Temecula, Ca., May 21, 2023; On a windy day that made playing conditions unpredictable, Future FC Women secured their first win of the 2023 campaign verses Women's UPSL debutants, Empire Surf by a score of 6-0.  Empire Surf, fielding a young and inexperienced team, came out brewing with confidence in the opening five minutes and even created the first chance of the game. Future FC Goalkeeper, Mikayla OBrien, was up to the challenge and made the critical save, allowing the Future FC Women to get settled into the match.

From then on the Future Women were running on all cylinders, with the front three of White, Hennessey and Oper wreacking havoc all game long.  The first goal came in the 7th minute when Lauryn White pounced on a loose ball and lobbing it into the right channel.  Tara Loper, showing pace all game long, got on the end of the ball and drove to the endline before squarring a ball to the back post where AJ Hennessey neatly tapped it in for the games first goal and her first goal in a Future uniform. 

The goals kept coming fast and furious in the first half.  In the 11th minute Hennessey broke into the box from the left side, finding herself squared up on goal, only to see her shot blocked.  The ball found itself at the feet of White, who calmly shaped the ball in from 10 yards out.  Only two minutes later, and errant back pass, that went beyond the Surf's Left Center Back, invited Oper into a foot race she was never going to lose, going in on goal only having to slot the ball past the Surf Goalkeeper.  In the 17th minute, Oper once again jumps on a loose ball as the Surf tried to build from their own goal kick.  Wasting little time on the ball, Oper delivered a high cross into the box, where White beautifully timed her jump to smash home a header from 4 yards out.  White commenting on the performance said, "It was great to see what we worked on in training translate to the game, and to play up top with two amazing players."

Future went into the halftime break with a comfortable 4-0 lead.

Head Coach Shayon Jalayer and his staff made two changes to start the second half with Jenna Largent replacing Kayla Medina at Center Back and third year player, Claire Struble in for Kennedy Hackbarth who made her first start with the club since the 2021 season due to an ACL injury.

Surf making a few adjustments of their own, began to get a hold of the midfield play. The game finally found ebb and flow until the 61st minute, when in transition Kamdyn Jalayer lofted, what seemed to be an innocuous ball, just over midfield into the right corridor of the field to a waiting Tara Oper.  Oper going on a 35 yard run that saw her beat three Surf defenders, darted inside on top of the box to her weaker left foot and magically bent the ball into the left side netting of the goal. "It was a great team win and it was important for us to get this early win to set the tone for the rest of the season," said Oper on the win. 

Player of the Match, AJ Hennessey, continued to stretch and split the Surf defense with her pace and her dazzling dribbling and was unlucky not to have scored in the second half.  The Player of the Match added, "Super excited to start the season off on the right foot.  Glad to see our training paying off and thrilled to watch our chemistry continue to grow."

Future FC Women weren't done quite yet.  In the 80th minute, Teagan Blackburn who came in as a replacement for White, chased a long ball down into the left channel. Blackburn turning her player, but not finding penetration was forced to dribble centrally, where she found midfielder Kamdyn Jalayer.  Jalayer, wasting no time piercing the open field, chopping the ball from her right to left to beat her defender, unleashed an absolute rocket from 22 yards out that found the upper left corner of the goal.

In final comments regarding the match, Head Coach Shayon Jalayer said, "Surf fielded a young team.  I think they will learn from this match and can see them doing some good things this season.  We were absolutely cliinical in our attack, but we still need to button a few things up.  As cliche as it sounds it's just one game.  We learn from it, put it behind us and prepare for the next one."

Starting 11: Mikayla OBrien, Kennedy Hackbarth (Claire Struble 46'), Jenna Studer, Kayla Medina (Jenna Largent 46'), Taya Townsell, Lalli Alonso, Rilee Harmon, Kamdyn Jalayer, AJ Hennessey, Tara Oper, Lauryn White (Teagan Blackburn 60')