By Alan Douglas/whitecapsfc.com
Vancouver Whitecaps Prospects Women recorded their second-straight Pacific Coast Soccer League victory of the season, as they overpowered Semiahmoo SC 5-0 on Tuesday evening.
Five different players found the target for the visitors in a one-sided contest at South Surrey Athletic Park, with all goals coming in the first half.
Prospects head coach Jesse Symons had most of his key players available, with Alicia Tesan and Janine Frazao starting up front in a 3-5-2 formation. Maryse Reichgeld was pulled back to right wing and Nikki Ambrose pushed up to left wing, with Jaclyn Sawicki, Natalie Boyd, and Tessa Meyer forming a potent central midfield. Defender Erin Uchacz, who had come in for the injured Jennifer Castillo in the last match, got the start at the back.
The Whitecaps started quickly and rarely let up in the first half. Three minutes in, Natalie Boyd fired a 25-yard shot which goalkeeper Rosemary Kelly tipped against her crossbar. It would prove to be a frustrating night for Boyd, as she was repeatedly denied by both Kelly and the woodwork. It would also be a very busy night for the Semiahmoo goalkeeper, whose solid play could have seen the score be much higher than it was.
Within the next few minutes, Kelly made two good diving saves to deny Sawicki, however, the third time proved the charm for the quicksilver midfielder. On 10 minutes, Sawicki pounced on a loose ball just to the right of goal, spun back in front past two defenders and beat Kelly to the near side from six yards out with a powerful left-footed strike.
On 18 minutes, Mikyla Kay played a great long ball to put Boyd in alone on goal, but she stumbled as she shot, and Kelly made the save. A minute later, Uchacz was given space to run, and she tested Kelly with a 25-yard blast, which was stopped by the Semiahmoo keeper with difficulty.
The play was almost entirely in the Semiamhoo half, as the home side seemed to have no answer for the Prospects' quick passing and movement. Not surprisingly, it soon became 2-0. On 24 minutes, Boyd's nice pass over the top skipped through to Janine Frazao in the Semiahmoo box before she finished calmly, with only Kelly to beat.
The Prospects scored again just five minutes later. Sawicki's corner from the right reached defender Carolyn Bell at the far post, and she headed it over the goal line from in close. Four minutes later, and it was 4-0 on a similar play. From another Sawicki corner from the right, the ball found Tessa Meyer on the edge of the six-yard box, and she powered a header into the back of the net.
Another four minutes after that, and like clockwork, Sawicki set up Vancouver's fifth goal on 37 minutes. From the middle of the park, the midfielder slipped a through ball to substitute Katie Turney, who was breaking in on the right, and she finished well with a low shot from 18 yards out.
A long ball late in the half gave Boyd another run in on goal, but Kelly again made the save to keep it 5-0 at the break.
Vancouver made four changes at halftime, and tried, not entirely successfully, to keep the momentum going. The game was also being played on an unlit field, which was gradually descending into gloom as the half wore in, which did not seem to help. Semiahmoo, meanwhile, were battling hard to salvage some pride in the second half, which to their credit, they did.
Two minutes after the restart, Boyd had another breakaway, but misfired as she tried to clip the ball past Kelly, who made an easy save. On the hour mark, Boyd tried her luck on a free kick from 25 yards, but her set piece slammed off the crossbar for the second time. Three minutes later, Frazao fed Boyd just to the right of goal, but Kelly stopped her close-range effort.
Sawicki also had two good chances to add to her tally before the game ended. First, she first-timed a shot off the crossbar from inside the box. Then minutes later, she showed great determination and quickness to chase down and win the ball right in front of goal, only to be robbed by Kelly.
5-0 stood up as the final score, with Whitecaps goalkeeper Gurveen Clair having to make only a couple of routine saves on long-range shots to earn the clean sheet. The win raises the Whitecaps record to two wins, no defeats, and one in the PCSL Premier Division. The Prospects Women's next league match is not until Sunday, May 31, when they play their home opener against Okanagan Whitecaps FC at Simon Fraser University's Terry Fox Field.
Whitecaps Prospects Women
Gurveen Clair; 20.Mikyla Kay (14.Sarah Pennington 45'), 16.Carolyn Bell, 8.Erin Uchacz (17.Emily Frazer 45'); 15.Nikki Ambrose (10.Jenna Di Nunzio 45'), 19.Tessa Meyer (11.Kendra Williams 45'), 4.Natalie Boyd, 6.Jaclyn Sawicki (12.Nicole Setterlund 61'), 3.Maryse Reichgeld (18. Katie Turney 22', 6.Jaclyn Sawicki 69'); 5.Alicia Tesan (2.Jessica Hadden 56'), 9.Janine Frazao (19.Tessa Meyer 69')
