Western United’s historic opening game at the Wyndham Regional Football Facility in Tarneit couldn’t produce the desired result as the Green and Black fell 3-1 to Newcastle Jets in their Liberty A-League Women encounter.
Newcastle took an early lead before Avaani Prakash equalised with the landmark first-ever goal for United at the new home ground, bundling the ball in after Aimee Medwin’s initial effort was saved.
But the Jets regained the lead almost immediately after and the Green and Black couldn’t get back into the game, and Newcastle later scored a third to clinch the three points.
Western United Team News
There were three changes to Kat Smith’s starting XI, the first of which came in goal as Alyssa Dall’Oste got the nod ahead of Kathrine Larsen.
Prakash came into midfield for the first start of her professional career, while Tyla Jay Vlajnic returned at left-back.
First Half
The script was ripped up just four minutes after the first whistle as Newcastle put together a lovely move and a terrific opening goal.
The Jets kept possession for a long sequence of passes before Sarina Bolden crossed and Elizabeth Copus-Brown volleyed home into the bottom corner.
United set about recovering that deficit immediately and looked sharp on the ball with Medwin heavily involved on the right-hand side.
The No.5 had the first shot on target in the 13th minute and then nearly created the equaliser in the 14th minute when she crossed towards the back post.
Isobel Nino spilled the ball and a tame clearance fell straight to Jaclyn Sawicki who would have had her second goal of the season but for a last-gasp clearance off the goal line.
Medwin found greater joy soon enough, though, when she latched onto Stacey Papadopoulos’ ball over the top before shrugging off her defender and bearing down on goal.
Her right-footed effort was saved only partially by Nino before spinning on towards goal. Prakash was determined to follow it in and essentially blocked the ball into the net, charging down the attempted clearance and placing her name into Western United history.
Smith would have hoped that goal would settle United’s nerves and set the team up to build towards victory, but those hopes were dashed by a rapid response from the Jets.
The visitors got straight back on the front foot and out of nothing, Lauren Allan swung her foot through the ball from range and sent it flying into the top corner to restore her side’s lead.
Western United sought another equaliser and missed a couple of half chances to find it, ultimately having to look towards the second half to salvage something from the game.
Second Half
Coming out of the break, Western United’s attention was firmly on getting back into the game and Prakash was so nearly the one to provide that moment minutes after the restart.
Again it came through Medwin as her cross caused trouble for Newcastle’s defence. Keane knocked it down and Prakash strode onto it needing only to roll it into an empty net, but an incredible challenge from Copus-Brown took it off her feet right at the last moment.
The home side probed and prodded but couldn’t find an opening, and the task got a lot harder just after the hour mark when Bolden rose unmarked to head home from a corner.
Catherine Zimmerman looked to provide the instant response when Keane played her through down the inside left channel, but the American had to take her shot early with defenders recovering and she couldn’t keep the ball away from the goalkeeper.
Western United was left largely frustrated for the remaining 20 minutes, struggling to create any clear-cut openings as Newcastle took the sting out of the contest.
The Green and Black’s best efforts couldn’t cap off a memorable day in Tarneit, but United remains in second place on the table with two matches to go.
