VANCOUVER, BC – After a brief break from League1 BC action, Vancouver Whitecaps FC Girls Elite returned to the pitch with a resounding 10-2 victory over Altitude FC.
The young 'Caps will need to continue to stay sharp as they look ahead to the inaugural Concacaf W Champions Cup in August against senior professional women's sides, starting with a prelimnary round match in El Salvador against Alianza FC.
Whitecaps FC Girls Elite are still undefeated in 2024 with a perfect record of six wins and lead the table with 18 points.
The defending provincial and national champions put Altitude FC goalkeeper Ava Jones on her heels six minutes in. Whitecaps FC’s Jeneva Hernandez Gray spun off a defender and sprinted wide. She wisely kept her head up and blasted the ball past Jones for a 1-0 lead.
Her teammates kept Altitude FC pinned deep in their own end. Off a loose ball in the box, Whitecaps FC captain Kierra Blundell put her head down and took a crack at goal – but her shot just dipped a wee bit to clip the far post and out of danger.
Seconds later, a Katie Connell header doubled the score. However, Connell’s time on the scoresheet wasn’t over. Five minutes later, she set up midfielder Noelle Sather for a spectacular 25-yard strike that flashed into the top corner past an outstretched Jones.
Sather recalled how she learned how to be a scoring threat from distance – through repetition of thousands of kicks – when she was younger with her dad. “So grateful to him,” she said.
Now, if it’s a “perfect first touch, I’m smashing it!” she exclaimed.
Joy Kimwemwe brought the home side fans to their feet when she took a long ball near midfield, put the jets on to bully her way past the defenders, and calmly deked the ’keeper for a 4-0 lead.
Meanwhile, Whitecaps FC ’keeper Kylie Sandulak had a fine first half. Unfortunately, her clean sheet was spoiled when she couldn’t control the rebound from Altitude FC’s Aurora Hughes-Goyette from in close. The ball careened to the far post, where captain Avery Tulloch roofed it to put the away side on the scoreboard.
Altitude FC came out flying in the second half. Only 45 seconds after play resumed, Hughes-Goyette put a long-rang screamer past substitute ’keeper Sidney Venier.
But the 'Caps were undeterred, as Blundell, and Kaylee Hunter – with respective braces – replied to put the match out of reach.
For the Girls Elite, their next home match is Saturday, July 6 at UBC’s Thunderbird Stadium at 1 p.m. PT.
MATCH DETAILS
Referee: Sydney Berridge
Scoring Summary
6’ – VAN – Jeneva Hernandez Gray (Joy Kimwemwe)
11’ – VAN – Katie Connell (Bridget Mutipula)
16’ – VAN – Noelle Sather (Katie Connell)
23’ – VAN – Joy Kimwemwe
28’ – ALT – Avery Tulloch (Aurora Hughes-Goyette)
46’ – ALT – Aurora Hughes-Goyette
53’ – VAN – Kierra Blundell (Noelle Sather)
65’ – VAN – Kaylee Hunter (Kierra Blundell)
79’ – VAN – Kaylee Hunter (Jamie Perrault)
88’ – VAN – Noelle Sather
89’ – VAN – Kierra Blundell (Jeneva Hernandez Gray)
90’ + 2 – VAN – Emma Yee (Kierra Blundell)
Cautions47’ – ALT – Sofia Nicolls
47’ – VAN – Emma Yee
Whitecaps FC Girls Elite
30.Kylie Sandulak (1.Sidney Venier HT); 3.Iba Oching (13.Sammy Reimer 85’), 12.Keira Martin (4.Emily Wong 72’), 16.Bridget Mutipula (21.Clare Logan HT), 8.Jaime Perrault (23.Racquel Partovi 86’); 29.Katie Connell (20.Chloe Taylor 76’), 10.Noelle Sather, 7.Jeneva Hernandez Gray; 17.Emma Yee, 9.Kierra Blundell, 2.Joy Kimwemwe (11.Kaylee Hunter HT)
Substitutes not used
None
