FC Lugano Femminile remains unbeaten in its first matches of the new calendar year, earning three valuable points against Winterthur, the second-ranked team in the league.
On their home turf at Cornaredo, the girls led by coach Andrea Antonelli won 3-2 (0-1), managing to come back twice and turn the result around in injury time.
After going into the dressing room one goal down, the Bianconere players levelled the score with Mathilda Andreoli, who skilfully cut inside from her left wing, dribbled past an opponent and finished at the near post with Swiss goalkeeper Cheyenne Voit rooted to the spot. One-one and the ball was quickly played into the centre for the visitors to take the lead again, with Elena van Niekerk, who had already scored the opening goal, finding the net. The Bianconere's reaction was immediate, with Antonella Albertini's free kick ending up in the top corner. At the hour mark, it was a thrilling 2-2. And that wasn't all. In the 92nd minute, Lucrezia Sasso set up Mia von Ballmoos for Andreoli, who scored with the inside of her right foot to make it 3-2. To the delight of the entire Bianconeri crowd.
The statistics of the match show a certain balance in terms of possession (48% for the Bianconeri against 52% for their opponents) and corners (4 for the home side and 3 for the visitors), but not in terms of total shots (10 to 6 for the home side) or shots on target (5 to 2).
After the clear victory over Étoile Carouge (6-1) and the disappointing draw at Oerlikon (2-2), the victory over the Tigurine keeps alive a positive streak, to which can be added the point obtained at the beginning of December in Wil. The next fixture for Marie Enning and her teammates is scheduled for Sunday 8 March 2026 – a date that coincides with International Women's Day – again at Campo F. The match against Wädenswil from Zurich will kick off at 4 p.m.
At the end of the match, the Sottocenerino coach could only be satisfied with the performance of his players, who firmly held on to seventh place in the standings, climbing to 24 points: "It was a well-played and well-interpreted match against a strong opponent who had just come off two clear home wins in as many derbies (7-0 against Oerlikon/Polizei ZH and 7-1 against Wädenswil). The girls were ready and handled the various situations more than admirably. We turned last week's late goal against us to our advantage this time, earning three crucial points. Next week will be a 'standard' week, then we'll face Wädenswil. I expect it to be an important and difficult match to predict, because we're playing in a unique league. Every match is different. Rather than looking at other teams, we look at ourselves, interpreting the matches as we did against Winterthur. In this way, we can achieve significant satisfaction.
MATCH REPORT
Women's National League B, Matchday 18
Cornaredo Stadium, Field F - 100 spectators
FC LUGANO FEMMINILE - FC WINTERTHUR FRAUEN 3:2 (0:1)
GOALS: 33' van Niekerk 0:1, 56' Andreoli 1:1, 57' van Niekerk 1:2, 60' Albertini 2:2, 90' +2' Andreoli 3:2.
FC LUGANO FEMMINILE (3-4-3): Enning; Castellani (85' Di Mauro), Colombo, Zanaboni; Gigante, Crapanzano, Albertini (82' von Ballmoos), Nascimento Sá; Oliva, Andreoli, Sasso.
Substitutes: Audrino, Bassi, Aio, Mochi, Milosavljević.
Coach: Andrea Antonelli.
FC WINTERTHUR FRAUEN (3-4-3): Voit; von Allmen, Huber, Meyer; Malacarne, Toper (78' Stoob), Enz (85' Sallauka), Hernández; Lampart, Sigrist, van Niekerk (74' Bufalini).
Substitutes: Furrer, Dür, Büchler.
Coach: Damiano Russo.
REFEREE: Philip Aarskog.
ASSISTANTS: Samuel García Ramírez and Gëzim Pnishi Walker.
BOOKED: 80' Nascimento Sá.