"Gonya is very talented," Compton said in The Examiner's season preview last week.

"She's very quiet and shy but comes alive with a ball at her feet and when she realises what she can do will be a real danger to defences.

"She's an attacking midfielder and with our system could play anywhere in midfield and behind the strikers."

The 17-year-old rewarded her mentor's faith with a tidy, curling, right-foot finish from the edge of the penalty area after half an hour to beat Clarence keeper Shelley Cook and kickstart United's 5-1 defeat of last season's runners-up.

The modest scorer admitted she was as surprised as anybody with her moment of history.

"It was really exciting because I don't usually score that often," Luate said.

"I've only started in midfield in the last year, before that I was in defence, but I'm gradually getting more confident there."

United last played statewide soccer in the men's competition between 1996-98, having won the Northern league in 1993 and decided to step up.

Current South Hobart boss Ken Morton was among the coaches during that spell when cross-town rivals Launceston City and Riverside were also playing at the highest level.

Two years after City ended their involvement with the WSL, statewide competition returned to Birch Avenue on Saturday when goals from striker Dani Gunton, wing-back Laura Dickinson and substitutes Sofie Verhaegen and Annie Reitsema completed the rout.

"I'm pretty shocked," added a beaming Luate.

"I did not expect us to do that well but now I'm really excited for the rest of the season.

"We worked well as a team and really wanted to show that we deserved to be at this level.

"We can still improve, but we did pretty good for our first game."

Launceston-born, the Launceston Christian School student played her junior soccer with Northern Rangers before moving to United last season.

"We won three championships in a row but it didn't look like there would be a move to the Super League. I wanted to challenge myself at a higher level and United wanted to do that so I took the opportunity to come here."

United will be looking to back up their opening-round success when they travel to fellow league newcomers Devonport for a midday kickoff on Saturday.

Strikers also began their campaign with a win, knocking off South Hobart 2-1 at Darcy Street.

In the other opening-round fixture, reigning champions Olympia won 4-1 at Taroona, who also joined the competition this year.