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Morning Edition
Cathy Wurzer and Gracie Stockton

New Aurora coach preps for home opener as women’s sports command spotlight

Minnesota Aurora midfielder Arianna Del Moral celebrates
Minnesota Aurora midfielder Arianna Del Moral (No. 11) celebrates after scoring a goal during the USLW first-round playoff Central Conference Semifinal game against Chicago City AFC at Atwood Stadium in Flint, Mich., on July 6, 2023.
Courtesy of Lon Horwedel via Minnesota Aurora

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Colette Montgomery is the Minnesota Aurora FC's new head coach and sporting director.
Courtesy of Minnesota Aurora FC

The Minnesota Aurora FC home opener is Thursday night and the pre-professional team is helmed by new head coach and sporting director Colette Montgomery.

The 7 p.m. game at TCO Stadium against RKC Third Coast dovetails Minnesota’s Professional Women’s Hockey team clinching the inaugural Walter Cup championship Wednesday in Lowell, Mass., as well as heightened attention on professional women’s basketball over the last few months.

“We know that Minnesota is a great market for women’s sports, and we’re excited to be a part of that,” Montgomery told MPR News on Thursday.

Montgomery moved to Minnesota about 20 years ago for an internship and never left. Over time, she became increasingly ingrained in the local soccer community, including coaching at North Central University in Minneapolis. Montgomery is now embarking on her first season with the Aurora after the team’s first coach Nicole Lukic departed for a position with U.S. Soccer.

“I think the game is growing globally. I think the U.S. Women’s National Team has been a major part of pioneering the way that we see that in the World Cups. And we’ll probably see this year in the Olympics, just putting women’s soccer particularly on the map,” Montgomery said. The work of “multiple women over many generations” is now putting women’s sports “in the forefront.”

Lukic’s years with the Aurora laid a solid foundation for Montgomery to build upon. Her coaching style, she said, is “a collaborative, positive environment to create where we’re empowering and equipping these young women to make decisions and really play an entertaining game of soccer.”

Right now, the Aurora have depth in every position and will focus on an organized, disciplined defense coupled with “relentless” offense.

“We want to entertain the crowd and score lots of goals. And that’s really been our objective from day one,” Montgomery said.

The Aurora remains undefeated in regular season games since the USL W League’s founding in 2022. Thursday’s home opener is the third game of this season; the Aurora were victorious over the Chicago Dutch Lions and had a draw against River Light FC. Last year, they added a second team — Aurora 2 — in the United Premier Soccer League to foster young talent.

“I just love seeing young women grow and develop and be the best that they can be not just in the soccer environment, but in life as well,” Montgomery said.