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Winning streak snapped for Aurora FC




By Jake Courtepatte

The Aurora United FC women were brought down to earth on Saturday, conceding a goal for the first time in four matches in a 2 – 1 loss to Vaughan Azzurri.
It took just four minutes for the powerhouse Vaughan squad to find the back of the net, doubling their lead at the 63-minute mark.
“Our game plan was to be aggressive and to limit the time they had on the ball because they are a team that will try and dominate the ball,” said head coach Gianni Cimini.
“We were aggressive and we did try to put pressure on them and we ended up having a lot of possession as well. I thought it was an excellent game and overall I was pleased with how the girls followed through on the game plan.”
Sarah Stratigakis scored Aurora's only goal with under twenty minutes to go in the match.
Goalkeeper Patricia Koutoulas had her streak of three clean sheets broken in the match, though she made a tough save on a penalty kick late in the game to give Aurora a chance.
“Patricia has been very good for us this season,” said Cimini. “The team has full confidence in her and it wasn't a surprise to me that she could come up in a big moment like that one.”
Despite Aurora earning the majority of the chances in the final minutes, time ran out on the game-tying goal.
“At the end we were pushing and pushing and pushing and we had a lot of chances in and around the box, off a cross, corner kick, set-pieces,” said Cimini.
“The girls were striving for it and sometimes an inch this way, an inch that way, and you get a better opportunity. I felt that they really pushed through the whole ninety minutes.”
Despite the loss, a recent string of victories has AUFC in the middle of the pack in the League 1 Ontario standings with a record of 3-4-0.
They next face off against Durham United (3-3-1) on the road on Friday.
The men's squad was also in action Saturday, held to their second straight clean sheet in a 1 – 0 loss to North Mississauga SC.
“Our game plan was just to press them a bit higher and take the game to them a bit more than we have been doing in recent games,” said Aurora technical director Dave Di Placido.
“In recent games we have been sitting back a bit more and trying to catch the other teams on the counter. We thought today with the lineup we had and the players we had in there that we could go at them a bit.”
Mississauga notched the game's only goal at the 34-minute mark, with a handful of yellow cards going to both sides throughout the match.
“But yes, it was very scrappy,” said Di Placido. “There were a lot of whistles and dead ball situations. I think we prefer to try and play, keep the game moving a bit and free-flowing, and I think it hurt us a bit having so many stoppages. Especially when down a goal, it killed any momentum we could generate.”
Aurora will try to regroup on Friday when they visit the winless ProStars FC.
Excerpt: The Aurora United FC women were brought down to earth on Saturday, conceding a goal for the first time in four matches in a 2 – 1 loss to Vaughan Azzurri.
Post date: 2017-06-28 17:16:51
Post date GMT: 2017-06-28 21:16:51
Post modified date: 2017-06-28 17:16:51
Post modified date GMT: 2017-06-28 21:16:51
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