Fury Set For Postseason Clash Host GPS Portland Tonight @ 7:00PM

Fury Set For Postseason Clash Host GPS Portland  Tonight

Ottawa Fury News Release -- www.ottawafury.com

Monday, July 22, 2013
OTTAWA, Ont. -- For the second straight season the Ottawa Fury and GPS Portland Phoenix will meet in the Northeast Division Championship to open the 2013 PDL Playoffs. Two long-time rivals will battle on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. at the Algonquin College Soccer Complex with the right to advance to the Eastern Conference Championship. Ottawa heads into the postseason riding a nine-game unbeaten streak (8-0-1) where they have outscored the opposition 32-1.
The Fury at a glance
Ottawa finished the regular season atop the Northeast Division for the fourth time in five years, earning the right to host the opening round of the playoffs. Offensively the Fury have been led by Carl Haworth, who has notched 12 goals and 12 assists in 12 games to top the PDL stats rankings for points (36) and assists. Defensively, Chad Bush has been a rock in the Fury goal, replacing Nils Carlson after his departure due to injury. Bush has collected an impressive eight consecutive shutouts during the Fury's nine-game unbeaten streak and tops the PDL in shutouts with nine. The Ottawa native has surrendered just a single goal this season to lead the league with a 0.104 GAA.
While these individual accomplishments easily jump off the nightly score sheets, it is the Fury's depth that is most impressive. Twelve players have scored at least one goal and 14 players have recorded at least one point - including each defender. Eddie Jones and Loic Miliani have each tallied five goals and together with Haworth have combined for 22 of Ottawa's 40 goals. Jacob Barron's deft touch in midfield is another key component to the Fury attack and his 4 assists are just a small measurement of his value to this squad. Offensively the Fury were the second-most lethal team in attack across the league with 40 goals to their credit - only Baltimore scored more (42).
Ottawa boasts the league's best defensive record having surrendered just seven goals that saw them shutout their opposition in 11 of 14 regular season games and haven't conceded a goal at home since their home opener on May 24. Defenders Jacob VancCompernolle and Shaun Foster led the Fury in minutes with VanCompernolle being the only player to appear in every game this season, and will be expected to play every minute of every game going forward.
The Phoenix at a glance
The GPS Portland Phoenix finished their regular season on Saturday night with a 2-2 draw against Vermont after falling 2-0 to the Fury on Friday in Ottawa. After a promising 4-1-2 start to the season, the Phoenix were 3-2-2 in the second half scoring just eight goals in their final seven games and in order to advance to the Conference Championship, GPS Portland will need to do what only the Real Boston Rams have done in Ottawa this season - score goals. The Phoenix have only two players with multiple goals - Pierre Omanga leads the team with seven goals and Caue Da Silva has chipped in with five.

Series Preview
Ottawa and GPS Portland split their season series with the Phoenix winning 4-1 in Portland before the Fury avenged that defeat in their regular season finale by a 2-0 score. The Fury and Phoenix met in the PDL Northeast Division Championship in 2012 in Ottawa that saw the visitors net an equalizer three minutes from time to tie the game at 1-1. Ottawa would score in the final minute of the first half of extra time and again in the first minute of the second stanza of extra time to pull ahead 3-1. GPS Portland would pull one back in the 120th minute, but Ottawa would advance 3-2. The Fury would eventually down Ocean City 1-0 in the Eastern Conference Semifinal before falling 1-0 to the host Carolina Dynamo in the Eastern Conference Championship Game.