5	0	0	0
9	FW	Georgie Koutrouvelis	6	0	0	0
10	FW	Jodie Taylor	11	8	1	0
11	FW	Caitlin Friend	11	4	0	0
12	MF	Amy Jackson	11	1	1	0
13	MF	Katrina Gorry	9	3	2	0
14	MF	Stephanie Tanti	1	0	0	0
15	DF	Danielle Johnson	11	0	0	0
16	MF	Louisa Bisby	6	0	0	0
17	DF	Gülcan Koca	2	0	0	0
18	DF	Jackie Vogt	0	0	0	0
19	FW	Laura Spiranovic	3	0	0	0
20	GK	Cassandra Dimovski	1	0	0	0

Source: Soccerway

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.

Awards

• W-League Fair Play Award
• W-League Young Player of the Year: Ashley Brown

References

1. O'Meara, Patrick (14 February 2011). "Victory coach pleased Despite 5-1 finals defeat". Melbourne Leader. News Limited.
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.
4. "Victory off to winning start". The Women's Game. 22 October 2011. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
5. "W-League: Victory grabs glory". The World Game. Special Broadcasting Service. 22 October 2011. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
6. "W-League import gets Sydney FC home". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. AAP. 29 October 2011. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
7. "Sydney seal it late". The Women's Game. 29 October 2011. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
8. "Sydney edge out Melbourne". W-League.com.au. Football Federation Australia. 30 October 2011. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
9. "Victory rout Reds". W-League.com.au. Football Federation Australia. 20 November 2011. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
10. Kerry, Craig (3 December 2011). "Barbieri battles barbs". Newcastle Herald. Fairfax Media.
11. Rowe, Alex (4 December 2011). "Two goals from Taylor finish Jets' chances". The Sun-Herald. Fairfax Media.
12. "Taylor topples Jets". The Women's Game. 3 December 2011. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
13. Ormond, Aidan (2 December 2011). "Dumped Bubs Eyes Record Crowd At Victory Clash". Australian FourFourTwo. Retrieved 8 October 2020 – via FTBL.com.au.
14. Cook, Jonathan (8 December 2011). "Pair axed after training punch-up". The West Australian. p. 66. Two players from the Perth Glory women's team have been axed after a physical altercation. The West Australian understands Norwegian Lisa-Marie Woods and New Zealand international Emma Kete had a training ground bust-up, which blew up again at their shared accommodation.
15. Correia, Chris (17 April 2012). "Victory trounce Perth". FootballAustralia.com.au. Football Federation Australia. Archived from the original on 17 April 2012. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
16. "Canberra leave it late". The Women's Game. 31 December 2011. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
17. "W-League: Jets to miss finals". The World Game. Special Broadcasting Service. 14 January 2012. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
18. "Victory topple Adelaide, Canberra loom". W-League.com.au. Football Federation Australia. 16 January 2012. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
19. Ormond, Aidan (13 January 2012). "Jodie Taylor Targets Victory Blitz". Australian FourFourTwo. Retrieved 8 October 2020 – via FTBL.com.au.
20. "W-League: Victory sees off Adelaide". The World Game. Special Broadcasting Service. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
21. ^ Pellizzeri, Teo (18 October 2011). "Victory looks to youth for W-League success". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
22. ^ Kerry, Craig (24 October 2011). "Barbieri not the retiring type". Newcastle Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
23. "Victory release Barbieri". The Women's Game. 14 September 2011. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
24. ^ Ormond, Aidan (21 October 2011). "Dynamic Victory Strike Duo To be Unleashed". Australian FourFourTwo. Retrieved 8 October 2020 – via FTBL.com.au.
25. Reynolds, Ryan (13 October 2011). "Another Victory for Spiranovic clan". The Geelong Advertiser. News Limited. p. 38.
26. Auciello, Michael (1 December 2011). "Spiranovic sets sights on home start". The Geelong Advertiser. News Limited.
27. "Overseas stars to play for W-League". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. AAP. 18 October 2011. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
28. "Canberra United snares Snez back from Melbourne". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. 3 October 2011. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
29. "Westfield W-League 2011/12 draw announced". A-Leagues. 27 September 2011.
30. "Melbourne Victory - Squad - 2011/2012". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
31. Ross, Julius (15 November 2011). "Debutant coach in Victory of sorts". The Mercury. Hobart: News Limited.
32. "Young Matildas miss 2012 World Cup". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. AAP. 14 November 2011. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
33. ^ "Westfield W-League Award Winners". W-League.com.au. Football Federation Australia. 16 May 2018. Retrieved 9 October 2020.

• 2011–12 W-League (Australia) by team
• Melbourne Victory FC (women) seasons