For Minnesota Aurora FC, championship loss is "just the beginning"
EAGAN, Minn. -- Aurora FC goalkeeper Sarah Fuller was visibly emotional as she reunited with her team after the final whistle. Tears covered her face as she embraced her teammates one by one. She had just played an admirable game, but one soul-crushing goal spoiled the night. One broken play turned a storybook campaign into a heartbreaking near-perfect season.
After Tormenta FC's Jaida Nyby scored what became the game-winner with just five minutes left in overtime, Fuller dropped to her knees in disappointment. Some of her teammates expressed similar shock, bowing their heads in dismay and staring off into the distance. The last-ditch effort by Nyby left little time for an equalizer, and in the few minutes the Aurora had, they failed to convert one. Their season came to a halt with their first ever loss.
"We wanted it really bad," head coach Nicole Lukic said. "That's why we love soccer, it doesn't always roll our way."
At TCO Stadium, on this new league's grandest stage, Tormenta FC of South Georgia stole the first USL W League Championship, 2-1, from the Aurora in overtime, leaving a historic team with one major blemish.
It was a full, 120-minute match fit for the championship.
To start, Nyby's opening goal at the eighth minute reminded the Aurora of the jarring feeling of a deficit, while the flashy response from Minnesota's Addy Symonds just 14 minutes later showed how bold the Aurora can get on the attack.
"Not much thought went into it," Symonds said, "It was just great timing and a great ball by Kenzie [Langdok]."
It resulted in a one-all tie that held tight for nearly two hours of game time. The lack of scoring, however, was not indicative of an uneventful affair.
As both sides grew tired and impatient, the latter parts of the match developed into a game of attrition. Rough and chippy play drew cards as more and more players fell to the turf in one way or another.
With 10 minutes left in regulation, a disgruntled Tormenta assistant coach was ejected from the game due to a pair of yellow cards he earned after chirping at a referee. Aurora attacker Mariah Nguyen then had to be helped off the field at the 85th minute after a non-contact lower body injury left her writhing in pain.
As players shoved and swiped at each other for possession, the ball floated throughout the midfield for the majority of the game, fluctuating between different sides of the pitch, before routinely being struck for a poor finish or a clearance to restart back at midfield.
It seemed as though the excitement became more frequent during overtime, when both sides began moving with more urgency and less caution.
Facing another deep shot, this time from the Aurora's Langdok 40 yards away, Tormenta goalkeeper Sydney Martinez stretched out high to tip the ball over the crossbar and keep things even five minutes into overtime.
Martinez would soon be tested again at goal with a penalty kick. A handball in the box gave the Aurora their biggest break of the day at the 111th minute, and attacker Morgan Turner was set at the spot to continue her goal streak and take the first lead of the night.
But Martinez read Turner like a book and saved her shot. The rebound shot that immediately followed was gobbled up as well before Martinez rejected the final last-effort strike to solidify the defensive stand. It was here where Tormenta was injected with meaningful late-game energy. It was exactly what they used moments later to score.
What started as a routine corner kick clearance ended with a far-post dagger from Nyby that left the Aurora and the entire TCO Stadium stunned. After being piled on by her teammates, Nyby put her finger over her lips to hush the crowd, and they promptly kept quiet. Seemingly because they knew their team had little left in the tank to take the game further.
The crowd that was once eagerly filing through the stadium entrance, brimming the concrete bleachers with Aurora colors and beaming optimism, fell to bleak silence as another Minnesota sports disappointment was imminent. Some fans began eyeing the exits as others remained seated and straight-faced until the bitter end.
As tough as the loss was, there's an appreciative sentiment that the team shares. The crowd was the biggest the Aurora had ever seen (6,489 attendees) at TCO - record-breaking crowds have become something of a weekly trend - and the impressive play of the season drew unprecedented attention towards women's soccer. It marks an unsavory end to a beautiful season, but a remarkable beginning to a future ripe for new opportunities for success and publicity.
"What we've done together this year is bigger than winning or losing this game," head coach Nicole Lukic said after the game. "We've changed the landscape of soccer with all of our wonderful fans and community here. We've set the bar really high and we're excited that we've made our mark and this is just the beginning for Minnesota Aurora."
"This is the best team I've ever been with," Fuller said. "Everybody was amazing on this team and from our coaching staff, to the founders - to just everybody. I mean, it's incredible what can be done when women's soccer is invested in and believed in and done right."
