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OTTAWA FURY DEFEAT CHARLOTTE LADY EAGLES TO MAKE W LEAGUE FINAL AN ALL CANADIAN AFFAIR

5th August 2006

In Friday evening’s USL W-League opening National semi-final game, the Ottawa FURY defeated the Charlotte Lady Eagles by two goals to one. For the fans, it was an entertaining game at Burnaby's Swangard Stadium, and neither side seemed to show many signs of the travel strains they must have been feeling after arriving in Vancouver late on Thursday night.

However, Rhian was disappointed that the Fury did not produce their best soccer. “There were some good moments, she says, but for the most part we did not go beyond being average.” I felt that I was in low gear for the whole game and could not find my top gear – very frustrating.” Of course, the Central Conference Charlotte Lady Eagles didn't make it easy on the Fury, even after they fell behind. "That was a good side we were playing,"said Fury owner John Pugh, "They gave us a good bit of trouble, more in the first half than the second."

"We weren't even thinking about (the final),"said the Fury’s Robinson, "We've been here before and we knew we had to win to get to the final. We were only thinking about Charlotte."Vermeulen was a threat every time she touched the ball and she could have had more goals, while Rhian Wilkinson proved to be quite a handful for the Lady Eagles as expected, and in the 6th minute, she crossed the ball in from the right side and her favourite receiver Amy Vermeulen was there to out jump the opposition and bury it. As Rhian says, “Amy scoring has become a norm for us and I am "AOK with that." "I’ll put them across and she can head them home."

The Ottawa Fury showed that they can move the ball around smartly and they are patient in waiting for their attacks. Late in the second half, Wilkinson made a long run down the left side, on a lovely through ball from Kelly Parker and was brought down in the area by the charging Lady Eagles' goalkeeper Lindsey Dreason -- an aggressive play that many thought was worth a red card. “Unfortunately, the referee may have been a little behind the run of play, says Rhian, so the ref made the decision to call the kick outside the box, even though it was definitely inside. This would have been a big deal, had Leah Robinson not scored from the ensuing free kick.”

Only a yellow card was produced, and Robinson made any argument moot when she made like David Beckham, and bent the free kick into the lower left corner of the net, past a diving Dreason. "I've been practising those all year,"said Robinson, the veteran midfielder."I was pretty much praying that this would be the one that would go in." Rhian maintains that all the Fury players knew exactly where she would put the shot, and “I knew she would score- I love having that confidence in my teammates.“

The Charlotte Lady Eagles’ goal came in the 91st minute, and Rhian isn’t quite sure what happened. “The goal went in - end of story. We need to start making sure that we play till the final whistle because we really can't afford these late goals.” The score eased Charlotte to a one goal difference, as W-League all-star Ashley Swinehart snapped a shot past Fury 'keeper Leisha Alcia. Swinehart pounced on the rebound from a Lydia Vandenbergh shot which rang off the crossbar.

In terms of her Fury teammates, Rhian felt that Amy Vermeulen was the team MVP on the night, but Mel Miller, Diana Matheson and Leah Robinson all deserved honorable mentions. The whole Fury team is looking forward to the Finals, and “as we will play at our best, it should be a dandy.”

The FURY will play the 2004 Champions and host team Vancouver Whitecaps in Sunday's final. The Whitecaps defeated the Seattle Sounders Saints 5-0 in the second semi-final on Friday evening. Kickoff time tomorrow is 8 p.m.

For the Fury, it's one step to go to complete its season-long quest.Ottawa knows the story well: Fourth, third and second at the last three W-League Final Four matches. Now it's 90 minutes to finish that sequence the right way. Last year, the Fury was blanked by New Jersey 3-0 in the championship game. "We're back in the final, and it feels better than ever,"said Robinson, 24, of Lower Sackville, N.S. "This is what we've been waiting for all season."

Now the focus can shift to the match on Sunday evening that the Fury has been waiting four long years to win.