Serie A Femminile Matchday 10 Round-Up: Juventus characterises title race; AC Milan stumbles and Lazio records first win
Reigning champions Juventus mounted a definitive title defense challenge when they beat second-placed Sassuolo 2-0 away at the Enzo Ricci Stadium on Saturday.
A Cristiana Girelli brace was enough for the Turin side to stretch their lead to 30 points on top of the Serie A Femminile table and take the race beyond their second-placed rivals.
Girelli opened the scoring 12 minutes into the second-half with a header from an Amanda Nielden cross from the right. The Italian international made it 2-0 with another header from a Barbara Bonansea corner kick 22 minutes into the second half.
24-point Sassuolo are now six points away from the log leaders.
Elsewhere, Inter Milan edged their cross-city rivals AC Milan 3-0 in the first Milan derby clash of the season away at the Vismara on Sunday.
Brazilian defender Kathellen Sousa opened the scoring 13 minutes into the first half before Cameroonian forward Ajara Nchout doubled the lead in the 27th minute. Inter stunned their rivals when they made it 3-0 just after the half hour mark with a Ghoutia Karchouni penalty kick after AC Milan midfielder Greta Adami had handled the ball in the area.
Inter’s win is only their second in eight matches against AC Milan with the hosts having dominated the Milan derby with six wins in the last seven encounters before this one.
With the defeat, AC Milan slipped from third place to fourth on the log with 22 points while Inter remain fifth just one point behind their cross-city rivals.
AS Roma edged Sampdoria 2-1 away on Sunday.
Forward Paloma Lazaro opened the scoring 15 minutes into the first half and the visitors went to the break in the lead. Sampdoria forward Stefania Tarenzi made it one-all 11 minutes into the second half, with the match momentarily looking to end in a stalemate.
The hosts looked to have managed to snatch a point before defender Debora Novellino gifted the visitors with an own goal three minutes into second half extra time to end the match at 2-1.
Roma, with 22 points, a rose to third place with the win and are now above AC Milan on goal difference, while Sampdoria, with 13 points, remain sixth.
Fiorentina rose to seventh place on the log when they beat Pomigliano 3-1 in a mid-table clash at the Stadio Gino Bozzi on Saturday.
Forward Daniela Sabatino opened the scoring from the penalty spot two minutes before half-time after defender Aiv Luik had fouled midfielder Michela Catena in the area. Forward Karin Lundin made it 2-0 one minute later to take the hosts to the break in the lead.
Sabatino completed her brace making it 3-0 in the 70th minute to put the contest beyond the visitors and secure maximum points for Patrizia Panico’s side.
Pomigliano midfielder Liucija Vaitukaitytė made it 3-1 three minutes before time but the goal would only prove to be consolation for the visitors.
Fiorentina defender Federica Cafferata was shown a red card in the 75th minute and will be missing for their trip to Empoli next weekend.
With the defeat, 10-point Pomigilano slipped from seventh to ninth place on the log.
Relegation-haunted Lazio registered their first win of the season with a 1-0 win over fellow strugglers Hellas Verona at home on Saturday.
A 63rdminute Adriana Martin goal from the penalty spot was enough to earn the hosts their first three points of the season after Verona midfielder Anna Catelli had brought down Lazio forward Noemi Vesentin in the box.
Lazio rose from 12th to 11th place on the log with win, while Verona slipped to the bottom of the log with the defeat.
Empoli edged relegeatioin-bound Napoli 1-0 away in Naples on Sunday.
A 12thminute strike by forward Asia Bragonzi was enough to earn Empoli their third win of the season and raise them to eighth place on the log.
Napoli, on the other hand, remain on 10th place with seven points.
Results: (Saturday) Lazio 1 — 0 Hellas Verona; Fiorentina 3 — 1 Pomigliano; Sassuolo 0 — 2 Juventus
(Sunday) Sampdoria 1 — 2 AS Roma; Napoli 0 — 1 Empoli; AC Milan 0 — 3 Inter Milan
(Photo by Juventus FC/Juventus FC via Getty Images)