Six players from the Vancouver Whitecaps FC Girls Elite Super REX program, in partnership with BC Soccer, have been called up to Canada's U-17 national team for an upcoming December camp in Mexico.
Included are defenders Clare Logan and Iba Oching, midfielders Jeneva Hernandez-Gray and Ashley Roberts, and forwards Kierra Blundell and Jaime Perrault.
Canada Soccer’s women’s national team program will organize U-17 and U-20 identification camps this December and January in preparation for next year’s international schedule that will include Concacaf youth tournaments in both age categories. Starting this December, Canada Soccer’s women’s U-17 national team will visit Mexico for a 10-day camp including a pair of international matches against the hosts in Mexico City while the women’s U-20 national team will be together in early January for a camp in Markham, Ontario.
Both camps will continue Canada’s early preparations for next year’s 2022 Concacaf Women’s Under-17 Championship and 2022 Concacaf Women’s Under-20 Championship in the Dominican Republic. Of note, the U-17 camp in Mexico will be Canada Soccer’s first women’s youth camp since the global pandemic which saw the 2020 Concacaf Women’s Under-17 Championship cancelled.
“It is exciting for the women’s national team program to re-launch our youth national teams for the first time since the pandemic and see what talent we have coming through the system,” said Bev Priestman, Canada Soccer’s women’s national team head coach. “These players have just witnessed our women’s national team achieve a Gold Medal and the role our youth national teams program had in that unbelievable achievement. I’m sure they need no more motivation to put on the jersey, work hard and dream big.”
While many of Canada Soccer’s elite young players have been progressing through the Regional EXCEL and Super REX Centres across the country, the upcoming camp gives Canada an opportunity to gain valuable experience through a pair of international matches against Mexico. The two matches will be played on Thursday, December 16 and Sunday, December 19.
“This U-17 camp in Mexico provides a great opportunity for our new cycle of U-17 players to gain invaluable Concacaf experience against Mexico, a program that recently reached the final of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Uruguay 2018,” said Priestman. “While our players are in our Super EXCEL and Regional EXCEL Centres on a daily basis, we know meaningful matches and accumulating youth international experience are critical in their journey to the women’s national team.”
Canada’s U-17 squad, led by coach Emma Humphries, will feature 24 players in camp from December 11 through 20. Canada’s U-20 squad, led by coach Cindy Tye, will be announced in the coming weeks ahead of the camp dates in early January 2022.
The 2022 Concacaf Women’s Under-17 Championship runs April 23 to May 8 in the Dominican Republic featuring 16 nations divided into four groups (Canada is in a group alongside Bermuda, Dominican Republic and Jamaica). From the group phase, the top two nations from each group advance to the knockout phase and from the knockout phase the top three nations qualify for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup India 2022.
The 2022 Concacaf Women’s Under-20 Championship runs February 25 to March 12 2022 in the Dominican Republic featuring 16 nations divided into four groups (Canada is in a group with El Salvador, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Trinidad and Tobago). From the group phase, the top two nations from each group advance to the knockout phase and from the knockout phase the top three nations qualify for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Costa Rica 2022.
CANADA SOCCER’S WOMEN’S NATIONAL TEAM
Canada are Olympic champions (Tokyo 2020), two-time bronze medal winners (2012 and 2016), and two-time Concacaf champions (1998 and 2010). In all, Canada have participated in 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 2021). At Tokyo 2020, Canada Soccer’s Women’s National Team became the first Canadian team to win three consecutive medals at the Summer Olympic Games and just the third nation in the world to win three medals in women’s soccer.
Canada Soccer’s Women’s National Youth Teams, meanwhile, 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 2018).
CANADA U-17
GK- Sofia Cortes-Browne | CAN / Super REX Ontario
GK- Faith Fenwick | CAN / Super REX Ontario
GK- Coralie Lallier | CAN / Super REX Québec
CB- Allison Carabin | CAN / Super REX Ontario
CB- Clare Logan | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps Girls Elite Super REX
CB- Zoe Markesini | CAN / Super REX Ontario
CB- Katerina Vassilounis | CAN / Super REX Québec
FB- Iba Oching | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps Girls Elite Super REX
FB- Janet Okeke | CAN / Super REX Québec
FB- Ella Ottey | CAN / Super REX Ontario
M- Anna Hauer | CAN / Calgary Foothills SC
M- Jeneva Hernandez Gray | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps Girls Elite Super REX
M- Isabel Monck | CAN / Calgary Foothills SC
M- Tejia Murray-Powell | CAN / Super REX Ontario
M- Alanna Raimondo | CAN / Super REX Ontario
M- Ashley Roberts | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps Girls Elite Super REX
M- Felicia Roy | CAN / Super REX Québec
F- Amanda Allen | CAN / Super REX Ontario
F- Kierra Blundell | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps Girls Elite Super REX
F- Jade Bordeleau | CAN / Super REX Québec
F- Ella Emri | USA / San Diego Surf
F- Rosa Maalouf | CAN / Super REX Ontario
F- Jaime Perrault | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps Girls Elite Super REX
F- Anaïs Stephen | CAN / Super REX Québec
