A keeper: bride on the sidelines for Aussie goalie's match

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Luke Borean had to race from his wedding to his next big engagement: helping his soccer team win a semifinal match later in the day.

Lucky for Luke, his bride is a ’keeper.

Borean and the former Ellen Hepburn married last Saturday morning and drove a Ferrari to a park on the outskirts of Brisbane, where he had a hand in the Lions' 4-1 victory over Peninsula Power. Ellen, still in her wedding gown, watched from the sidelines. As a goalkeeper on a women’s team, she even threw in a few pointers.

After skipping some of the formalities, including a honeymoon, to make the game, they’re hoping to celebrate their one-week anniversary with a Grand Final win this Saturday night.

The wedding date is one they're unlikely to forget.

The Australian Broadcasting Corp. featured the Borean story prominently, and quoted the Lions coach Darren Sime saying he never expected his starting goalkeeper to be playing when disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic threw up a clash of dates.

But in an interview from the clubhouse on the Nine television network's national Today program, the couple said making it to the game was never in doubt.

“There was never any hesitation. Soccer has always come first with us," Ellen said. “And, come on, it’s Luke, so what else was going to happen?"

Borean declared that his wife was “pretty special, being a goalkeeper herself!”

“We ended up getting up 4-1, so it was all worth it in the end," he said. “If we’d lost, it would have been a really downer. So . . . happy ending."

The Lions will play Olympic FC in the final of the National Premier League, Queensland division, in Brisbane on Saturday.

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