Aurora’s season ends in conference championship loss
Go Deeper.
Create an account or log in to save stories.
Like this?
Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.
The Minnesota Aurora FC’s unbeaten streak has come to an end.
For the first time in the club’s history, they didn’t score a goal in a game, losing 1-0 to the Indy Eleven.
It was a much more evenly matched game than on Thursday when the Aurora didn’t let the pressure off the Chicago City FC, holding Chicago to 0 shots.
Minnesota seemed to control the ball more, but Indy had plenty of scoring chances through the game. Aurora goalkeeper Amanda Poorbough aggressively challenged two early opportunities from Indy, coming out and taking control of the ball from Indy’s forwards.
Support Local News
When breaking news happens, MPR News provides the context you need. Help us meet the significant demands of these newsgathering efforts.
Indy scored early in the second half, redirecting a free kick into the net.
The Aurora battled until the last whistle, but the game’s flow was chopped up by a lot of whistles and fouls.
Aurora Head Coach Nicole Lukic thought her team played well enough to win.
"Things just didn’t fall our way with the goals,” she said. “I thought we played pretty well. To be honest, I thought we were the better team. It just didn't go our way. Indy's a great team. They were prepared. They did some things really well. And so at the end of the day, it went in for them and didn't go in for us."
The Aurora are undefeated in regular season play in their first two years. They lost in the USL W championship last year in a 2-1 overtime loss.
This season, the team averaged 5 goals a game, but playoff defense from both Chicago and Indy kept the team’s high-octane offense mostly off the scoreboard in the Central Conference Championships.
On Saturday, Minnesota outshot Indy 17-11, but of those only 4 were on target for Minnesota and 8 were for Indy.
Lukic says the loss is tough, and so is knowing she’ll have to wait until the next season, in May 2024, to coach this group again.
"Overall, we're just really happy with our group. It’s a fantastic group of young women to work with every single day,” Lukic said. “To be honest, that's my most sad part of this is it's over now. And we have to wait such a long time to get together again, but really proud of our group and the growth we've shown throughout the whole season. Just didn't go our way today."
Players and many of their parents who made the journey to Flint, Mich. to watch the game hugged and commiserated outside the locker room, while close by, a handful of Aurora fans gave the team a round of applause.
Adam Conley of St. Paul, part of the Revontulet - the supporter group for the Aurora - had made the nearly 700 mile drive with his wife to come to the playoff games.
“It's a bummer, of course. They tried really hard and you can see on their faces how devastating it is,” he said. “It's just really good to see how solid the foundation that we've got. It’s a good base. Bummer. But there's next year. We still got next year. We'll be back.”