Mallory Outerbridge, who led the Ottawa Fury to an undefeated run through the regular season and the Central Conference championship, was named the league MVP. This wasn’t a surprise; Outerbridge led all of the W-League with 17 goals in 12 regular-season games.
The Fury earned the right to go to the W-League’s final four in Seattle by beating the No. 4 seed Toronto Lady Lynx 4-0 on Saturday and crushing the Quebec City Amiral 6-0 in Sunday’s conference final at Ottawa’s Algonquin College.
Canadian goalkeeper Quillan Roberts scored on a long kick in the recent U-17 World Cup. San Jose Earthquakes keeper David Bingham scored in a friendly against West Bromwich Albion. Now, add Clint Irwin to the list. On Saturday, with his Capital City FC trailing the Windsor Stars 2-1 in CSL action, Irwin joined the attack and got his head onto the cross for the equalizer.
To say that the Ottawa Fury are the favourites to take the W-League Central Conference championship this weekend would actually be a bit of an understatement. The Fury is coming off a perfect 12-0-0 season as the club hosts the Toronto Lady Lynx, the No. 4 seed in the conference, on Saturday. On Sunday, the winner faces the victor of the other semifinal between Laval and Quebec City.
Mallory Outerbridge is making a massive statement. Will Canadian national women’s team coach Carolina Morace be listening? Outerbridge hopes to break into the Canadian national women’s team lineup when the side will vie for a spot at the 2012 Olympics at the CONCACAF qualifiers, to be held in Vancouver beginning in late January.
The scramble for fitness has already been lost by striker Josee Belanger, who has scored five times in 11 appearances for the Canadian team. She indicated to Quebec media sources Friday that her injured ankle would not be ready in time for the World Cup. Midfielder Kelly Parker is also racing to be fit in time to meet Morace’s May 10 deadline. Parker has played just 10 minutes in two subsititute appearances for the Western New York Flash of the WPS, where she teams with Christine Sinclair and FIFA player of the year, Marta.
The Canadian Soccer Association has called a press conference for Wednesday, in Oakville, Ont., where Kara Lang is expected to end her playing career all too early.
