Auxerre Win Third Straight

Three second half goals propelled AJ Auxerre to their third consecutive win, the latest against Toulouse, and extend their unbeaten streak to an impressive 11 games. The win keeps Auxerre (66pts) safely in second place in Ligue 1, but a win by first place Marseille over Saint Etienne leave them 5 points up on AJA with 4 games to play.
Despite being statistically outplayed by Toulouse, AJA needed only 5 shots on frame to score its three goals and walk away with the victory. Benoit Pedretti opened the scoring 2 minutes into the second half and AJA leading scorer Ireneusz Jelen added twice to his total with goals in the 68th and 79th minutes.AJA’s chase of the elusive French title (only 2 teams have won over the last 8 seasons) will most likely come down to the next two games. They travel to Marseille on Friday for a chance to trim the lead to two points. 5 days later, AJA will face 5th place and defending League Champion Lyon.

Auxerre Win again, Eye Finish Line (04.19.10)

A 4-1 win over Lorient over the weekend leaves AJA in second place (63 points) with only 5 games to play. First half goals by Dennis Oliech and Ireneusz Jelen followed in the seconf half by Valter Birsa and Cedric Hengbart, in addition to two red card ejections for Lorient, was plenty to propel AJA to their second straight Ligue 1 win. AJA will take on Toulouse (43 pts.) on Sunday as they prep for a tough stretch when they'll play first place Marseille May 2 and third place Lyon May 5. A top two finish in the league would put Auxerre into the 2010-2011 Champions League! With a third place finish, they would go into Champions League Qualification.

Players of the Week

The Virginia Rush Players of the Week for the weekend of April 10 and 11:

Boys
Jack Saslowsky - excellent defensive performance in 0-0 tie with Churchland
Drew Ott - first half hat-trick in 4-0 win over FC Richmond
Andrew Barstow - stopped three 1v1 breakaways as a goalkeeper in U12 Academy game

Girls
Alex Askew - two goals in win against FC Richmond

Great job everyone for excelling in your games this past weekend.