From March 15 to 17, Whitecaps FC Girls Elite travelled to Las Vegas to compete in front of 350 college coaches at the 2013 Player College Showcase.
The ‘Caps Girls Elite team earned three victories against four top American teams, three from California and one from Portland, Oregon.
The Girls Elite squad started the weekend off with a match up against Laguna Eclipse, a top ranked team from California. Both teams battled hard through the first half with the Laguna keeper holding the score at 0-0 at the half. With a new fire beneath them, Whitecaps FC came back strong and saw goals from Monika Levarsky, Sessen Stevens , and Simmrin Dhaliwal to finish the game with a 3-0 victory.
In their second match, the Girls Elite team faced Albion White, another well-known California based team. In similar fashion to the first match, the girls played through the first half with no score. In the first minute back at play, ‘Caps player Monika Levarsky landed the first goal of the game. In the following 20 minutes the goal was equalized by a quick counter attack from the Albion side. Whitecaps FC matched the pressure with Alessia Azermadhi firing in the winning goal on a penalty shot, followed by a final goal from Margaret Hadley, which saw the ‘Caps secure a 3-1 victory.
For the third match of the tournament, the Girls Elite team took on California’s Beach FC. Much like the first two matches the score at the half remained at 0-0. During the second half, the ‘Caps Reetu Johal placed the ball in the top left corner off of a free kick, leading Whitecaps FC Girls Elite to a 1-0 victory.
The final match lined up Whitecaps FC Girls Elite with Portland side Tualitan Hills United. Whitecaps FC were hit hard in the first half losing three goals off of two corner kicks and one free kick. In the second half Whitecaps FC player Margaret Hadley sank one past Portland goalkeeper to bring the game to a 3-1 finish — the ‘Caps only defeat of the weekend.
“The players were fantastic all weekend and really represented the club well,” said Whitecaps FC Girls Elite head coach Jesse Symons.“There were some excellent performances throughout the weekend with all of the attacking players being involved in scoring or setting up goals. This shows great depth and we really look forward to the events we have coming up starting with the WFC showcase next weekend.”
After a successful weekend, Whitecaps FC Girls Elite are already back at training for Whitecaps FC’s showcase which will run March 22 to 24, 2013, before playing in the final of the Metro Women’s Soccer League (MWSL) Cup on Sunday, March 24.
