USL-W: Minnesota Aurora ‘peaks’ just in time for championship final
After an incredible 36 goals scored across the 12 games of the regular season, all Minnesota Aurora FC needed to put on frame to advance to the inaugural USL W League Final was one. Now they look ahead to the championship game with confidence in their system and ability to come together as a squad.
Sunday, July 17: MN Aurora FC 1–0 McLean VA Soccer
A deep bench means every Aurora substitute has the potential to make a big impact on the match. That’s exactly what happened in last weekend’s semifinal against McLean Soccer. Just seven minutes after entering the match, Morgan Turner scored what turned out to be the first and only goal of the night.
With a 0–0 deadlock at halftime, Minnesota head coach Nicole Lukic made a small adjustment to her tactics, looking for an edge against the visiting squad. Turner, who led the squad with six goals in the regular season, brought that edge, picking up a ball from Maya Hansen on a sliding tackle assist (which should be a highlight reel of its own).
“You know, she’s just found a second gear for us. And we’ve been able to have her come into the game and help us solve problems,” Lukic said of Turner. “And today at halftime, we just talked about having players take shots that might not be perfect and testing the keeper and that’s, you know, what made the difference for us today.”
Abby Ostrem, named Star of the Game for a clutch defensive performance to hold McLean scoreless, explained how the squad’s unique compatibility helped them against a strong scoring side like they faced in McLean:
“I think personnel wise, this might be one of the hardest teams that we faced. But ultimately, like if personnel isn’t able to come together as one then it doesn’t really matter who’s on the team. I think that we’ve all faced great soccer players no matter where they go to school or no matter where they’re playing. So it’s just another soccer player we’re playing against.”
Friday, July 22: Matchday-minus-one
Going into the championship match against South Georgia Tormenta FC of the South Central Division, the mood at Aurora’s final full training session was bright.
While Tormenta boasts the season’s Golden Glove winner in goalkeeper Sydney Martinez and dual Golden Boot/Player of the Year winner in Amy Andrews (who had two goals and an assist in Tormenta’s 4–1 semifinal win over Greenville Liberty SC), captain Makenzie Langdok is confident in her squad.
We focus a little bit on what they bring, individual players - that they might have certain tendencies. But overall, we’re more focused on how we fit into that and how we bet on our style of play against that. And I think our road to this point has prepared us for this. We’ve played two really good teams [Indy Eleven and McLean VA] the past few games and I think that sets us up well for this one.
Plus, after nearly two months of pushing one another, Langdok believes they’ve peaked: “We’re ready. I think we’re peaking at the right time individually, and as a group we’re peaking at the right time. And so I think we’re just reaching for tomorrow.”
Coach of Year, Nicole Lukic, agrees:
I think the cool thing about our team is we’re not relying on one person to have incredible game and I think that makes the team feel good, that anybody any day could have a great game for us. But as long as the team has a good game, we’re going to be just fine. We’ve had different players, like Kenzie said, peak the last couple games here that maybe weren’t Star of the Game yet or didn’t score the best goal yet, but everything’s just kind of clicking at the right time and we’re excited to see what happens tomorrow.
Langdok and Turner have both reflected on the impact of the club’s performance on the growth of the game in their home state. All 6200 tickets available for the final sold out within 24 hours of the semifinal win.
“I can’t say enough about how incredible it is. I’ve had so many friends tell me they’ve tried to buy tickets and they can’t, just because it sold out so fast,” Turner said on Friday.
“And yeah, I mean, I think it’s it’s also been really special for us, I think, to have so many, at least for me being from Minnesota, to have so many of my friends and family come in is really special. I knew we were gonna have really great facilities, awesome coaches and a great team, but I had no idea it would become this.”
The championship final between Minnesota Aurora FC and South Georgia Tormenta FC will kick off at 7 P.M. CST at TCO Stadium in Eagan, Minnesota. The match will stream on Eleven Sports. More information about the inaugural W League final can be found here.
