AC Lang’s Womxn’s Soccer Round Up

Welcome back to the Canadian Woso Roundup written by AC Lang of wsoccer.ca! As always, this roundup aims to increase the visibility of Canadian womxn in soccer. We’re going back to the usual format; Three August Highlights, League in focus: UWCL, Local Footy, and CanXNT/YNT News. It’s been a busy month, with pre-season kicking off across Europe, uni/college seasons starting, summer transfer season wrapping up, the U20 world cup, and one of Bev’s more controversial roster drops. Let’s dive in.

Three Highlights Canadian NWSL dominance

One look at the NWSL standings these days tells you something Canadian NWSL fans have known for a long time. Canadian players are genuine stars in the league. All top 8 teams feature Canadians as key players on their team, from San Diego’s brick wall / GKkiller Sheridan to high-flying Houston’s Canadian trio. Sophie Schmidt, in particular, has been instrumental in Houston’s strong performances this month, tallying a goal and an assist, and dominating the midfield both on and off the ball. Elsewhere, KC’s Desi Scott hit the 10k minutes milestone and veteran GK Erin McLeod is second in the league in saves, leading Orlando to playoff contention. Down in Portlanada, Sincy picked up her 5th goal vs the Spirit, and is generally a key creative piece of the league’s highest scoring team. Last but not least, the newest Canadian in the league, Jordyn Huitema is off to a great start with OL, racking up 400 minutes in 5 starts, scoring once, picking up an assist, and playing 8 key passes.

Canadians star in pre-szn action

There’s not much more exciting than the European pre-season finally kicking off. After a smashing Festival of Football (Women’s Euros, CONCACAF, AFCON, and Copa America), players took some well deserved rest and are now back with their clubs eyeing a good start to the season. Some Canadians were on pre-season trips with their clubs including to exciting international club tournaments (Women’s ICC, Women’s Cup, Amos French Women’s Cup). These types of tournaments are increasingly well promoted and featured interesting matchups for our CanWNT players, such as Chelsea vs OL (2:3 pen.) Portlanada vs Chelsea (0:1), ManU vs PSG (2:1), and Tottenham vs Club America (1:2). We got to see our CanWNT stars in new threads including Leon at ManU, Hellstrom with Dijon, Alidou at Familicao, and most notably, Buchanan with Chelsea. Chelsea and ManU in particular are throwing a lot of their marketing money at their new Canadian stars, who have quickly become regulars in the starting XI, early on.

Pickett, Tcheki, & Domestic standouts headline August transfer news

Inarguably the biggest transfer story of August was Victoria Pickett’s shock move to NJNY Gotham FC announced on August 22nd. KC’s sweetheart and ROTY Finalist in 2021, was a fan favourite with the club and admitted the move was unexpected in a presser. Nevertheless, Gotham FC paid a significant sum to secure the creative midfielder’s rights, sending $200k in allocation money + a 2023 first-round draft pick to KC in exchange. Most fans were shocked, and some were skeptical, but the good news is Vic will pick up tons of minutes with Gotham, and has the opportunity to learn lots from leaders like Kristen Mewis. In other news, a former CanYNT player in Natasha Tcheki-Namgotchian made a well-deserved comeback to pro soccer. After tearing her ACL in Hungary last year, her viral post about the lack of support she received from the club emphasized the danger of sending our players to unvetted environments abroad. Good news is, she’s back! She signed a deal with Damallsvenskan club AIK and has started every game since. Last but not least, four domestic university-level and League 1 standouts went pro after the conclusion of their seasons. Kathryn Harvey (TWU/Unity), Ellie Bakayama (Lethbridge/Rivers), Kayla Goncalves (SFU/Altitude), and Julia Benati (Buffalo/London) signed pro deals in solid second divisions in Denmark, France, and Norway, respectively. Best of luck to all players making a move this season. This marks the conclusion of summer player movement, largely until the winter break or when the college season ends. League in Focus: UWCL Last year, when we first started this newsletter, the UWCL was the first league we featured. But as you know, the coverage has deepened since then, so let’s take a look at the 2022/23 campaign, starting with Qualifying. Albeit a bit complex, the path to qualification is a fascinating one, with only four teams automatically qualifying for the Group Stage. This year, those teams are OL (previous winner/ French champion), Wolfsburg (German Champion), Barca (last year’s finalist), and Chelsea (English Champion). All other teams, entered qualifying either, in Round 1 or 2. There are two pathways to qualification, the Champions path, which consists of teams who won their respective leagues, and the League path, consisting of teams who finished 2nd or 3rd in top leagues (UEFA League coefficient 1-6). See the graphic below.

Overall, 14 Canadians entered qualifying while only 2 have automatically qualified (Fleming, Buchanan). The central venue minitournament format made for interesting challenges, as the teams played a semi-final, and only the tourney-champions moved on. The first round (played Aug 18-21) saw Grosso (Juve) and Lacasse (Benfica) advance, as their powerhouse sides continue to show they are among the best 16 teams in Europe. Both players saw significant minutes across both the semi-final and final games. Despite being disqualified, the other Canadians also showed tremendous efforts and success. KDFF’s Canadian quad played a solid first game against Ajax, with Viens scoring the go-ahead goal. In the consolation final, Gabby Carle came up with a big performance, scoring two goals, including the game-winner. See the below graphic for the full list of Canadian players.

In Round 2, Cloe and Julia will encounter two more Canadians in Ashley Lawrence (PSG) and Nicole Kozlova (dual national - UKR, HB Koge). Round 2 will follow a more traditional 2-leg knockout / home and away format. Keep an eye out for the draw on September 1st, and the two matchdays on September 20/21, 28/29.

How to Watch

After almost a decade of relative shallow growth, the UWCL has exploded in the last 2-3 years. A new deal with DAZN, the major streaming platform known for carrying the Men’s CL and EPL (until this year), among other major sports, has completely changed the game. All of a sudden, the broadcasting quality finally matches up to the level of play these women have been exhibiting all this time. The viewership records have all been smashed, both online and in-person (see 90k at Camp Nou x2). Their campaign slogan is ‘with all eyes we all rise’, which is one of the most on-point takes I’ve ever heard/ seen in Woso. The first two years of the contract see all matches starting at the group stage streamed in multiple languages live and for free on YouTube. This has increased global viewership and brand visibility tenfold. The final of the 2022 edition of the tournament drew 2.3M viewers to their youtube stream. And the most exciting part is that it’s going to keep growing with all the investment and research happening in UEFA. The most recent reports by UEFA show that women’s football could be a $700 million dollar (USD) business by 2033.

Domestic Footy

Back to our usual Domestic Footy section, but we hope you enjoyed the in-depth features of League 1 ON/BC, PLSQ and UWS this summer!

First and foremost, the first interprovincial championship between L1BC/ON, and PLSQ clubs took place in Laval, QC on the second week of August. Through a strong partnership with OneSoccer / CSB the broadcast quality of the tournament was fantastic and perfectly promoted the quality on the field. Surprising absolutely no one, AS Blainville took the treble (they also won their league and cup competitions), but all teams were winners considering they were all part of history. All teams and players made an excellent account for themselves under the eyes of Breagha Carr-Harris, Canada Soccer’s Head of Professional Women’s Soccer. The weekend brought everything we could have wished for; dramatic games, PK’s, bangers, and passionate fans. This is what she had to say about it to La Presse, keenly observing that the collaboration demonstrated in the event will be key for the growth of Woso moving forward.

In other news, the Canada Games took place in Niagara for the first time since 2020 (COVID). It was amazing to see our top youth athletes partake in a national competition for the first time in their careers. Team Ontario’s Women’s soccer squad ended up on top, defeating Quebec in the final. Nova Scotia ultimately earned the bronze medal, showing once again that the East coast has just as much talent as the West. The nations top young players, including CanW15-17 stars Rosa Maalouf, Clare Logan, Zoe Markesini, Anna Hauer, and Amanda Allen, starred in the tournament. Most importantly it was clear to see how much these athletes have craved an experience like this, the opportunity to measure themselves against their peers and work together as a team. Another excellent showcase of the talent in our country. Last but not least, the Usports season got underway, first with pre-season action, then with the Canada West division which kicked off a week before the rest. As usual, there were tons of off-season changes as seniors graduated and the country’s best recruits committed to various programs. From coast to coast, here are some story-lines to pay attention to this season (you can follow along here, or in my bi-monthly roundup for 49Sports). On the East Coast, Cape Breton is always a contender for the title, although last year the league saw more parity than in years priorl. You can expect Acadia to be competitive as they look to build off their 2022 AUS-winning campaign, which snapped a three-year reign by the Capers. St FX may have something to say this season, as many of their players and their assistant coach are coming off a successful summer in League 1 ON with Electric City. In Quebec, UQAM, Montreal, and Laval are sure to be among the top three finishers. Quebec’s talent shone bright this summer at the All-Quebec Interprovincial Championship game. Many of those players will now disperse among the aforementioned programs, and look to be the first Quebec-based team to win nationals since 2017 (Montreal in Winnipeg - coincidentally a tournament yours truly played in). In the OUA East, the road will run through powerhouse Ottawa again, though Queen’s look to retain the OUA Crown. U of T should be competitive, considering many of their players and also are coming fresh off the successful Alliance L1O season (bronze medal at Interprovincial Championships). They’ve also added key players such as Karly Hellstrom (yes, Jenna’s sister and Kent State standout), who will complement Badovinac’s threat in attack. In the OUA West, it will likely be Western running away with it once again. Their competition for the top spot will likely be Guelph and York, both of whom have quite a few young faces in their group and will look to build around key veteran midfielders (Uddenberg, Vanderhoef - Guelph, Chouhan, Mitchell - York). Last but not least, Canada West will once again be intriguing, with last year’s Champion MacEwan in the mix to win again, joined by Calgary, UBC, and Trinity Western who will all be competitive based on being historically strong programs, but also achieving great things through affiliated summer programs (UWS Champions Foothills, or L1BC’s Champion Varsity FC, etc). The first big game of the season came on opening weekend as UBC beat their bitter rivals TWU 2:0 away thanks to a huge game by GK Johns (8 saves) and another clutch goal by veteran Danielle Steere.

CanXNT News

Last but not certainly not least, let’s go over some major CanWNT and CanYNT News. This Australia roster, though. Wow, what looked to be a normal and routine international window against top-12 competition turned into a complex puzzle for Bev Priestman. The absences will ultimately define this window, with our entire back line out of the picture (inj - Gilles, Riviere, Buchanan, Chapman, personal reasons - Lawrence) and missing from the squad. Replacing them are Carle, Levasseur, Yekka, and J. Rose. Coming in as questionable are Quinn (concussion), and Fleming (missed recent friendlies). The only new midfielder called in USC Trojan Simi Awujo, the U20 midfield standout who Bev praised for her dangerous runs into the box. In attack, D. Rose has been injured (ankle) since the CONCACAF Championship. She is replaced by Clarissa Larisey, the standout striker stunning the competition with Celtic. Many fans had been tracking her for some time, calling for a call-up after her first full pro season in which she scored 9 goals in 8 games. In three regular-season games this season, she has already scored 7 times, making her impossible to ignore on a team needing goals. With such a significant amount of turnover in the squad, you can expect the new faces to get their opportunities to play.

This was undoubtedly one of the most difficult squads Bev has had to select, especially since half her talent pool is unavailable as they’re just starting their NCAA seasons. Bev caught some (loving) flack this time around, mainly related to her continued omission of Swedish-based duo Viens and Carle. Both are playing consistent 90s, and tearing it up with goals and assists, too (Carle 2G, 1A, Viens 10G,7A, Strats 2G). Regardless, Carle ended up replacing Buchanan, but Viens is still on the outside looking in. Bev responded to this line of questioning by stressing that she knows they’re doing well, but she wanted to see new faces, as this is one of the last windows to experiment in the build-up to the 2023 World Cup. Make sure to tune into the broadcast (OneSoccer), as the very late night/ early morning kickoff times (12:45 pm, 5:45 am EST/ 9:45/3:45PT) will give us a preview of what’s awaiting us next summer. Let’s start the CanYNT section off with our newest medal! It was silver for the U15s at the CONCACAF Championships in Tampa earlier this month. In dramatic fashion, Canada beat Mexico in PKs to make it to the Gold medal game, where they ultimately fell to the US. Head Coach Jasmine Mander praised her young players who got valuable experience at the international level, and will bring the new standard back to their home environments. It’s good to hear the kids are dreaming bigger than ever. Unfortunately, the U20s World Cup did not go as Canadian players, coaches and fans would have hoped. With three group stage losses, Canada did not make it out of the group stage. Truthfully, their effort can not be disputed and it was evident that the players and coaches were working hard for each other. The harsh reality was that the U20 program has not and does not receive nearly enough resources to truly thrive. While many people came out and blamed the lack of a domestic pro league (which may also be true), it’s important to consider that these players have not spent a lot of time together in the last cycle, with only a few camps able to run throughout COVID. Nevertheless, players and coaches had every reason to be proud of their commitment and service to the national team. Players like Jade Rose reminded us that what’s really important, after all. It’s sad to see another cycle graduate without the proper infrastructure in place to continue nurturing their soccer career at home. With another 2-3 years left at school, our hope is that many of them will go on to play professionally.