High flying Buffalo looks to shell Vancouver in Saturday’s W-League final
Jim Morris
It will be a battle of contrasting styles when the Vancouver Whitecaps face the Buffalo Flash in the W-League championship match Saturday.
The Flash, led by Saskatoon's Kelly Parker, will put their high-scoring, attacking offence on the pitch against the Whitecaps' determined defence and patient ball handling.
“They are a very savvy group,” Vancouver coach Hubert Busby Jr., said Friday from Santa Clarita, Calif., the host city of the W-League Final Four. “We are really going to have to contain their attack threats and look to take our chances as well.
“What we do really well is look to keep possession. Against Hudson Valley we did a great job of dictating the tempo. That's always our No. 1 game plan going in.”
The Whitecaps used a 3-1 win over the Hudson Valley Quickstrike Lady Blues in Thursday's semifinal to advance to the championship game at Harry Welch Stadium.
The Flash defeated the Atlanta Silverbacks 3-1 in the other semifinal.
Buffalo won the Midwest Division with a 10-0-2 record and led the league by scoring 48 goals while allowing just five.
Parker, 29, a midfielder who also plays for Canada's national team, won the scoring title with 11 goals and five assists in just seven games.
Whitecaps defender Martina Franko has been a teammate with Parker on the national team, and faced her in practices. That gives Franko a good idea of what to expect in Saturday's final.
“No one is unstoppable,” said Franko, who scored a goal against Hudson Valley. “I know out in the midfield she likes to make great runs through to receive the ball.
“It's hard to stop a midfielder when they are coming through because you are not expecting it. But we will be expecting it from her.”
Busby said one of his team's strengths is finding solutions to the problems other team's present.
“We can score goals, our record shows it,” he said. “There are matches when we light it up.
“We can also clamp down and prevent teams from scoring. We are quite flexible in that aspect. You can't control what other teams do, but we can control what we do well. The players buy into that.”
The Whitecaps, who were undefeated in the Western Conference with a 6-0-4 record, won the semifinal despite missing three key players.
Forward Melissa Tancredi, Vancouver's leading scorer, is attending her sister's wedding in Hamilton. Forward Jodi-Ann Robinson, the second leading scorer, has university commitments.
London-born goalkeeper Siobhan Chamberlain was called up for England's 3-0 win over Turkey in a World Cup qualifying match Thursday. She flew back to California after the game and could play Saturday.
If Busby decides Chamberlain isn't ready to go, he has total confidence in Stephanie Panozzo, the 20-year-old who earned the win against Hudson Valley.
“Steph has played three games and hasn't lost a game all season,” said Busby.
Franko's goal, off a header, was just her second of the season. It was an example of a player performing well when needed.
“People realize they have to step up,” said Franko, 34, who played with her infant son watching from the stands. “I scored a header because I knew Melissa is gone.
“You have to fill in that role when people are away.”
The Whitecaps will be playing for their third W-League championship. They lost in 2001, but won the title in 2004 and 2006. Vancouver missed the playoffs last year.
The Flash are playing in their first final in just their second season in the league.
Franko said this year's edition of the Whitecaps is better fundamentally than past teams.
“In 2004 and 2006 we were just physical, strong, organized,” she said. “This team is a lot more technical.
“We play the ball on the ground and break teams down by movement rather than just pure strength.”
