MINNEAPOLIS — As every Minnesota sports team knows, making it to the playoffs, let alone a league championship game, can be extremely difficult. However, in its first year of existence, the Minnesota Aurora FC is playoff-bound and is one of three teams in the USL W League to finish the 2022 regular season undefeated.
Now, the Minnesota Aurora FC (11-0-1) will host its first-ever playoff game at TCO Stadium against the Indy Eleven (10-0-2) on Wednesday, July 13 at 7 p.m. For more information about tickets to the game, click or tap here.
“Because of all the amazing support from the community, we have been able to provide great conditions for our players and bring in truly gifted athletes. We are so happy to be rewarding all of our fans with at least one playoff home game," Aurora head coach Nicole Lukic said.
In their inaugural season, the Aurora have stayed perfect thanks in large part to their offense spreading the ball around-- 13 players have scored goals and 16 players score points this season-- and solid goaltending. Goalkeepers Sarah Fuller and Taylor Kane combined to save about 80% of all shots on goal this season and never allowed more than two goals in a single game.
On paper, Wednesday's playoff game is as evenly matched as fans could hope for. The Aurora averaged 0.64 goals allowed per game and averaged 2.83 points per game this season. The Indy Eleven averaged 2.67 points scored per game and also allowed an average of 0.64 goals per game.
“So many players have points which is impressive. That’s helped build our confidence – that anybody on the team can score at any time,” Lukic said after their win over the St. Louis Lions on June 26. “Lots of quality minutes for lots of players today.”
Morgan Turner, who attended Wayzata High School, currently leads the team in goals with seven, followed by Boise State grad Morgan Stone and her five goals. In the team's final regular-season game, Turner had the first hat trick in team history.
After Minnesota's first-ever game ended in a draw, the Aurora won 11-straight games, the longest winning streak in the league.
Even before their final two games, the Aurora already had their tickets to the playoffs punched with the division clinched. However, being playoff-bound didn't slow down the Aurora.
With two road games left on their schedule against the Green Bay Glory, Minnesota swept them in the series, winning 2-0 on July 7 and 5-1 on July 9.
“It says a lot about our team, how hard we came out in both games even though it doesn’t necessarily mean a lot for our playoff [standings],” Morgan Turner said following the Aurora's sweep of Green Bay.
The Aurora also had plenty of community support on their journey to the playoffs with the thousands of fans who consistently filled up TCO Stadium on match days.
Days before their inaugural match, the Aurora announced that all 5,600 tickets to the game were sold out. It wasn't long before the team began selling even more tickets and reached a record crowd on June 24 with 6,016 fans in attendance.
“We’re trying to enjoy each moment. The fans tonight were incredible. We feel lucky to be here in front of a community that really supports us," Lukic said at the time.
In order to stay undefeated and make a run in the playoffs, the Aurora will need to spread the ball around offensively, continue having lock-down goalkeeping and for the stands of TCO Stadium to be packed with screaming fans to maximize having home pitch advantage.
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