Sometimes one goal is all it takes and on Thursday night in Rockford, IL that's all it took for Aurora to secure their third consecutive win of the season. The lone goal came just before the 30 minute mark on a header from Talia Coury. Aurora got plenty of chances during the remainder of the match, but Rockford keeper Eme McClenahan kept the Raptors in the match until the final whistle.
Jen Larrick made a whopping nine changes to Aurora's starting eleven from their 2–0 win over Rally Madison. Haylee Mersereau and Olivia Albert were the two players retained in the starting eleven from last weekend's match in Wisconsin. Skye Leach, who is at camp with the Philippines Women's National Team, Flavie Dubé, and Kyra Karfonta who started against Madison did not make the trip to Rockford.
Three changes for the Raptors. Eme McClenahan back in goal for her third start following Griselda Revolorio's start against Sioux Falls. Fowards Gracey LaPage and Cortlyn Hefty replaced Genevieve Wilson and Ava Kling, both of whom were available from the bench.
Unlike the previous two matches where Aurora dominated from the opening whistle Rockford put the visitors under pressure during the opening phase of the match. The Raptors controlled possession in the first half and tried to control the pace of play as well. Which they were successful in doing for the opening twenty minutes of play, but Aurora were able to turn that around as the half hour mark approached.
In the 28th minute Minnesota was handed a free kick just outside the 18 yard box. Once the free kick was sent in, Kalo Iongi got on the end of the ball and popped it up into the six yard box. Talia Coury nudged her way into the six and headed the ball into the far side of goal to score what ended up being the only goal of the night. From that point on Aurora controlled the momentum and pace of play, even though Rockford still held plenty of possession.
Northland Soccer Journal
After the halftime break Taylor Fox slotted back into goal as the first of seven Aurora substitutes on the night, seeing almost the entire bench playing at least some minutes during the match. One of the best moments of the night came from Rockford Raptors with the hosts doing two flip throws, but with the distance of a Michael Boxall throw-in.
That was the best highlight of the night for Rockford as Aurora continued to push hard for a second goal, though were able to clear out many of Minnesota's chances out of the box. In the 61st minute though the Raptors were put on eggshells after Ines Simas was issued the first yellow card of the night. Just over twenty minutes later she was handed a second yellow and sent off following an extremely rough tackle in the midfield third.
Simas' second yellow card killed any momentum that the Raptors had in the second half and rather than forcing a high press on Aurora, they had to scale back and hold out for the final near ten minutes and stoppage time. At that point Aurora decided to finish the match playing a bit slower pace and holding the ball to come away with a 1–0 win.
Next up for Minnesota Aurora (3-0-0, 9 points) is one of the best clubs in the Heartland in River Light FC as the second match of a two match Illinois swing. RLFC are sitting at a 2-0-1 (W-D-L) record with six points after their first three matches. Kickoff is set for 2pm on Saturday afternoon in Aurora, IL which might just give the visitors an advantage.
