08/26/2026
Semi Final Action - Week 1
The road to the Big Dance / Groot Dansfeest / Grosser Tanz / Grand Bal / Gran Baile / 大型舞会 / बड़ा डांस / Danisi Levu starts this weekend.
Sunday 30th August
Minor (Elimination) Semi Final - SOP 12:45
#3 Sydney University v #4 Ryde Hunters Hill
No second chances for either of these teams.
Both games between these two teams season have been 3-1 wins to the Students. The last of those games was just two weeks ago in Round 17.
Defensively both teams are pretty even with Sydney Uni conceding 1 more goal than Ryde over the entire regular season (24 goals v Ryde's 23 goals conceded).
The attack is where the difference lies between these two teams with Sydney Uni scoring almost 50% more goals than the Panthers (62 goals v Ryde's 41 goals scored).
The form of both teams in the second half of the season shows just 2 losses for Sydney Uni (against #1 Moorebank and #2 UNSW) while Ryde have had 2 draws ( #1 Moorebank and #5 GWD) and 2 losses ( #2 UNSW and #3 Sydney Uni).
In that time Sydney Uni have scored 29 goals (3.22 goals per game), which is consistent with their whole season, but have tightened up their defence, conceding only 6 goals (0.67 goals or 2 goals every 3 games). They conceded 18 goals in the first half of the season (2 goals a game).
Ryde's second half of the season had them scoring 20 goals (2.22 goals per game), which is consistent with the first half's 21 goals. Their defence conceded 11 goals (1.2 goals per game), again consistent with the first half of their season (12 goals at 1.33 goals per game).
Form shows that Sydney Uni is favourite but, of course, this is semi finals so all bets are off.
Major (Qualifying) Semi Final - SOP 2:30
#1 Moorebank Liverpool v #2 University of NSW
These teams do have a second chance, but who will need it?
Round 7 saw Moorebank narrowly come out on top 2-1. Round 16 was even closer, a 0-0 draw.
UNSW leads both the attacking (71 goals scored v Moorebank's 70) and defensive stats (10 goals conceded v Moorebank's 16).
Form from the second half of the season shows Moorebank with 6 wins and 3 draws ( #4 Ryde, #5 GWD and #2 UNSW) while UNSW had 8 wins and a draw ( #1 Moorebank).
How did the second half of the season stats go for both teams?
Moorebank were slightly down in attack, scoring 31 goals (3.44 goals per game) against the 39 goals they scored in the first half of the season (4.33 goals per game).
In defence, Moorebank conceded just 5 goals in the second half of the season (0.55 goals or almost 1 goal every 2 games). This more than halved their goals conceded in the first half of the season (11 goals at 1.22 goals conceded per game).
Whalies' stats showed a similar story. They scored 32 goals in the second half of the season (3.55 goals per game) against the 39 goals (same as Moorebank) they scored in the first half of the season (4.33 goals per game).
Defensively, UNSW conceded only 2 goals in their last 9 games (at 0.22 goals per game) and both of those were against #4 Ryde in Round 13. That is a quarter of the goals they conceded in the first half of the season (8 goals at 0.89 goals per game).
There is definitely no clear favourite in this game.
Odds on a shootout anyone?