Minnesota Aurora playoff preview: Will Indy Eleven stand in their way again?

Minnesota Aurora FC is experiencing déjà vu.

Last summer, the undefeated Heartland Division champions headed to Michigan to face Indy Eleven FC in the Central Conference playoffs. This Friday, they’ll do the same, with hopes of finding a different result after last year’s 1-0 loss to the eventual USL W League champions.

“A consistent message for this group is last year’s Indy team is not this year’s Indy team, and last year’s Aurora team is not this year’s Aurora team,” first-year Aurora coach Colette Montgomery said. “Hopefully we get unfinished business finished.”

Three-time division champion Aurora (10-0-2) faces Indy Eleven (7-1-2) in Detroit on Friday at 3 p.m., with a spot in Sunday’s Central Conference championship on the line. The championship winner — and the three other conference championship winners across the country — will head to league semifinals next weekend, with locations yet to be announced.

In a league with 81 teams, different levels of investment and roster talent are common, so lopsided results are not.

This season, Aurora tied River Light and Chicago City, topped Rochester FC 2-1 and battled out a 3-2 win over River Light in the teams’ rematch. But Aurora also had six wins by five goals or more, including a 14-0 rout of RKC Third Coast to end the regular season.

“I think the most respect you can give an opponent is giving them your best,” captain midfielder Addy Weichers said. “That was just an opportunity to prove what kind of team we are and clean up some things before playoffs.”

The team outscored its opponents 61-6 this season, with 15 different goal scorers in 12 games.

Aurora midfielder Katie Duong is on a seven-match scoring streak, earning her the league’s Player of the Month honors. Unafraid to strike a shot from distance, the Stanford grad finished the regular season with eight goals and a club-record 11 assists.

Midfielder Sophie French and forward Mariah Nguyen both tied Duong with a team-best eight goals, followed by Saige Wimes and Cat Rapp each with seven.

Goalkeeper Taylor Kane and defenders Alicia Donley and Nicole Norfolk lead the Aurora backline in minutes played, anchoring a defense that shut out seven of its opponents, though none of those shutouts came in games with a margin of victory less than three goals.

Minnesota is the No. 1 seed. So: Why aren’t they hosting this weekend’s playoffs, and why are they matched up against the No. 3 seed and not No. 4?

Aurora’s divisional runner up River Light FC and playoff host Detroit City FC will play the other Central Conference semifinal on Friday. To avoid the first round of playoffs having regular-season rematches, the league put Aurora and No. 4 seed River Light in different semifinals.

Indy enters Friday’s match coming off back-to-back losses, and on Saturday, Indy coach Paul Dolinsky announced on X that he would be departing the team “to continue to pursue growth and achieve my goals in soccer while providing for my family.”

As for why these matches won’t be hosted at TCO Stadium, the USL W League decided hosts based on a bid submission process, with top seeding only one factor of the decision.

“Part of any bid to host is part of the strategy of growing the game in different marketplaces,” Montgomery said. “We’re thankful to be able to have the means to go to Detroit City this weekend and see what their marketplace looks like and maybe inspire some young boys and girls in Detroit to play soccer.”