Vancouver Whitecaps FC Girls Elite showed no effects of the Christmas break, stomping SurDel FC 7-0 at Simon Fraser University in the first game of 2013 for both sides.
Chelsea Harkins was one of many Whitecaps players chomping at the bit to get on the field after sitting idle over the holidays.
“It’s great to be back. I know the whole break my mom was going crazy because I was dribbling the ball around the house,” said Harkins.
It didn’t take long for Harkins to use that pent up energy to open the scoring.
She scored her first of two goals in the 13th minute.
“It was a turnover by the other team in the middle,” said Harkins of the play. “Sam Dion got the ball, the forwards made it easy for me because both of them did separate runs, which made a huge gap for me in the middle. So I went for it and Sam played me a great ball.”
The Whitecaps would score another three times before the half.
Jasmin Dhanda made it 2-0 in the 22nd minute after getting through a defender at the top of the 18-yard box.
In the 28th minute, Summer Clark received a cross-field pass from Dhanda at the back post and scored the tap in.
Harkins added her second of the game in the 31st minute on a penalty shot.
After a taking a weird shot that caught the hand of a SurDel player, Harkins was awarded the shot and made no mistake, burying the ball past the SurDel keeper.
Alessia Azermadie opened second-half scoring, capitalizing on a terrific shot from 25 yards out, putting it over the keeper.
“It was the build-up play, out wide to Nicole [Turney] and back. I saw the opening and I just went for it,” said Azermadie.
Margaret Hadley made in 6-0 in the 67th minute after receiving a pass from Sessen Stevens.
Seina Kashima rounded out the scoring on a pass from Harkins, putting it past the keeper.
The younger members of the 'Caps Girls Elite team recently took part in the U-15 showcase tournament at the NCAA Final Four Showcase in San Diego.
The girls went undefeated, beating three American squads.
While in San Diego, the girls got to watch the NCAA portion of the tournament. Something Harkins believes has made them that much better.
“It was a great experience just watching the Final Four Showcase,” she said. “It’s really cool to watch how they play. So I think coming back from that, just seeing the top players play in the final four I think will positively impact our game.”
Like the girls playing, Whitecaps FC Girls Elite head coach Jesse Symons was happy with his team’s performance.
“The players kept the ball well. The objective today was just get the other team to chase us a bit. I thought overall we did a good job. We stayed discipline and focused on that task. It was good to see. Hopefully that will continue into the coming games”
Starting this past week, the girls will play a U-15 boys team from the EA SPORTS BC Soccer Premier League (BCSPL) every week to stay busy.
The girls will play their final game of the Metro Women’s Soccer League (MWSL) season on Saturday
