Canadian national soccer team forward Cloé Lacasse’s words said it all.
After making the 23-player roster for the upcoming FIFA Women’s World Cup roster in Australia and New Zealand, the 30-year-old native of Sudbury, Ont., summed up the moment as a player who had been often overlooked for most of her career.
“Hard work. Determination. Resilience. My family and friends’ relentless support throughout the years. It’s all paid off for this moment,” wrote Lacasse on her social media channels after being named to the Canadian team, which kicks off its tournament with a match against Nigeria on Thursday, July 20.
While Lacasse has enjoyed a rewarding professional career playing abroad (the reigning Portuguese league’s player of the year with Benfica recently signed with Arsenal of the Women’s Super League), she is one of many Canadian examples of players getting their national team opportunity later in their career.
Aside from an under-20 camp back in 2012 when she was 19, Lacasse didn’t get a call back into the national system again until she was 27. That’s when coach Bev Priestman called her into an international series in the UK in April of 2021 against Wales and England.
Since then, Lacasse has made 19 appearances for Canada (starting in four matches) and scored her first and only goal – so far – in October of 2022 against Argentina.
Host Andi Petrillo sits down with Canadian women’s national team head coach Bev Priestman, with less than a week away to the start of the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Player development
Not every player’s arc of development happens the same way. There are those that climb the ranks through the often traditional path of the national team’s youth system. And there are those that are overlooked in their early years, only to bloom later or get their chance thanks to a coach’s fresh set of eyes.
Vanessa Gilles is another.
“I think what Bev did for this country, obviously winning an Olympic gold medal, but not only that, she gave everybody a chance. I think that’s something that a lot of people, including myself will be forever grateful for,” said Gilles at a recent practice session in Toronto before leaving for Australia.
“She’s brought that to this team in terms of looking outside of the bubble that we already had, looking outside of just Canada and the U.S., getting players that haven’t got called in the past, whether that’s Mimi Alidou, Clarissa Larisey, Cloé Lacasse, all these players who have been overlooked, giving them a chance to show what they can bring. I think Bev has done an incredible job of that.”
It’s hard to believe the 2023 edition of the World Cup will be Gilles’ first with the team.
A late cut from Canada’s 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup team, it’s been nothing but a dramatic trajectory since, both professionally and with the national team.
After making her presence known at the SheBelieves Cup, playing 90 minutes at centre back in a 1-0 loss to the United States, Gilles has been a fixture of Canada’s fierce backline, not to mention one of the most sought-after defenders in the world.
A competitive tennis player into her teens, the now 27-year-old Ottawa native was never part of the Canadian youth setup, but did earn a NCAA scholarship to the University of Cincinnati. From there, a European passport through her French father, allowed her to pursue a career overseas, first in Cyprus, then with FC Girondins de Bordeaux of Division 1 Feminin where she first caught the eye of the national program.
From there, she played for Angel City FC of the NWSL, scoring the team’s first goal in history, and now with Olympique Lyonnais, the 14-time Division 1 Feminin champions and eight-time Champions League titlists.
Again, this is a player who scrambled out of college to find a place to play professionally and didn’t get her first real shot with Canada until she was 24.
Gilles now has 25 caps for Canada, 22 of those starts, more often than not playing a full 90 minutes against the top strikers in the world.
Canadian women’s soccer coach Bev Priestman delivers the life-changing news to the stunned teenager.
Lacasse take game to new level
Soccer North host Andi Petrillo recently asked Priestman which players had grown the most since the Olympic gold medal and she didn’t hesitate to highlight Lacasse.
“There’s quite a few [players],” Priestman said. “Cloé Lacasse, I would say, has really started to grow in confidence in this environment. I find anybody who hasn’t grown in our youth system, it takes them a while to get used to the tactics and the way that we work. With Chloe you can’t take away from what she’s done.”
What she’s done includes scoring 102 goals in 131 games during her four years at Benfica (five in Champions League) plus a scoring title, and winning major trophies like Portuguese league titles and cups.
She’ll be counted upon to fill the large void left by Janine Beckie, who was ruled out of the tournament with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear in her right knee.
So too will fellow national team striker, Evelyne Viens. She wasn’t part of the national youth program, either. In fact, she didn’t even compete on Quebec provincial teams growing up because it meant leaving her family in L’Ancienne-Lorette, Que., a suburb of Quebec City, to move to Montreal.
Despite scoring 73 goals in 77 games and setting school records at the University of South Florida, she was never invited to a national team camp, until Priestman came along. Viens has since scored four goals in 18 appearances and was part of the Olympic-winning team. Currently, the 26-year-old has been lighting up Sweden’s Damallsvenskan with Kristianstads DFF where she’s scored 12 goals in 17 matches, good for third-most in the league.
Host Andi Petrillo previews Canada at the FIFA 2023 Women’s World Cup, sit downs with Christine Sinclair, and reacts to Canada’s performance so far at the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
There could be hundreds of other hidden gems like Gilles or Lacasse or Viens in Canada. That’s one reason why some believe a domestic professional league is vital to keep women in the game and help them unearth their potential.
In future years, when the professional ecosystem broadens with Project 8’s league beginning in 2025, players will be able to develop and be seen right here at home.
Perhaps a common theme among these three players is patience, a passion to pursue their sport at a high level and not giving up even if it meant taking the path less travelled. They’ve also benefited from a coach who understands that not all athletes develop at the same rate or take the traditional route to get to the end goal.
“A lot of us have to be thankful [to Bev],” said Gilles. “She’s brought in these different styles of players and made this player pool a lot bigger than it was for sure.”
Host Andi Petrillo reacts to Canada getting knocked out of the Gold Cup in the quarterfinals, sits down with Bev Priestman, and looks at Canada’s roster for the Women’s World Cup.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
CALGARY – Mired in their first four-game losing skid in 20 years, the Calgary Stampeders are going back to Jake Maier at quarterback on Saturday after he was benched for a game.
It won’t be an easy assignment.
Visiting McMahon Stadium are the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-2) who own the CFL’s best record. The Stampeders (4-8) have fallen to last in the Western Conference.
“Six games is plenty of time, but also it is just six games,” said Maier. “We’ve got to be able to get on the right track.”
Calgary is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
“I do still believe in this team,” said Stampeders’ head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “I want to see improvement, though. I want to see guys on a weekly basis elevating their game, and we haven’t been doing that.”
Maier is one of the guys under the microscope. Two weeks ago, the second-year starter threw four interceptions in a 35-20 home loss to the Edmonton Elks.
After his replacement, rookie Logan Bonner, threw five picks in last week’s 37-16 loss to the Elks in Edmonton, the football is back in Maier’s hands.
“Any time you fail or something doesn’t go your way in life, does it stink in the moment? Yeah. But then the days go on and you learn things about yourself and you learn how to prepare a little bit better,” said Maier. “It makes you mentally tougher.”
Dickenson wants to see his quarterback making better decisions with the football.
“Things are going to happen, interceptions will happen, but try to take calculated risks, rather than just putting the ball up there and hoping that we catch it,” said Dickenson.
A former quarterback himself, he knows the importance of that vital position.
“You cannot win without good quarterback play,” Dickenson said. “You’ve got to be able to make some plays — off-schedule plays, move-around plays, plays that break down, plays that aren’t designed perfectly, but somehow you found the right guy, and then those big throws where you’re taking that hit.”
But it’s going to take a team effort, and that includes the club’s receiving corp.
“We always have to band together because we need everything to go right for our receivers to get the ball,” said Nik Lewis, the Stampeders’ receivers coach. “The running back has to pick up the blitz, the o-line has to block, the quarterback has to make the right reads, and then give us a catchable ball.”
Lewis brings a unique perspective to this season’s frustrations as he was a 22-year-old rookie in Calgary in 2004 when the Stamps went 4-14 under coach Matt Dunigan. They turned it around the next season and haven’t missed the playoffs since.”
“Thinking back and just looking at it, there’s just got to be an ultimate belief that you can get it done. Look at Montreal, they were 6-7 last year and they’ve gone 18-2 since then,” said Lewis.
Montreal is also looking to rebound from a 37-23 loss to the B.C. Lions last week. But for head coach Jason Maas, he says his team’s mindset doesn’t change, regardless of what happened the previous week.
“Last year when we went through a four-game losing streak, you couldn’t tell if we were on a four-game winning streak or a four-game losing streak by the way the guys were in the building, the way we prepared, the type of work ethic we have,” said Maas. “All our standards are set, so that’s all we focus on.”
While they may have already clinched a playoff spot, Alouettes’ quarterback Cody Fajardo says this closing stretch remains critical because they want to finish the season strong, just like last year when they won their final five regular-season games before ultimately winning the Grey Cup.
“It doesn’t matter about what you do at the beginning of the year,” said Fajardo. “All that matters is how you end the year and how well you’re playing going into the playoffs so that’s what these games are about.”
The Alouettes’ are kicking off a three-game road stretch, one Fajardo looks forward to.
“You understand what kind of team you have when you play on the road because it’s us versus the world mentality and you can feel everybody against you,” said Fajardo. “Plus, I always tend to find more joy in silencing thousands of people than bringing thousands of people to their feet.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
