Finals Fever: A-League Women’s Road to the 2025 Grand Final | OneFootball

The A-League Women’s Finals have delivered everything fans could hope for — last-minute winners, standout performances, and fierce competition. With just the Grand Final left to play, the 2025 Finals series has already carved out its place in league history.

From elimination battles to semi-final showdowns, each match brought its own drama to the road toward this Sunday’s finale.

Premiers Melbourne City and second-placed Melbourne Victory earned first-round byes, giving them a front-row seat to scout their potential challengers. But as the action unfolded, both clubs faced fierce resistance from teams hungry to upset the odds.

Elimination finals

The A-League Women’s Finals got underway during the last weekend in April with the elimination finals. Adelaide United entertained Western United, while Central Coast hosted Canberra United.

With both ties having to be settled on the day, there was no margin for error. Here’s how the first week of the Finals panned out.

Adelaide United 1-0 Western United

Adelaide’s storybook season continued as they dispatched Western United at Coopers Stadium to record their first-ever win in the Finals.

The Reds started well and tested Alyssa Dall’Oste in the opening two minutes. Fiona Worts turned Grace Maher and fed Dylan Holmes down the line. Emily Condon met her cross in the middle, but Dall’Oste stood tall to deny her from point-blank range.

Matilda McNamara headed the home side into the lead with 25 minutes gone. She rose the highest to power home Condon’s corner.

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It was nearly two for Adelaide just after the half-hour mark. Lucía León saw her effort crash back off the crossbar. The rebound fell for Dylan Holmes, but she couldn’t adjust her feet with the goal at her mercy.

That miss nearly proved to be costly. Just moments later, Chloe Berryhill (neé Logarzo) poked a shot past Claudia Jenkins and the post. Berryhill drew a fine save from Jenkins from an identical effort that clipped the far post with five minutes of the first half to play.

Western continued to ask questions of Adelaide. In the 73rd minute, Adriana Taranto did well to create shooting space. She took aim for the far corner, but Jenkins denied her at full stretch.

Try as they might, Western couldn’t find a way through. Adrian Stenta’s Adelaide United marched on to a two-legged semi-final against Melbourne Victory.

Central Coast Mariners 2-1 Canberra United

The Mariners booked their semi-final spot after coming from behind to end Canberra’s season.

They were made to wait, however, as a deluge of rain delayed the game by 24 hours, with the pitch not looking too dissimilar to nearby Brisbane Water.

Jess Nash nearly gave the Mariners a dream start. She let an audacious shot fly from 25 yards out, which required a great save from Sally James to push the ball wide.

Not to be outdone, Mariners keeper Sarah Langman saved well from Michelle Heyman down to her left. Shortly after, she palmed Aideen Keane’s attempt over the bar to keep the scores level.

As she’s done so many times for Canberra, Michelle Heyman was the player to break the deadlock just before halftime. She robbed Taren King on the edge of her own box to fire past the dive of Langman.

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Emily Husband needed a reaction from her players after the break, and she got it. Straight from kickoff, the Mariners worked the ball into the Canberra penalty box. Tiana Fuller’s cross found Annabel Martin at the back post. Her header saw a deflection into the path of Jade Pennock, who made no mistake to slam home the equaliser.

Pennock struck a wonderful winner in the 73rd minute. She took Isabel Gomez’s pass in her stride before unleashing a stunning strike from 20 yards out that left James helpless.

Her celebration said it all. The Mariners stamped their ticket to the semi-finals for the second year in a row. The small matter of premiers Melbourne City lied in wait in the semi-final.

Semi-finals first legs

Week 2 of the Finals saw premiers Melbourne City and runners-up Melbourne Victory enter the fray.

City had a two-legged tie against the lowest side left in the postseason: the Central Coast Mariners. Meanwhile, Melbourne Victory had to overcome a brilliant Adelaide United side to reach the Grand Final.

Central Coast Mariners 2-2 Melbourne City

A brace from the Mariners’ Brooke Nunn helped her side to a 2-2 draw in Gosford.

Sarah Langman was quick off her line to thwart City’s Leticia McKenna with 19 minutes on the clock. Barely a minute later, the Mariners were ahead. Annalise Rasmussen got the better of Rebekah Stott and darted away down the line. Her short ball found Isabel Gomez, who crossed in for Jade Pennock. Her shot was parried away by Malena Mieres, but Nunn stayed onside to tap it home.

McKenna levelled with a stunning free kick after 29 minutes. It was a thunderous strike from all of 30 yards, leaving Langman with no chance.

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Six minutes later, Bryleeh Henry put the premiers ahead. She timed her run to perfection to beat the offside trap and latch onto Alexa Aposolakis’ through ball. She rounded Langman to slide home for her fifth goal in eight games.

Nunn was back in the habit ten minutes into the second half to bag her second of the afternoon. Pennock’s brilliant ball across the face of the City defence found an onrushing Nunn. She was forced wide by Mieres but maintained her composure to finish superbly from a narrow angle.

Rasmussen nearly put the hosts ahead with a missile that flew just wide of City’s goal. But both sides had to settle for a draw ahead of a winner-takes-all match in Melbourne the following Sunday.

Adelaide United 1-3 Melbourne Victory

Melbourne Victory moved one step closer to the Grand Final after dispatching Adelaide United at Coopers Stadium.

Emily Gielnik put the visitors ahead just before halftime. Courtney Newbon’s long clearance found the Matildas’ striker in plenty of space. Gielnik set herself and smashed home past Claudia Jenkins.

Adelaide levelled almost instantly. Emily Hodgson’s cross found Lucía León at the back post. She squared for Emily Condon, who was denied by a stunning point-blank stop by Newbon. Victory’s keeper had no luck with the rebound, which Erin Healy poked home.

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Victory would’ve gone into the break ahead but for a brilliant Jenkins save to deny Alana Jančevski from a free kick.

Jenkins was called into action again with fifteen minutes left to push away Sara D’Appolonia’s effort. Unfortunately for Jenkins, like Newbon in the first half, luck wasn’t on her side from the resulting corner. Claudia Bunge met the set piece with a powerful header that Jenkins could do nothing about.

A second header from Bunge with two minutes left gave Victory a two-goal buffer heading back to Melbourne.

Semi-finals second legs

Melbourne Victory 3-1 Adelaide United (Victory win 6-2 on aggregate)

Melbourne Victory breezed into the Grand Final with a second 3-1 scoreline over Adelaide.

Rachel Lowe gave the hosts the lead with eleven minutes gone. Alana Jančevski’s free kick was well saved by Claudia Jenkins, but Lowe was on hand to power home the rebound. Dylan Holmes drew a smart stop from Courtney Newbon as the Reds looked for a way back into the tie.

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With an hour gone, Sara D’Appolonia put the game to bed. A well-worked move saw D’Appolonia in acres of space on the edge of the box. She took Nikki Flannery’s cutback in her stride to finish unerringly past Jenkins.

Rachel Lowe capped off an incisive attack with 77 minutes gone as she swept home Holly Furphy’s cross. Adelaide then notched a consolation deep into added time through Isabel Hodgson.

Victory now head through to a fifth Grand Final.

Melbourne City 0-1 Central Coast Mariners (Central Coast win 3-2 on aggregate)

Central Coast Mariners will be Victory’s opponents as they upset invincible premiers Melbourne City.

City were dealt an early blow when top scorer Holly McNamara was forced off through injury. She collided with Mariners keeper Sarah Langman and was eventually replaced following an eight-minute stoppage. Things went from bad to worse for City when Lourdes Bosch was dismissed after 25 minutes following an altercation with Brooke Nunn.

Bryleeh Henry squandered a great chance to give the hosts the lead just before the half-hour mark when she lofted the ball over with only Langman to beat. With an hour played, Annalise Rasmussen dragged an effort just wide of the goal for Central Coast.

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Into extra time, Nunn cut in her right and let fly only to be denied by a sharp stop from Malena Mieres. With the match seemingly heading to penalties, controversy struck. And it cost City dearly.

City made a mess of clearing the ball, and Peta Trimis nicked in to steal the ball and set Issy Gomez away. There was more than a hint of offside, but Gomez carried on to lift the ball over the advancing Mieres and send the Mariners contingent wild.

Unbeaten in the regular season, City fell at the penultimate hurdle. Finals football is an unforgiving beast. For the Mariners, there’s a date with destiny. A first-ever A-League Women’s Grand Final, just two seasons after they reformed.

The Mariners will take on Melbourne Victory this Sunday at AAMI Park.

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