At the end of the away matches, the Val d'Orge finished at the top of group B of D2. The team of Essonne, which has five points ahead of Toulouse, Grenoble and Dijon, not to mention Vendenheim always in the right wagon. We waited for a tight hen, Val d'Orge managed to take a first advantage. Sufficient to talk about rising in D1?

The lights are green for the players of Nicolas Carric. The Val d'Orge is today the only team of D2 to have remained undefeated at the end of the first leg. Even the LOSC in Group A did not succeed this performance, falling early December on the lawn of La Roche-sur-Yon.

The Val d'Orge has achieved this result by having met all its main opponents outside. Two draws on the pitch of Grenoble and Toulouse, plus two victories against Vendenheim and especially against Dijon. A big success, 4-0 in Burgundy that had meant a change of leader in the group B, a place that the Essonniennes have never let go.

A club, stadiums
This prospect of receiving all his direct opponents in the Essonne does not excite more than that the coach of Val d'Orge. A definite advantage, but which according to him is not so decisive in this kind of matches. Especially since the Val d'Orge does not really have a "fetish stage". An exclusively women's club, the Val d'Orge has no establishment in a particular city, and remains dependent on arrangements with the clubs of the agglomeration community.

The players of Val d'Orge finished the year with a training in Courcouronnes, on one of the fields used by the club

In the first leg, the club played its five home games in four different stages. The Lac stadium where we met the team in training for example hosted two matches against Nîmes and Metz. Other meetings were played in Morsang-sur-Orge, Fleury-Mérogis, and Saint-Michel-sur-Orge.

A puzzle that has become the daily life of Nicolas Carric and his team. Arrived at the time when the Val d'Orge was evolving in DH, he found himself at the head of the team for what was to be an interim and finally has continued successfully until today. Raised in D2 in 2012, the club had played the maintenance in the first three seasons, finishing twice at the limit of the relegation zone. The third season in D2 marked for Nicolas Carric a key moment in the progression of the club.

At the time, the team produced an interesting game but hardly worth being rewarded in terms of results. Last at the end of the first leg, the Val sees the arrival of Luce Ndolo Ewele and Charlotte Fernandes from Issy, another club in the Ile-de-France region, which is evolving in D1 at the time. For Nicolas Carric, the two players allowed to "improve" the game of the team and bring the victories and points that were missing at the beginning of the season.

2015, a year clicks
On the last nine days of the 2014/2015 season, the Val d'Orge takes a maximum of points to finish in eighth place and continue in D2. Luce Ndolo Ewele has scored 13 goals in 10 games, a performance she reiterates the following season with 18 goals in the 2015/2016 season. Serial goals that contribute to the good results of the Val d'Orge which finishes last season in third place in Group B and can thus pass the cut of the reform of the D2.

Luce Ndolo Ewele, chained the goals last season with the Val d'Orge before joining the En Avant Guingamp. Photo: Nelson Fatagraf

Today, Luce Ndolo Ewele has joined the En Avant Guingamp in D1, but the Val d'Orge has remained strong. A success that the coach explained by a better collective, whereas in the past, the team could have a tendency to play for Luce Ndolo Ewele, then charged to score a maximum of goals.

The strength of the Val d'Orge can also rely on a dozen players who have experienced the D1. Despite the departure of Aude Moreau, who joined Saint-Etienne, the team saw the arrivals in the offseason of Julie Machart, Gwenaelle Butel, Lilac Traikia or Céline Chatelain, as many players who have experience of the floor from below.

A wealth of strength in part due to the situation of Val d'Orge, both in Île-de-France and near Juvisy, one of the clubs references in French women's football. A proximity that is felt in the workforce: almost half of the players went through Juvisy in youth or seniors while the D1 was often an experience lived with clubs in the Paris region (Juvisy, Montigny, Issy, Saint-Maur) .

A group that exonerates Nicolas Carric of the need for a providential player. Among the scorers, no player exceeds the five goals scored respectively by Danaé Dunord and Julie Machart while the Val d'Orge is among the best attacks in Group B.

Her other strength, she is on the defensive side. The team is the best defense of Group B with 8 goals conceded including two avoidable late in the game against Aurillac (3-2 victory of Val d'Orge). A defensive solidity, which is one of the satisfactions of Nicolas Carric on this first half of the season and which is probably one of the keys to the current success of the Val d'Orge.

A Cup to start the year
The following, it is necessarily built looking up. The Val d'Orge, which aspired to a place in the top 3 early in the season, is now in pole position for the climb. But before resuming the championship, the Essonne players will move to the North to meet the LOSC in the 32nd finals of the Coupe de France.

Nicolas Carric, coach of Val d'Orge during the victory against Nîmes in October. Photo: Nelson Fatagraf

A difficult draw for Nicolas Carric against the leader of group A, but which can also be used to prepare the reception of Vendenheim the following week for the resumption of the championship. A Cup match that will be followed in D2 and beyond to see which of the two leaders seems to have the shoulders for the climb.

Meanwhile, the Val d'Orge held its last training of the year Tuesday in Courcouronnes. Then, a break of a few days, the holidays and good resolutions for 2017, even if on this side, the Val d'Orge seems already on track.

Photo in one: Nelson Fatagraf