Duong and Parten the MVPs in the Post Season awards
The USL W League and UPSL leagues have announced their postseason awards this week, led by Katie Duong, who was named Heartland Conference Player of the Year. It is the latest and last award in the glittering pre-professional stage of her career. Having been drafted in the fourth round by her hometown Portland Thorns in NWSL this year, she has been named to the inaugural roster of DC Power, the Washington club in the other Division 1 league, USL Super League. This last regular season, Duong scored 9 times in 10 starts.
In the UPSL, Berit Parten of NOSC Blast was named Midwest West Conference Most Valuable Player ahead of her freshman season at the University of Iowa, with a Golden Boot worthy 20 goals. She leads the line for the First Team selections with Aurora 2's Ava Westlund (also formerly of NOSC). The midfield is composed of players from four different clubs in Anna Tobias from Superior City, Ayah Makled from Aurora, Mehjan Przybilla from NOSC and Minnesota TwinStars' Ryane Cash. The defensive selections are GK Lauren McAlpine, Ruthie Gyasi and Julia Freed from NOSC, Aurora's Kiera Laney and Gwendolyn Lilly from Superior City. The Coach of the Year is NOSC's Josh Okoampa.
The second team sees St Croix Legacy's Alena Miller in goal, backed by a diverse defense: Sydney Kubes of Northern Tide, Lili Wade of Granite City, Bailey Dodds of Aurora and Caroline Lauinger of NOSC. The midfield selections are Luka Johnson of Aurora, Lili Linquist of Tide, Emilia McGiffert of Superior City and Nora Helvig of NOSC. The line is lead by Agatha Nimene of TwinStars and Mandy Elton of Aurora.
Stay tuned to this site for coverage of the inaugural USL Super League season and other women's professional football.
UPSL Women's Gallery: June 23 2024
UPSL Women's Gallery
This week we have photos from Northern Tide’s 3-2 win over Minnesota TwinStars and Minnesota Aurora 2’s 7-0 demolition of St Croix Legacy II.
Recap & Photos: Aurora 2 vs Northern Tide
Northern Tide FC
Aurora2 played their home opener on Wednesday night, hosting Northern Tide FC at Sea Foam Stadium in St Paul, Minn. It was a convincing 3-0 win for Aurora, who improved to 2-0 on the season.
The home side got off to a quick start when Ava Grate scored in the 8th minute from Angie Knies’ corner service – Aurora’s second corner kick of the match. Aurora continued to put in crosses and corners, challenging Northern Tide goalkeeper Samantha Swidorski who held her own until a bobble in the 39th minute allowed Ellie Primerano a chance to tap in a rebound. One minute of stoppage time saw Aurora make the score 3-0 before the break.
Ava Westlund tallied the assist on that third and final goal and described the build up “Ellie [Primerano] had it up the middle. I made the run out wide, she timed it perfectly, played me; I sliced it across and then Mandy [Elton] finished it, two-time. It was a perfect combination.”
Northern Tide was able to put together a few runs to challenge Aurora’s midfield in the second half but, as in the first half, Aurora closed them down early and often. Westlund credited home pitch advantage for the shutout: “With our first game, we were getting into the group but being back to home field is totally different because we train here, we’re used to the field, the surface, everything […] The environment, the field, the team, we all came together really well.”
Aurora2 will play at home again on Saturday, hosting Granite City FC in front of a larger, mid-afternoon crowd.
