Saturday July 12, 2014 W-League--Ottawa Fury vs Toronto Lady Lynx result (from Fury website)

Fury Rolls in Regular Season Finale

Complete undefeated season, prepare for playoffs

W-League Match Report

Saturday, July 12, 2014

OTTAWA, Ont. - The Ottawa Fury put an exclamation point on their undefeated regular season 
Saturday, defeating the Toronto Lady Lynx 8-0 to finish 11-0-1 and claim the Central Conference 
regular season crown. The Fury will face the winner of the conference play-in game between 
K-W United and Laval, with a spot at the 2014 W-League Championship at stake.

Facing the only team that had taken points from it during the regular season, Dom Oliveri's 
side came out strong and unrelenting to finish the regular season with a goal difference 
of +30.

The Lady Lynx began the afternoon aggressively, attacking from the opening kickoff and 
testing Ottawa goalkeeper Maryse Bard-Martel multiple times in the opening 10 minutes.  
The Lynx peaked offensively in the 13th minute when Heather Lund rattled the crossbar 
on a breakaway, with the ball staying out.  Had Lund scored, Saturday's game could have 
unfolded very differently.

Only two minutes later, Ottawa took a crucial lead through Christabel Oduro.  After an 
initlal shot was parried well by Toronto keeper Carissa Miller, Oduro's blast tipped 
off of a Toronto defender and past the outstretched hands of Miller, killing the momentum 
Toronto had started with.

Despite a push-back from Toronto, the Fury doubled their lead in the 25th minute.  
Continuing with the theme of well-worked goals, W-League Team of the Week member 
Teresa Rynier cut past a Toronto defender before smashing a shot past Miller from 
outside the 18-yard box.

Just four minutes later, Oduro picked up her second of the game and the party was 
officially in full swing.  Receiving the ball on the left flank, the University 
of Memphis standout smashed a shot which beat Miller at the far post, making 
it 3-0.

Another four minutes later Lauren Hughes piled on for Ottawa.  Hughes controlled 
an excellent cross from Bryanna McCarthy before beating a defender and burying 
a shot inside the far post.

Courtney Raetzman continued the wave of Fury scoring just before halftime, scoring 
what might just have been the goal of the season.  Picking the ball up just inside 
the Toronto half, Raetzman wove her way through three Lynx defenders before calmly 
finishing past Miller. Not only did Raetzman score a highlight-reel goal, she went 
into the Fury FC record book scoring the 600th goal in club history!

With memories of their only dropped points of the year, a 1-1 draw in Toronto, fresh 
in their minds, Ottawa pressed even harder in the second half.  The Lynx replaced 
their starting goalkeeper, Miller, with backup Patricia Koutoulas - the substitution 
marked Koutoulas' first minutes of the season.

The second half started the way the first half finished, with Ottawa pressing.  Raetzman 
picked up her second of the match in the 52nd, finishing off a Oduro cross, before 
completing an impressive natural hat trick in the 62nd minute as she finished off 
her own rebound. Lauren Hughes finished the scoring for Ottawa, heading home a cross 
in the 64th minute to make it 8-0.

"It's obviously a good win for us, but I felt there were things that still need 
to be improved.  It's about improving, it's about building and this is a huge win 
for us in that respect," Ottawa Head Coach Dom Oliveri said.  "We want this to be 
a message to everyone else in our conference that this is a difficult place to play, 
and I think we established that today."

The W-League player of the game was Ottawa's Courtney Raetzman.  The University 
of Kentucky midfielder scored a natural hat trick which put the match out of reach, 
and was a force in the midfield. 

"Courtney was far and away the best player on the pitch today," Oliveri said.  
"Three goals, some of them beauties, there's not much else you can say about 
that performance other than MVP."

Ottawa will now have eight days off before they host the Central Conference 
Final next Saturday (July 19) at the Algonquin Soccer Complex at 3 p.m., entertaining 
either K-W United or the Laval Comets, who will battle midweek in the No. 2 vs. 
No. 3 play-in game. 

While the club is happy with the undefeated campaign, Oliveri parted ways with 
media saying, "At this club, we're never completely satisfied until we've won 
a W-League championship.  That's what we're focused on."

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