Adriana Gomes scored her third brace of the season as Napoli Femminile made quick work of Genoa during the 10th round of the Serie B Femminile campaign.
Lineup
Dimitri Lipoff switched from the 4-3-2-1 formation he used against Hellas Verona to a 3-4-1-2. That allowed new signing Federica Veritti to get her first start since officially joining the club on Friday, playing on the left side of the back three.
Aurora De Sanctis shifted forward to play on the left side of the midfield four, while Serena Landa started on the right, relegating Sara Tui to the bench.
Match
The match began with a moment of silence to honour those who lost their lives in the tragic landslide on the island of Ischia.
Giulia Ferrandi came close to opening the scoring only ten minutes into the match, after Sara Tamborini won a free kick in a dangerous area. The central midfielder went direct for goal and nearly picked the corner, but Genoa goalkeeper Matilda Macera got across to push the shot away.
Though Napoli were the protagonists from start to finish, they didn’t create any additional quality chances until stoppage time of the first half. Romina Pinna was obstructed in the area and the match official awarded Napoli a penalty kick.
Gomes stepped up to the spot and just barely beat Macera, who guessed correctly and got a hand on the shot before the ball trickled into the back of the goal. With her first from the spot, Gomes continued her torrid start to the season, with six goals in Serie B and eight goals in all competitions.
The Partenopee continued to push forward in the second half and doubled their lead from a throw-in in the 57th minute. Tamborini dribbled past two players toward the by line on the right wing before picking out Aurora De Sanctis with a cross into the area. De Sanctis attacked the ball and head it in from close range. With her first of the season, the left wing-back became Napoli’s ninth different goalscorer of the season.
With a comfortable lead, Lipoff resorted to his bench, making two changes in the 62nd minute. Elisa del Estal replaced Pinna, making her first appearance since officially joining the Azzurri on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Lucia Strisciuglio replaced Veritti, making a rare appearance having missed most of the season due to injury.
The pair nearly combined to score Napoli’s third approximately 20 minutes after entering the match. Strisciuglio slipped the ball through to Del Estal, who was 1 v 1 with the keeper but didn’t get much power on the strike.
Del Estal was quick to make amends, playing a role in Napoli’s third and fourth goals of the match. Minutes after Sara Tui’s powerful, long-distance effort was stopped by Macera, Eleonora Oliva crossed the ball to Del Estal in the area. The Spaniard did just enough to disrupt Macera, allowing the ball to fall kindly to Gomes in front of the empty goal. Gomes calmly rolled in her ninth of the season, thus scoring her third brace in all competitions this season.
Even with a three-goal lead, Napoli continued to push forward and added a fourth in stoppage time. After winning a free kick in a dangerous area, Strisciuglio played a quick pass to Ferrandi on the right side of the area. The midfielder’s shot crashed off the bar and stayed out. However, Del Estral was first to the rebound and teed up Ferrandi for a second effort from the edge of the area. Ferrandi made no mistake, striking the ball into the bottom corner to score her third of the season.
It was the third poker Napoli have scored this Serie B campaign, and all three were immediately after Napoli dropped points, demonstrating that the Partenopee have an innate ability to respond to adversity.
With Lazio dropping points to Chievo Verona, Napoli pulled within three points of the Biancoceleste. Meanwhile, Ternana beat Apulia Trani and Cesena beat Hellas Verona to remain one point behind Napoli.
The Femminile will be back in action on December 11th with a trip to San Marino to play against 7th-placed San Marino Academy.
Post-Match
De Sanctis addressed the media after scoring her first of the season.
“I am very happy for this goal that I have been waiting for for some time and which has been important in the economy of a more difficult match than what the final result tells. We had some difficulties in the first half and then we broke up. Now we will prepare the match against San Marino in the best possible way, which will be a very important encouragement to arrive in the best conditions for the big match against Lazio.”
