Canberra United 3-0 Western Sydney Wanderers
by Callum Logie (21/2/26)
Above: Michelle Heyman (right) celebrates scoring with Emma Hawkins (middle) and Liz Anton (left). Photo: Canberra United.
Canberra United moved back to winning ways after a Josie Aulicino masterclass and another goal from Michelle Heyman saw off Western Sydney Wanderers at McKellar Park.
Coming in off their 1-0 defeat to Perth Glory, Canberra United were determined to bounce back strongly. Keeping the same shape, Canberra tweaked their lineup with Emma Robers coming in for Jazmin Wardlow who was unavailable. Sasha Grove and Emma Hawkins dropped to the bench as well with Sophia Christopherson and Darcey Malone getting starts.
On the Western Sydney side of things, the Wanderers were looking to build on their draw with the Jets, playing a more attacking minded lineup. Talia Younis was unavailable, so Amy Barker got the start to take her place instead. Yuan Cong and Alyssa Ng-Saad were deployed as the attacking pair as the Wanderers looked to continue climbing up the table with a positive result.
The Barker selection almost paid immediate dividends for the visitors as she whipped a driven cross in the first minute of the game and ended up forcing a challenging save from Charlotte James. From the start, it looked to be a high energy affair.
Canberra’s first key chance came in the ninth minute, when a deep Robers corner found Aulicino with space in the box. Aulicino curved her effort toward goal but Shamiran Khamis proved equal to the effort and batted the ball away from danger.
A minute later, Aulicino found the back of the net off another Canberra set piece. Bethany Gordon’s free kick was excellently headed back by Elizabeth Anton into the path of Aulicino who converted from about 9 yards out.
Three set pieces in three minutes resulted in three shots on goal from Canberra. Tegan Bertolissio fired too high off another second ball for Canberra, but the corners and free kicks were looking dangerous every time they got the ball.
Aulicino was hungry for goals, a distance effort from 21 yards hitting the crossbar just before 14 minutes were played in the half. Khamis was forced into another good save after Gordon’s shot from the left side of the box was driven toward the near post. Canberra dominated the five minutes in the lead up to the first drinks break.
Although Western Sydney had some more possession in the next few minutes, Aulicino nearly had her brace as she struck a Gordon cross low to Khamis’ right. The keeper was yet again able to deflect the shot out for a corner, and if not for Khamis, Western Sydney could have easily been down multiple goals within the first half hour.
On the other side of things in the 24th minute, Ena Harada took a long range effort to force a decent save out of James. This came off of a Yuan run forward, creating enough space for Harada to get the shot away on goal.
In the 38th minute, Heyman drove the ball into the post after a great forward run from Hayley Taylor-Young and a clever cutback from Christopherson. Heyman had a shot on goal a minute later, but Khamis proved equal to that effort.
Christopherson was able to get her own shot at goal in the 43rd minute, a low effort at the near post. Khamis once again kept the deficit to only one as she parried the ball out for another corner.
Aulicino of course had the first shot of the second half, testing Khamis with a shot from just outside the box, curling down under the crossbar. Khamis was able to collect possession on the second time of asking.
The second half was contested closely, but still more so in Canberra’s favour as it progressed. In the 64th minute, Aulicino was rewarded for all her efforts after receiving the ball from Nanako Sasaki and driving it into the top corner from just outside the box.
Canberra got their third about 10 minutes later, with the Matildas forward Michelle Heyman scoring a volley deflected off Khamis after a corner. Her first goal of 2026 put the icing on the cake for Canberra.
The win puts Canberra in a great position heading into the international break, as they look to finish as high up the table as they can leading into the finals.
Teams: CANBERRA UNITED (4-3-3): James, Sasaki, Robers, Taylor-Young, Malone, Bertolissio, Christopherson, Anton, Gordon, Heyman, Aulicino. Substitutes: Dale, De Domizio, Grove, Hawkins, Majstorovic, Stanic-Floody.
Scorers: Aulicino 11′, 66′, Heyman 75′.
WESTERN SYDNEY WANDERERS (4-3-3): Khamis, Matos, Cerne, Wang, Buchanan, Harada, Harrison, Chessari, Barker, Ng-Saad, Yuan. Substitutes: Collins, Edwards, Fazzari, Hooks, Khoshaba, Zumaya.
Referee: Mia Velarde.
Attendance: 1,000.
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