SAN JOSE, CA - Three teenagers from Vancouver Whitecaps FC’s Girls Elite Regional EXCEL Super Centre appeared for Canada’s women’s national team in a 3-1 defeat to top-ranked USA on Sunday night in San Jose.
Seventeen-year-old midfielder Julia Grosso (Vancouver, BC), and 16-year-old forwards Jordyn Huitema (Chilliwack, BC) and Jayde Riviere (Markham, Ontario) each came into the match as second-half subs. It was the senior international debut for both Grosso and Riviere, while Huitema earned her sixth cap with the women’s national team.
A total of six teenagers appeared in the match for Canada, as head coach John Herdman looks to integrate the next generation of young talent.
Julie Ertz, Alex Morgan, and Carli Lloyd provided the scoring for the U.S., while Janine Beckie scored Canada’s lone goal with a cool first-time finish on a feed from Nichelle Prince.
“We sent a message about our intent to get to number one through our actions in the first match of the series and the goal for this second match was to attain consistency,” Herdman said. “These women put in a shift tonight and I can’t say enough how proud of each and every one of them we are. We’ll take away some lessons from tonight and from the match in Vancouver, but I can honestly say we feel pretty good about what we’ve accomplished against this U.S. team and there are no hung heads coming out of this camp.”
Canada's final match of 2017 is on November 27 against Norway.
