Sydney FC 1-2 Western United
By Alyce Collett 9/2/25
Above: Chloe Logarzo shoots from the penalty spot. Photo: Ryan Miller-Woods for Impetus
Western United has picked up very important win for its A League Women’s finals aspirations, downing Sydney FC by two goals to one.
It was a milestone match to remember for defender Julia Sardo, as Western United looked the stronger side for most of the afternoon, and took the victory thanks to goals from former Sydney FC players Chloe Logarzo and Kahli Johnson. The home side was able to counter with a goal of its own through Mackenzie Hawkesby but it was not enough as the Sky Blues did not really look in the match.
Both sides had chances in their respective attacking final thirds, but from the outset Western United looked like the more threatening side in attack. The visitors looked physically stronger than their hosts when with ball in possession, able to push past the defence with a lot more ease than the Sky Blues were. Sydney was left trying to toe poke the ball through the Western United defence at times, which just was not working.
It did not take long for Western United to be rewarded for its confidence, when in the sixth minute Logarzo snuck one past Sydney keeper Beth Mason-Jones to give her side the lead.
Not even 10 minutes later though, the teams were back level again as Hawkesby scored for the home side. Hawkesby may have been playing out of her usual position but it did not matter as she found herself with a touch of space and on the end of a Jordan Thompson toe poke forward, and then managed to guide the ball around Western United keeper Chloe Lincoln.
The goal seemed to give Sydney a bit of extra confidence as their attacks had a bit more threatening energy and strength after the goal.
But crucially for the visitors, they did not drop their heads either as the likes of Aimee Medwin and Sara Eggesvik were continuing to try and come up with creative ways to get around the Sky Blue defence.
As the first half progressed, both sides had some dangerous corner plays, but neither side could find a way to get a second goal on the board.
That was until about a minute and a half before extra time, when Johnson went whack from the top of the box and smashed a shot past Mason-Jones.
The first half could truly be summed up by the stats around shots and shots on target.
Western United had more shots overall but less shots on target than their hosts, but ultimately both of their shots on target went in the back of the net, whereas only one third of Sydney’s did.
But alongside, Western United dominated possession in the first half, having 60 more passes which culminated in over 15% more of the possession.
Western continued to earn the ascendancy early in the second half, racking up the attacking plays on goal.
Things went from bad to worse for Sydney when Millie Farrow barely lasted 10 minutes on the field after coming off the bench before copping another injury concern and being forced from the field.
Not even assertive runs from defence from players like Natalie Tobin could get things going for Sydney as nothing seemed to be working for the Sky Blues. The Sky Blues didmanaged to decrease the gap between the size in terms of the percentage of possession they both had, but Western again finished with more shots for the half, and they actually managed to get one on target, which Sydney was unable to do, although the Sky Blues did have some narrow misses from corners.
It could have been even worse for Sydney if Mason-Jones had not stopped a penalty from Logarzo, but at times the Sydney attack looked really hidden amongst the Western defendersand really struggled to stand up and be available to make an impact.
Check out Ryan Miller-Woods’ set of images from the game for Impetus over on our Instagram page, @ImpetusFootball
Teams: SYDNEY FC (4-3-3): Mason-Jones, Lemon, Tobin, Thompson, Tumeth, Hollman, Johnson, Caspers, Ibini, Hawkesby, Dos Santos. Substitutes: Black, Bryson, Farrow,Luchtmeijer, Tallon-Henniker.
Scorers: Hawkesby 14’
WESTERN UNITED: (4-3-3) Lincoln, Sardo, Mihocic, Maher, Grove, Eggesvik, Dehakiz, Logarzo, Medwin, Johnson, A.Taranto. Substitutes: Dall’Oste, De Domizio, Prakash, Hieda, Cerne.
Scorers: Logarzo 6’, Johnson 43’
Referee: Rachael Mitchenson
Attendance: 1,572
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