FC Women healthy, confident as they kick off playoffs

FC London, set to host a quarter-final matchup vs. Simcoe County Wednesday, hope to advance to the semis this weekend — and then earn a shot at reclaiming the League1 Ontario title this summer.

(Photo: League1 Ontario).

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They’ve been dominant, and they’ve been humbled. They’ve been ahead and conceded, and they’ve been behind and come back.

In other words, says FC London women’s head coach, Garrett Peters, “We’ve gone through every situation imaginable. And that’s a good thing, especially for our younger players, because the girls have gotten a full experience. We’ll draw on that to prepare for whatever situation comes.”

Peters, of course, is referring to the League1 Ontario playoffs, which get underway Wednesday for FC London, and which present all six qualifying teams with a do-or-die scenario as they pursue a league championship title.

With a 3-2 win over Guelph United Sunday in their regular season finale, the FC London women, with a record of 13-4-2, clinched fourth place in the standings, winning a tie-breaker over Simcoe County (12-2-5) – the team they’ll face Wednesday in one of two League1 quarter-final matchups. The tie-breaker, which was decided by goal differential (in favour of FC London, 27 to 25), means that match will be played in London, at Tricar Field.

“We like the matchup. We had a tough game against them in Barrie, but we were missing quite a few players and we still played them quite close,” Peters said of FC London’s 3-0 road loss to Simcoe County back on May 29. “They’re a good team, but we really like our chances. We’re excited. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

Indeed, some of FC London’s top players, including Julia Benati, Jen Milligan, Nat Abbate, Chelsea Zavitz and Rachel Rosborough, only played a half-match (45 minutes) that game, which was the team’s eighth of the season. Taneil Gay missed the match entirely.

That loss, though, snapped the team’s dominant seven-game winning streak to start the season, during which they outscored their opponents by an eye-popping 32-4 margin over a nearly five-week span.

They returned to their undefeated ways over their next four (three wins and a draw), including beating expansion Electric City FC, 1-0, a team coached by London’s former assistant, Randy Ribeiro, and which includes a few former FC London players, including talented striker Kayla McQueen.

Fittingly, it was Julia Benati, an FC London player since day one, who scored the winner in that contest. (She also scored the winner Sunday on a penalty kick in the 90th minute to clinch home-field advantage for Wednesday’s quarter-final).

At the time, FC London was 10-1-1, at the top of the League1 standings. Since then, though, they’ve been much more mortal. A record of 3-3-1 over their last seven dropped them to fourth place, and during the final month they were actually outscored 11-7.

Part of that was simply the result of playing tough opponents, including Vaughan Azzuri (1-0 loss) and NDC-Ontario (2-0 loss), the teams who finished first and second, respectively, and earned byes to the semi-final round. Another reason, Benati says, is that as the summer has worn on, play has become much more even between teams throughout the league.

“It’s a long season, and people are facing injuries, people are facing adversity, mental battles, and just being exhausted,” Benati said. “I think everyone’s at a level playing field at this point, and I think we’re going in (to playoffs) on the right footing with some good momentum. We have everyone back and healthy, and we’re in tune. I think we’re ready to give it our best shot.”

FC London midfielder Julia Benati. (Photo: League1 Ontario).

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And they’ve seemingly got an advantage, at least for Wednesday’s quarter-final – they haven’t lost at home all year, going 7-0-2 so far this season (at various sites, including Tricar Field, Hellenic Community Centre, and the Portuguese Club).

“I’ve always said that FC London has the best fans in the league, so I’m excited to see the support we get to help push us through to the next round,” said Benati.

FC London’s captain is no stranger to League1 postseason play. Benati was a member of all three championship-winning FC London teams (2016, 2017, 2019), and she was back in the playoffs last year (following a COVID-canceled 2020 season), when London lost in the semis to Blue Devils FC.

“If you make it to playoffs, you have a chance to win. It’s all good teams at this point, and it doesn’t matter who’s sitting in first, or who’s sitting in sixth. Everything that’s happened prior to playoffs is a complete wash. It’s one game at a time now, and it comes down to a battle of who wants it more.”

If victorious over Simcoe County Wednesday, FC London will travel to play either Vaughan or NDC-Ontario for a semi-final on Saturday. The other quarter-final matchup this week features the Woodbridge Strikers (3) against Alliance United FC (6). The final will take place at the Ontario Soccer Centre next weekend (Aug. 6-7).

“All season, we’ve been talking about a process to be the best prepared for playoffs, and we’re in a great position to finish the season super strong and hopefully compete for a championship,” said Peters, who’s in his first year as FC London’s head coach. “We’ve had some people come back from injuries in the last couple games, and we’re happy with where we are right now.”

One key player in particular who’s back at full strength is striker Jen Milligan. She’s missed nine games this season, but she’s ready to roll for playoffs. In her 10 games played, Milligan, a Nipissing University standout, scored six goals, second-most on the team behind Benati’s 12. Other top scorers have included Abbate and Ally Hicks (five goals apiece), Sadie Waite (4), and Taneil Gay and Thalia Lewis (three each).

Getting a talented offensive player back will be key for FC London, whose goal-scoring prowess slowed down in the second half of the season – particularly down the stretch. The women were held off the scoresheet three times in their last seven games, averaging just one goal per game over that stretch. But that’s not something either Peters or Benati is worried about.

“I’m very confident we’re going to be able to score goals as we move into the next couple games here,” said Peters, noting that the team’s been getting plenty of good chances. “The last game against NDC-Ontario, we could have easily scored three or four goals, and then (Sunday) we scored three and it could have easily been six or seven.”

Benati believes ending the season with a three-goal game against Guelph, during which Abbate, Hicks and herself all scored goals, has FC London entering the playoffs on a good note.

“We have proven to ourselves that we can come back late in the game, no matter what the score is. No matter if we go down first, or if we’re up first, we can fight until the very end of the game, so that’s some good confidence for the girls going forward.

“We’re thinking about it more simply … let’s create one chance. If it works, let’s create another. If it doesn’t work? Let’s just create another,” Benati added. “When it comes to playoffs, sometimes it really does just take one chance that goes in the back of the net and that’s the difference.”