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Aurora United women earn first win of the season

May 31, 2017   ·   0 Comments

By Jake Courtepatte

All it took was one.
A late goal from Ellie Hayes made her the heroine in the Aurora United FC women’s first win of the League 1 Ontario season, defeating the Woodbridge Strikers 1 – 0 in their fourth game.
“I think it’s good for the girls to have a good performance today,” said Aurora head coach Gianni Cimini.
“This is the fourth game and we finally got a victory. We were pretty tight in most of those matches but couldn’t close the deal, and today we stuck with it and got there, in the eighty-seventh minute I think, and it was deserved. I think we hit a couple crossbars, so I was happy.
“I think we tired out a little bit in the second half and obviously you’re not going to control the whole game. There are two teams on the field and I think we managed that transition period where they were putting a little bit of pressure on us and in the end we ended up scoring the goal. It was a good game, it was an exciting game all the way through.”
Patricia Koutoulas, also a keeper with the national Under-17 club, kept a clean sheet for the home side.
The win vaulted Aurora over the Sanjaxx Lions out of the basement of the semi-pro league’s standings, now tied with Durham, Toronto, and Woodbridge.
They face FC London (2-1-0) at 4 p.m. on Saturday at St. Maximilian Kolbe field.
The men’s side of Aurora United followed with their second one-goal loss in a row, as they continue to search for their first win of the season.
Also hosting Woodbridge, Luca Baldassarre was the only goalscorer in the 1 – 0 match, finding twine in the 41st minute to preserve his team’s perfect start to the season.
Losing midfielder Jackson Tooke to a red card in the first half and fielding only ten men, Aurora failed to find the opportunity to beat keeper Quillan Roberts.
“It’s similar to last week against Masters when we had three or four good chances and I think everyone saw today we had the same,” said head coach Derek O’Keeffe. “If you score one of them, it’s a different game. We went in at half-time and we were positive about what we were doing but we felt that we would get more chances.”
“However, when you lose a man against a team like Woodbridge, your back is always going to be against the wall.”
Despite the outcome, O’Keeffe said he was “very, very proud” of his players.
“They gave me everything and they still kept the score line 1-0. We still kept our discipline. Obviously our attacking momentum had dwindled due to the player sent off, but they kept going right to the end. Woodbridge knew they had a game there tonight, they really knew they had a game.”
The men are winless through their first five games of the season, playing to a 0-4-1 record. They face a tough opponent in the 3-1-1 Vaughan Azzurri on Saturday at the St. Max field.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
For stats and schedules, visit www.league1ontario.com.

         

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