MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Aurora FC's head coach, who has been at the helm of the team's undefeated regular season and march to the USL W League championship, was named the league's Coach of the Year on Tuesday.
The USL W League named Nicole Lukic the Coach of the Year after she led the team to an 11-0-1 regular-season record, a league-high 2.83 points per game and to the league championship, which Minnesota will hosts Saturday night.
"Minnesota’s defense was also huge for the team’s success this season, only allowing eight goals against and recording five shutouts," the league said in a press release. "The staunch defense only allowed opponents to score more than one goal on a single occasion."
The Aurora's winning streak stretches across 11 regular-season wins and two playoff wins beginning on June 2 after the team's first-ever game ended in a tie at home.
“Our players did a really good job of playing true to who we are and battling through it," Lukic said of the team's 1-0 win over McLean Soccer in the semifinal round.
Less than 24 hours after tickets to the championship game were made available, the Aurora sold out of tickets, making for the team's third-straight sold-out home game. This season, the Aurora have averaged a little more than 5,500 fans per game, which would be in the top half of the National Women's Soccer League, the nation's top professional women's soccer league.
The Aurora will host South Georgia Tormenta FC at a sold-out TCO Stadium on Saturday, July 23 at 7 p.m. CT. The game will be streamed on ElevenSports.com, according to the league.
"We've been working for it all season," Aurora's Rami Rapp told Breaking The News. "From day one that was our goal. We laid out season goals and from day one we said we wanted to win the USL championship and we're going to try to do it on Saturday."
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