By Alan Douglas/whitecapsfc.com
After scoring five second-half goals on Saturday to defeat Surrey United, Vancouver Whitecaps Prospects Women picked up where they left off on Sunday afternoon, as they scored five first-half goals to down Chilliwack FC 5-1.
Striker Jenna Richardson again led the scoring parade, netting two goals to raise her Pacific Coast Soccer League leading total to nine.
Head coach Jesse Symons made numerous changes to his line-up, switching to a 3-4-3 formation. Nikki Ambrose came in at left midfield, while Maryse Reichgeld came in on the right. Tessa Meyer and Jaclyn Sawicki statting in the middle. Jenna Di Nunzio got the nod up front alongside Richardson and Janine Frazao. In goal, Symons continued to rotate goalkeepers, with Gurveen Clair starting the game and Ariel Anderson finishing it.
Chilliwack have proved to be a very capable and competitive opponent, and Vancouver needed a last-minute goal to prevail when the two sides met earlier in the season. The Whitecaps were not looking to leave things late in this game, though, and went for goal from the opening whistle.
Just twenty seconds in, Sawicki fed Reichgeld in the box, but after cutting past her marker well, she fired a tame 10-yard shot straight at the Chilliwack keeper. A minute later, Frazao got on the end of a good cross from Richardson, but volleyed her effort over the crossbar. A minute after that, a third glorious chance went begging, as Sawicki turned brilliantly in front of goal, but pulled her shot wide of the far post.
The opening goal came soon enough. On seven minutes, from a corner kick on the right, Sawicki's cross found Whitecaps defender Carolyn Bell on the doorstep, and she struck it over the goal line on the second attempt for her second goal of the season.
Chilliwack came more into the play at this point, with possession becoming even. But then with just over 20 minutes gone, the Prospects were awarded a controversial penalty kick. It started when Frazao broke into the Chilliwack box and drove towards goal, eventually driving straight into goalkeeper Jessica Wager, who smothered the ball. A Chilliwack defender took exception to the challenge on her keeper and pushed Frazao, earning a yellow card. And as play was still live, a penalty was awarded, which Frazao then converted.
Rapid-fire goals are fast becoming a trademark of this team, and the Whitecaps then put the game away with three in the span of nine minutes. On the half-hour mark, some nice approach play ended with Reichgeld feeding Richardson to the right of goal, and she blasted it past the goalkeeper from a sharp angle.
On 34 minutes, Sawicki at the top of the area had her shot blocked, got the rebound, and slipped it ahead to Di Nunzio, who was wide open and left onside by a Chilliwack fullback, who was slow to push up. The winger calmly fired it in for her second goal of the season.
Five minutes later and it was 5-0. The keeper came out to smother the ball ahead of the onrushing Frazao, but then spilled it right to the feet of Richardson, who did not miss the empty net.
During this spell, Chilliwack had their best chance of the half, as Marie Verbenkov's 30-yard blast forced an acrobatic diving save from Clair. Late in the half, the visitors' top goalscorer Ellen Kuyer had a partial breakaway, but Clair came out and smothered the ball.
It was 5-0 at halftime.
With the game being played under the hot afternoon sun, and both teams having played the day before, the second half was predictably slow paced and largely uneventful. Chilliwack did net a consolation goal on the hour mark, as substitute Chelsea Brotherston headed in from a corner kick. But chances were otherwise few in a game that was long since over as a contest.
The Prospects now sit at 5-1-1 and sit in third place, four points behind Victoria Stars, but with two games in hand. This was the start of a four-game Whitecaps home stand up at SFU, with their next PCSL Premier Division match coming this Thursday night against Semiahmoo SC.
Whitecaps Prospects Women
1.Gurveen Clair (0.Ariel Anderson 45'); 14.Sarah Pennington (11.Kendra Williams 45'), 8.Erin Uchachz (14.Sarah Pennington 78'), 16.Carolyn Bell; 15.Nikki Ambrose, 19.Tessa Meyer, 6.Jaclyn Sawicki, 3.Maryse Reichgeld (18.Katie Turney 45'); 10.Jenna Di Nunzio (22.Jenna Richardson 78'), 22.Jenna Richardson (5.Alicia Tesan 45'), 9.Janine Frazao (13.Michelle Godoy 45', 2.Jessica Hadden 68')
