Article: Evelyn Karatzas

Canberra Olympic 5 (Stephen Domenici 6’, 49’ 57’, Nikolas Popovich 46’, Dimitri Parascos 93’) defeat Tuggeranong United FC 1 (Harrison Truman 79’)

A hattrick from Stephen Domenici guided Canberra Olympic to their first points of the 2020 NPL1 season, defeating Tuggeranong United 5-1 at AIS Grass Field on Wednesday night (29 July).

In their rescheduled Round 2 clash, Olympic led from the outset, scoring in the sixth minute to stamp their authority on the game. Domenici, who was last season's golden boot winner, opened the scoring after his shot was deflected past a helpless Jacob Wiseman. 

Despite Olympic dominating most of possession in the opening 45 minutes, Tuggeranong United was dogged in defence and still had everything to play for in the second half. 

But all of Mitch Steven's notes went out the window 75 seconds after the break, as Olympic extended their lead through Nik Popovic. The striker's first shot was blocked by a lunging United defender, but the ball fell kindly back to him, and he made no mistake with his second opportunity. 

The wheels started to fall off for Tuggeranong in the second half, as Olympic ran riot, as Domenici rounded out his hattrick just 12 minutes into the second half. 

18-year-old Harry Truman grabbed a consolation goal for United in the 79th minute before Dimitri Parascos scored his debut goal for Olympic just seconds before full time. 

Olympic coach Robbie Cattanach was pleased with his side's performance. 

“I don’t really get carried away with one win, the same way I didn’t get carried away with one loss," Cattanach said. "It was a better performance than what the first round was in many aspects, but there are still many things to work on."