Canada are in first place in Group E after
opening with a 2:0 win over El Salvador at the 2020 Concacaf Women’s
Under-20 Championship. Tanya Boychuk and Kaila Novak were the
goalscorers, Caitlin Shaw earned Player of the Match honours,
and goalkeeper Anna Karpenko and her backline posted the clean sheet in
the Saturday afternoon victory.
“We started the tournament off against a very good El Salvador team who
worked very hard and made us work for every success we had in our win,”
said Rhian Wilkinson, Canada Soccer’s Women’s U-20 Coach. “We’re proud
of the team, proud of our win, proud to get
the tournament off with a great start with some wonderful performances.
It’s a good win for us.”
Every Canada U-20 match will be broadcast live in Canada on OneSoccer.ca. Canada’s next two matches in Group E are Monday 24 February against Guatemala (16.00 local / 15.00 ET / 12.00 PT) and Wednesday 26 February against Jamaica (16.00 local / 15.00 ET / 12.00 PT). Fans will find extended coverage across Canada Soccer’s digital channels on Facebook, Youtube, Instagram and Twitter featuring the social media hashtags #canw20 and #CU20W.
From the group phase, the top-three nations advance to the Concacaf Round of 16 on Saturday 29 February (kick off TBC). The Concacaf Quarterfinals are Wednesday 4 March followed by the Concacaf Semifinals on Friday 6 March and the Concacaf Final on Sunday 8 March. The two nations that win their Concacaf Semifinals qualify for the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Panama and Costa Rica 2020.
In the first half, Canada created chances, but could not break the deadlock. From a Lara Kazandjian corner kick in the 17th minute, Caitlin Shaw had back-to-back chances that stayed out. Then in the 29th minute, a Mya Jones cross from the right was directed just wide off Boychuk’s body.
Boychuk nearly reached a cross in the 31st minute and Kaila Novak hit the post in the 32nd minute. In the 43rd minute, Novak nearly reached another Canada cross into the box.
Just before the half, El Salvador’s Yoselyn Lopez got through on a fortuitous bounce, but she missed the far post.
In the second half after a pair of substitutions, Canada found their breakthrough in the 57th minute shortly after a Boychuk shot was saved and the ensuing Kazandjian corner kick bounced around in the penalty area. On the second chance inside the box, Boychuk knocked a rebound past the goalkeeper Paola De Paz for the 1-0 Canada lead.
In the 69th minute, a Novak cross into the box was chested down by Boychuk, but the shot was blocked by the El Salvador defence. Moments later, Caleigh Boeckx attempted a cross from the right, but De Paz collected the ball and cleared the attack.
In
the 71st minute, Boychuk centered for Jazmine Wilkinson who briefly
drew the defence, then played it wide to the onrushing Novak on the left
wing. Novak made no mistake with her left-footed shot from inside the
box for the Canada 2-0 lead.
With the win, Canada improved their all-time record to 61 wins, 6 draws
and 16 losses in 83 Concacaf women’s youth matches (all age categories
from U-15 to U-20).
In the win, Canada’s starting XI featured
Anna Karpenko in goal, Emma Regan at right back, Jade Rose and Joanna
Verzosa-Dolezal at centre back, Caleigh Boeckx at left back, and Caitlin
Shaw, Mya Jones, Samantha Chang, Tanya Boychuk,
Lara Kazandjian and Kaila Novak from the midfield up through to the
attack. In the second half, coach Rhian Wilkinson replaced
Verzosa-Dolezal with Sonia Walk (46’), Jones with Jazmine Wilkinson
(46’), and Kazandjian with Maya Ladhani (80’).
FIFA U-20 WOMEN’S WORLD CUP COSTA RICA & PANAMA 2020
The biennial FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup will take place in August 2020
in four venues across Costa Rica and Panama. Including four nations from
Concacaf (the two hosts plus two qualified nations), the FIFA U-20
Women’s World Cup Costa Rica & Panama 2020 will
feature 16 nations from around the world.
Canada Soccer’s Women’s National Youth Teams have won four Concacaf
youth titles: the 2004 and 2008 Concacaf Women’s Under-20 Championship, the 2010 Concacaf Women’s Under-17 Championship, and the 2014 Concacaf Girls’ Under-15 Championship. Canada have qualified for seven editions of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup (including a silver medal at Canada 2002) and all six editions of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup (including a fourth-place finish at Uruguay 20
CANADA WNT RETURN HOME IN APRIL
Canada Soccer’s Women’s National Team will come home this Spring when
they face Australia in Vancouver on Tuesday 14 April. The home
international soccer match will provide Canadian fans will an
opportunity to see their favourite players live in action at BC
Place (19.30 local kickoff).
Tickets to the Canada-Australia match are on sale now starting as low as $20 via Ticketmaster.ca (or by calling 1.855.985.5000), with complete information available via CanadaSoccer.com/tickets. Group discounts of up to 30% off the regular price are available for orders of 10 or more tickets using the Group Order Form. A special Me+3 ticket package can be purchased directly via Ticketmaster.ca.
Canada are two-time Olympic bronze medal winners (2012 and 2016) and two-time Concacaf champions (1998 and 2010). Canada have qualified for seven consecutive editions of the FIFA Women’s World Cup™ (1995 to 2019) and four consecutive editions of the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament (2008 to 2020). At Rio 2016, Canada Soccer’s Women’s National Team were the first Canadian Olympic team to win back-to-back medals at a summer Olympic Games in more than a century.
MEDIA CONTACT / CONTACT MÉDIAS
Brad Fougere
Corporate Communications | Gestionnaire, Communications corporatives
bfougere@canadasoccer.com
m. +1 613.299.1587
Richard Scott
National Teams Program | Programme des équipes nationales
rscott@canadasoccer.com
m. +1 613.818.0305