UPSL-W Spotlight: NOSC Blast defeat Aurora 2 to raise conference trophy

On Sunday, MN Aurora FC 2 concluded their inaugural year with their first and only loss of the season, falling 2-1 to NOSC Blast (and the league’s leading goal scorer) late in extra time. While Aurora 2 was not able to lift the championship trophy at TCO Stadium (now an unsavory tradition for the franchise), the club remains proud and hopeful of its continued success.

With Blast matching Aurora’s results throughout the summer, ending the regular season with an identical 9-0-2 (W-L-D) record but a lower goal differential, Aurora head coach Mandy Pochabradsky expected – and wanted – a final showcasing the best against the best.

“We expected them to be good with the ball, which they were, and that’s something we anticipated from the first match [of the season] to this match,” she said following the game. “They had a couple of new players that were able to come in, which was good to see. And at the end of the day, we wanted to have our best group against their best group. I think that’s what makes for the most entertaining and worthwhile games.”

Despite a heat advisory and glaring sun, a few hundred fans took advantage of the free admission to enjoy one last game in Eagan before moving on with their summer. While it was a low scoring game, both teams played a fast-paced first half in which both goalkeepers, Bayliss Flynn of Aurora and Lauren McAlpine of Blast, each registered a handful of saves and close calls in the first half hour.

It wasn’t until the 34th minute that Aurora finally found the first goal. Starting forward Ava Westlund received a ball from Maya Dempsey, broke through traffic in the box, catching McAlpine off her line, and sent a shot under the back-stepping keeper. The 1-0 lead (and Westlund’s 15th goal of the season) deserved a little extra flair.

The lead did not last for long, however. In stoppage time before the half, Jessica Eischens sent a shot on frame, well wide of where Flynn was tracking another runner, leveling the match just before the whistle.

While both teams made a few changes going into the second half, Blast had the impact sub. Berit Parten, the league’s leading scorer with 18 goals in the regular season, sat out the first half. It only took the casual viewer ten minutes into the second half to see why she was held back. Despite putting their own fresh legs into action, Aurora was caught flat-footed repeatedly by Parten’s late runs. She would hold back in midfield as her team’s attack developed before committing to run and would then charge right into each defender, finding every gap. But for 45 minutes, Aurora’s midfield and backline held her off and found ways to disrupt the developing runs. When that didn’t work, Flynn made some massive saves to keep Aurora in the game.

The entire final half hour of regulation felt like a golden goal moment, but they remained locked up at 1-1, sending the match into extra time (two 15-minute periods). Finally, in the 115th minute (the 25th minute of extra time), there was a goal – by Parten.

Goalkeeper Bayliss Flynn described Parten’s freekick and Blast’s efforts leading up to it:

“They just had so many numbers right at the top of the box and then they would draw us. We had a lot of fouls and that’s hard not to do when it’s such a physical back and forth match. And then on that freekick – I already watched the video back and the wall was good. It was an amazing strike and just curved right.”

Blast held on to the lead for the remaining five minutes of extra time and the vistiors’ bench erupted at the final whistle. A long, tough game that had everything a championship final should have – heat (literal and metaphorical), tension, exciting plays, a late decision to end even play.

Aurora 2 walked away with the runners-up trophy but left everything else on the field.

“This team had never played together before May 6,” Pochabradsky reflected. “So to come into such a quick season and get them to adapt and, as I told them at the end, we took care of the process. The results don’t always follow but continuing to take care of the process will get them in the direction that they want to go.”