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OTTAWA FURY & W LEAGUE:

FURY OFF TO W LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIPS ONE MORE TIME

31st July 2006

The Ottawa Fury are off to their fourth straight W-League championship final, this time in Vancouver, B.C., following their 3-2 victory over the defending champion New Jersey Wildcats in yesterday evening’s Eastern Conference final in New Jersey. The Wildcats held a 20-11 advantage in shots, but the Fury finished the better of the teams.

On a hot and humid evening, at Mercer Community College, the Fury avenged their loss to the New Jersey Wildcats in last year's W-League final on the same pitch. For the Wildcats, this was their first loss at home in three years, since the 2003 season. "Finally, we came out on top against them, said Fury striker Rhian Wilkinson, We're very happy."

The three goals scored by the Fury in this match against the Wildcats matches the total number of goals allowed by New Jersey throughout all 14 regular season games.

One might have been forgiven for thinking that the Fury's minds were elsewhere as the New Jersey Wildcats came out with guns blazing and dominated the early going. As Rhian notes, "The first 20 minutes were all them. We were physically ready for the game, but mentally we were not prepared. What I mean by this is that we were all making excuses for our poor play in our heads: It is too hot; this field is too long;...etc., when in reality, the conditions were the same for both teams and we really just had to get on with it." First, Wildcats Yamaguchi and Becky Edwards sneaked behind the Fury defence, but shot over the bar at 8 minutes in. The Wildcats then had a great chance in the 16th minute, but Fury keeper Taryn Swiatek made a top-class save, parrying Yamaguchi’s 20-yard shot that was headed towards the upper left hand corner. Rhian says, "In the first 20 minutes we barely slowed them down, let alone defended against them. So, it came as no great surprise when they scored." The Wildcats score sent the crowd and the radio announcers into bouts of screaming as New Jersey's Formiga tallied. Yamaguchi cut in along the left end line and sent over a cross that the Brazilian star poked past Swiatek with a full-out slide.

Rhian thinks that "at this point many people had written us off, and it was now only going to be a matter of how much we would lose by. However, they don't know the psychology of this team. When people suggest that we may be finished, we become inspired. The goal seemed to wake us up and the very next play we scored." The Amy Vermeulen goal came when Rhian worked herself free on the right, and sent a perfect cross into the box for the Fury striker to head inside the left post from eight yards out. Only 34 seconds after the Wildcats' goal, the Fury had silenced the American crowd and the radio announcers' early paroxysms of joy.

Now it was Ottawa's turn to press with Vermeulen shooting just wide of the right post in the 22nd minute and Stacey Stocco firing over the bar from a Wilkinson cross from the right endline in the 29th minute. One minute later, Vermeulen struck again, heading in a long cross from Wilkinson at the far post to take a 2-1 lead.

The turning point may have been in the 35th minute as Formiga missed a golden opportunity and then had to leave the field with a reoccurrence of a hamstring injury. One minute later, the Fury took control of the game when Leah Robinson sent in a cross from the right side that went over everyone, but Kelly Parker, who volleyed the ball back in front of the net for Vermeulen to scramble the ball home.

In the 41st minute, the teams traded chances with Kendall Fletcher coming out of nowhere to stop Parker on a breakaway. Then, Swiatek robbed Yamaguchi again with a diving save to stop a shot headed toward the upper right corner.

The half-time score was 3 - 1 in favour of the Fury, with Rhian Wilkinson creating all kinds of havoc with her running on the right side. As Rhian remarks, "there was still a lot of soccer to play and we had exhausted legs under us. We knew it was going to be a hard battle for the final 45 minutes: And, it was."

Rhian thought "the Jersey team played very well and constantly threatened, and we really had to dig deep in order to pull out the victory. Wildcats keeper Sarah Knight did her part to keep her team in the game. Twenty five seconds into the second half, she pulled out a flying save on a first-time Stocco shot from 10 metres from another Wilkinson cross. Then, in the 52nd minute, Knight stopped Parker again, after she got behind the defense.

Yamaguchi gave the Wildcats some hope when she pulled the 2005 W-League Champs within one goal in the 61st minute. She took a pass from Jill Oakes and lined a 30-yard laser shot into the upper right corner over an outstretched Swiatek. Rhian says, "I gave her a little clap for that goal; it was a really good one. The best part of it was a kind of basketball pick and roll which they did. I haven't seen that in soccer before, but hmmm....it might be something we can use."

The Fury maintained their composure and control of the match, despite their lead being cut to a single goal. "We've grown as a team, not only over the last four years, but within this year, said Lofranco. We know we're not going to panic, whatever the situation."

The Fury played strong defense the remaining ten minutes of time, successfully protecting their narrow lead. New Jersey piled on the pressure, and the Fury "sat back in our area clearing the ball as far as possible. Annie Hamel came on for Amy and gave the Fury a great burst of fresh legs. She probably won the game for us, with all the ball holding she did up top. As Rhian says " this was not our prettiest win ever, but it was one of our hardest fought, and now it is off to the final four."

"What a great victory for us, added Fury owner John Pugh. It's especially sweet because the Wildcats have stood in our way so many times." Nobody had more reason to smile than forward Amy Vermeulen, who scored all three of Ottawa's goals in a span of 15 minutes in the first half. She was a prolific scorer during her college soccer career in Wisconsin, but the Saskatoon native can’t remember a hat trick quite like this. "Not at such a high level, she said. It’s pretty amazing." Vermeulen has now scored six goals in three Fury playoff wins, and she wants to continue her hot streak into next weekend's W-League Final Four at Swangard Stadium in British Columbia "Amy had a massive performance, said Fury coach Frank Lofranco. We know that she is one of the best finishers in the game, so our objective is always to get her the ball in the 18-yard box. If she gets a couple of opportunities in each game, we know the ball is going to hit the back of the goal." Said Vermeulen: "We came to play and we came to win. We showed up knowing that we didn't want this to be the last game of our season."

Now it's on to BC, where the Fury should be seeded second behind the unbeaten host Vancouver Whitecaps. If that's the case, Ottawa will line up against the Central Conference champion Charlotte Lady Eagles in Friday night's semi-finals. After finishing fourth, third and second in the past three W-League Final Four Championships, the Fury know only a victory in Sunday night's final will complete their season the right way. "You better believe it,said Wilkinson,It's time."