Men’s United shut out for third straight game, women earn a draw

May 25, 2016 · 0 Comments

By Jake Courtepatte

It has been a tough month for the budding semi-pro Aurora United Football Club, still searching for the organization’s first win.

While the women played to their second 1 – 1 draw in three League 1 games, the Aurora men were blanked for their third straight game, bringing their record to 0 – 4 on Monday in Kingston.

The first goal came off of a clearing attempt from Aurora goaltender Youseff Mahrady sixteen minutes in, the second coming just minutes later on a penalty after a hard tackle inside the box.

Aurora actually had the better of the play in the moments after kickoff in the second half, but it was Kingston who struck again at the 50’ mark with Patrick Vanbelleghem tucking it under Mahrady.

With that, the men are goalless since game one of their first season in the semi-pro league, but are yet to host a game on home turf. The first opportunity will come this Saturday, when they host the Woodbridge Strikers at Sheppard’s Bush.

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

Meanwhile, the United women were in action at Sheppard’s Bush on Saturday, pulling in a 1 – 1 draw with North Mississauga SC.

North Miss opened the scoring at the 39’ mark, taking advantage of a scramble close to the Aurora box. Kylee Bertrand tied the score shortly after the start of the second half, with a hard strike off of a corner kick.

Aurora goalkeeper Marissa Zuchetto made some key saves the rest of the way to secure the draw.

“The girls gave a great effort, gave one hundred-percent, followed instructions,” said Aurora head coach Ramin Mohammadi.

“They’re tired, but defensively they did very well. North Miss is a great team, we know the players and they are great individuals, very technical. But our girls did great, stayed together defensively, very compact. We thought they did very well.”

“It’s a recurring issue for us: last couple of games, umpteen chances, same today,” said North Miss technical director Trevor Bertrand.
“I thought we deserved the win to be honest, our keeper blundered and they capitalized,” he added.

“Kudos to them, but there were so many opportunities for us to put the ball in the net and it just couldn’t be done. Frustrating, but we will go back to the drawing board again.”

With a record of 0-1-2, the United women sit tied for fifth place in the nine-team League 1 table. They host Kingston at Sheppard’s Bush this Saturday, a 4 p.m. kickoff with both sides searching for their first win of the season.