Tuesday, May 8, 2012
W-League Central Conference Preview
Will anyone be able to end the Ottawa Fury’s long-running monopoly at the top of the W-League Central Conference standings? The Toronto Lynx, Quebec City Amiral and Laval Comets are some of the top contenders to end the Fury’s eight-year reign as champions.
Hamilton FC Rage – In 2011, Coach Joe Moscato was brought in to stop the slide that Hamilton had been facing. He increased the team’s point total, but Hamilton was still closer to the bottom than a playoff place. Additionally, the Rage’s away record was the worst in the division, obtaining just one point from six games. A rebuilding effort is now underway, with Gisenia Utreras, an exciting attacking midfielder from University of Memphis, likely to be at the center of it.
Laval Comets - Since the formation of the Great Lakes Division, Laval has averaged 21 points a year, a decent total, but never enough to win a division containing Ottawa. Though they have improved every year in the final standings (they were 2011 conference semifinalists) The Comets were still a sizeable 16 points behind the Fury in second place. Losing goalkeeper Cynthia Leblanc, who had more than a thousand minutes in net in 2011, will not help, but Coach Lyle Joseph has faith in his offense. The key is aggressive forward Catherine Charron-Delage who led the 2011 Comets with 14 points (and 16 fouls). She will look to combine with her scoring partner Eva Thouvenot-Hebert and midfielder Kylie Davis to finally end Ottawa’s dominance.
London Gryphons - Returning coach Aaron Lauterbach is all about being positive, in more ways than one. Despite a bottom-of-the-table finish last year, he is talking about winning this year and winning by playing creative soccer. “Stepping back into this leadership role has me committed to giving my very best to the club and putting the most exciting Gryphons team ever on the field for 2012!” he was quoted as saying on the USL site. If there’s a big signing to announce, he feels it’s one most people may not even see. “[New trainer Jose] Garrincha will bring an entirely new dimension of training to our team in 2012 and I am confident that will translate into some high-performance soccer on the field,” Lauterbach said.
There’s one thing Gryphon fans can be sure of: they won’t be losing due to a lack of passion from their coach.
Ottawa Fury - Last year, Dom Oliveri’s group managed to go through the entire regular season unbeaten and achieved all its goals but one: the title. Losing 6-1 to the Atlanta Silverbacks in the W-League Championship left Oliveri with an entire offseason to contemplate changes - and they’ve been made. The perennial challengers will bring back only three players who started that match in Seattle. Luckily, league MVP Mallory Outerbridge is one of them. Outerbridge had 13 more points and six more goals than her closest league-wide competitor, though no longer having last year’s assist leader Teresa Rynier will be a blow. Instead, the returning Mélissa Busque and Jessica Shufelt will look to ease the creative burden and take the next step. A potentially young defense will have plenty of support in net with a strong goalkeeping core led by the experienced Jasmine Phillips and Canadian international Cynthia Leblanc, who joined from Laval.
Quebec City Amiral - Samir Ghrib saw his team finish a point behind its rival Laval In the division standings, but the Amiral were able to turn the tables in the conference semifinals, beating Laval 3-1. If revenge is what spurs the team on, then watch out Ottawa, as Quebec will be determined to overhaul the team that dropped six goals on them in the conference final. Ghrib has decided to keep his core together, as shown by the return of goalkeeper Pier-Marie Bilodeau and her backup, Sarah Boucher. Defenders Melissa Roy and Frédérique Paradis and midfielder Joelle Gosselin all featured on the W-League Team of the Week in 2011, and fans can expect similar types of performances from forward Melissa Lessage.
Rochester Ravens - Steve Christenson has a tough job on his hands, inevitably losing some of his best players following a disappointing sixth-place finish in 2011. A former college coach, he has gone back to that system to get a few players, such as fullback Amanda Sudore from Nazareth College who can get forward and contribute some much-needed assists. W-League 2011 Week 6 Team of the Week member Ashley Grove will need to hold things together in the midfield in order to ensure a revival.
Toronto Lady Lynx - For the past two seasons, the Lynx have been able to reach the playoffs, but could not beat their first opponent, Ottawa. Danny Stewart’s switch to a 3-4-3 formation in the 2011 playoffs did not lessen the damage as Ottawa ran rampant, outshooting Toronto 22-3. Stewart is hoping a solid midfield core of Kinley McNicholl (2011 Week 10 Team of the Week) and Captain Alyscha Mottershead (called up to Canada’s Olympic qualifying campaign) can offer something to build on.