July 11, 2014 W-League--Ottawa Fury vs Toronto Lady Lynx Preview (from Fury website)
Match Preview: Ottawa Fury FC Women vs Toronto Lady Lynx Fury FC Women Close Out W-League Regular Season Against Rivals from Toronto July 11, 2014 Carlos Verde The Ottawa Fury FC Women will look to defend their home turf this weekend as they entertain the Toronto Lady Lynx on Saturday afternoon at the Algonquin Soccer Complex in their final match of the 2014 W-League regular season. The undefeated Fury (10-0-1), winners of their last five games, will be hoping to continue their solid form into the Central Conference playoffs with a win against Toronto (4-2-5), the only team in the league to steal a point off of Dom Oliveri's side this season when the two sides drew 1-1 in Toronto on June 18th. "Toronto play an excellent team game, and work very hard," says Fury FC Women's head coach Dom Oliveri, "They gave us a very difficult time in Toronto, and they've got a never-say-die attitude. We have to match that and go beyond if we want the three points this weekend - they're going to be very hungry, to be honest they're playing for a playoff spot. They'll be coming in determined to get the win, and we've got to match that." Toronto have been in pretty good form as of recently, with the lone blackmark in their past five games a 2-1 defeat against K-W United on July 2nd. Including that defeat, Toronto is 2-1-2 in their past five games, and the Lady Lynx sit on the outside looking in on a three-team battle for the two semi-final playoff positions (2nd and 3rd) in the W-League Central Conference playoffs. To make the playoffs, Toronto must beat Ottawa and hope for help in other matches. Key players on the Lady Lynx include midfielder Jordyn Listro, who leads Toronto in shots and fouls committed, and goalkeeper Carissa Miller, who boasts an incredible .878 save percentage. Both are NCAA D-1 players, with Listro entering her sophomore season with the USF Bulls program, while Miller redshirted her freshman season at Florida State. From his standpoint, Ottawa head coach Dom Oliveri admits that while a win would be nice, it's not priority number one. "Realistically, we'll try some new things, new players - we've had a long season in a very short amount of time, players are tired," he chuckled, "A result at the end of the regular season isn't the end-all be-all." Regardless of the outcome of Saturday afternoon's match, Oliveri feels confident going forward that his squad is capable of recapturing the W-League title that Fury FC won in 2012. "The year we won the championship, we lost the last game of the season to Quebec," he says, laughing at the meaningless nature of the result. Saturday afternoon's match will see defender Bryanna McCarthy face her old W-League club for just the second time. The 22 year-old West Virginia graduate has excelled in her debut season with Fury FC, starting ten of the first eleven matches on the left flank. Fury FC Women's midfielder Teresa Rynier was named to the W-League's Team-of-the-Week for her two-goal performance against Laval last weekend, and head coach Oliveri believes that Rynier has elevated her game at the right time. "Teresa's done really well the past four or five games. The turning point for her was in Toronto," explained Oliveri at a training session Wednesday evening. "We sat her down because we felt she wasn't performing up to the level she was capable of. Some players wouldn't take that very well, but Teresa is a highly motivated player and she's really stepped up her game." Elsewhere in the W-League this weekend, the LA Blues visit the Bay Area Breeze on Sunday afternoon in their final game of the regular season. Los Angeles, undefeated atop the Western Conference, appear to be on a collision course with the Fury FC Women - perhaps with a meeting in the W-League Championship Game somewhere in the near future. While this weekend's match may not be important per sé for Ottawa, it is extremely important for the three below them (K-W United, Laval, Toronto), and fans can expect a playoff-like intensity from the visiting Lady Lynx on Saturday afternoon.
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