LANGFORD, B.C. — Nichelle Prince scored twice as Canada thumped an experimental Australia lineup 5-0 Friday in Christine Sinclair’s penultimate international game.
The 10th-ranked Canadians had their way with the 11th-ranked Matildas on a wet night. Cloe Lacasse, Simi Awujo and Adriana Leon also scored for Canada, which led 2-0 at the half.
Canada coach Bev Priestman liked plenty of what she saw but said she still wants more consistency and a bit more killer instinct.
“We’ve got to put our foot on the throttle more often,” she said.
Sinclair, the world’s all-time leading scorer with 190 goals, came on in the 63rd minute for her 330th cap with Canada up 5-0.
The 40-year-old from Burnaby, B.C., was honoured before the game with her two nieces presenting her with a commemorative jersey. There was also a presentation marking B.C. designating Dec. 12 Christine Sinclair Day.
Sinclair will call time on her international career against the same opposition Tuesday in her backyard before a crowd of 41,000-plus at B.C. Place Stadium, which is being renamed Christine Sinclair Place for the night.
A gala celebration in Sinclair’s honour, complete with a performance by Dallas Smith, is planned the next night at the same venue.
Canada dominated from the get-go and went ahead in the 10th minute when Prince dispossessed captain Clare Polkinghorne in the Australian penalty box and beat goalkeeper Teagan Micah with a low shot to the corner.
Prince, Leon and Vanessa Gilles had good scoring chances as the first half wore on. Prince made it 2-0 in the 42nd minute, redirecting a low Ashley Lawrence cross for her 16th goal for Canada.
It could have been 5-0 by halftime. Jordyn Huitema came on for Prince at the break.
Lacasse made it 3-0 in the 49th, pilfering the ball from an Australian defender and steaming into the penalty box before beating Micah with a low shot.
Awujo added to the lead six minutes later with a left-footed shot from just outside the penalty box. It was a first Canadian goal for the 20-year-old University of Southern California midfielder, in her eighth Canada game.
Leon made it 5-0 in the 62nd minute with a header — her 31st goal for Canada — as the Australian defence was carved open again.
Sophie Schmidt, who is also bowing out Tuesday, came on late in the game for her 225th cap. Sinclair had a chance in the 71st minute but Micah got to the ball just before she did.
Australian coach Tony Gustavsson brought on more experienced players late in the game, with the outcome already decided.
“We were willing to risk a result,” said Gustavsson. “Not that we wanted to lose but we were willing to look at players tonight and it cost us.”
It was the first meeting of the two teams since co-host Australia ended Canada’s World Cup with a humbling 4-0 win July 31 in Melbourne. That defeat consigned Canada to third place in Group B and a trip home while Australia went on to finish fourth.
Gustavsson said prior to the Langford game that he was using it to see new talent in camp.
“It’s maybe not about winning a game but winning a player,” he said.
Australia will be fielding “two completely different lineups” in the Canada series, he added.
Gustavsson was true to his word. His starting 11 Friday featured none of the starters from the World Cup game with Canada although it did feature seven of the subs from the Melbourne meeting. Defender Charlie Rule and midfielder Sarah Hunter made their debuts for the Matildas.
Canada fielded six starters from the Melbourne meeting in its starting lineup.
Friday’s game was played at a sold-out Starlight Stadium, home to the CPL’s Pacific FC and Rugby Canada, some 15 kilometres west of Vancouver. The attendance was announced at 6,102, a record for a soccer game at the venue.
It was a damp seven degrees Celsius, feeling like five degrees at game time. The rain started minutes before the evening kickoff.
Midfielder Jessie Fleming continued as Canada captain, leading out a starting lineup with a combined 676 caps. Fleming, Kadeisha Buchanan, Lawrence and Leon accounted for 486 of those.
Kailen Sheridan was a late replacement in the Canadian goal, with Sabrina D’Angelo feeling unwell.
Both teams were missing players through injury.
Canada was without forward Evelyne Viens, midfielders Julia Grosso, Emma Regan and Desiree Scott and forward Deanne Rose. Forward Janine Beckie is in camp but still rehabbing a knee injury.
The Matildas were missing captain/star forward Sam Kerr, goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold, defender Charlotte Grant and forward Holly McNamara.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 1, 2023.
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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — DeMar DeRozan scored 27 points in a record-setting performance and the Sacramento Kings beat the Toronto Raptors 122-107 on Wednesday night.
Domantas Sabonis added 17 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds for his third triple-double of the season for Sacramento. He shot 6 for 6 from the field and 5 for 5 at the free-throw line.
Keegan Murray chipped in with 22 points and 12 rebounds, and De’Aaron Fox scored 21.
The 35-year-old DeRozan has scored at least 20 points in each of his first eight games with the Kings, breaking a franchise mark established by Chris Webber when he reached 20 in his first seven games with Sacramento in 1999.
DeRozan spent the past three seasons with the Chicago Bulls. The six-time All-Star also has played for Toronto and San Antonio during his 16-year NBA career.
RJ Barrett had 23 points to lead the Raptors. Davion Mitchell scored 20 in his first game in Sacramento since being traded to Toronto last summer.
Takeaways
Raptors: Toronto led for most of the first three quarters before wilting in the fourth. The Raptors were outscored 33-14 in the final period.
Kings: Fox played strong defense but struggled again shooting from the floor as he is dealing with a finger injury. Fox went 5 for 17 and just 2 of 8 on 3-pointers. He is 5 for 25 from beyond the arc in his last three games.
Key moment
The Kings trailed 95-89 early in the fourth before going on a 9-0 run that gave them the lead for good. DeRozan started the spurt with a jumper, and Malik Monk scored the final seven points.
Key stat
Sabonis had the eighth game in the NBA since at least 1982-83 with a triple-double while missing no shots from the field or foul line. The previous player to do it was Josh Giddey for Oklahoma City against Portland on Jan. 11.
Up next
Raptors: At the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday night, the third stop on a five-game trip.
VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Whitecaps are one win away from moving on to the next round of the Major League Soccer playoffs.
To get there, however, the Whitecaps will need to pull off the improbable by defeating the powerhouse Los Angeles FC for a second straight game.
Vancouver blanked the visitors 3-0 on Sunday to level their best-of-three first-round playoff series at a game apiece. As the matchup shifts back to California for a decisive Game 3 on Friday, the Whitecaps are looking for a repeat performance, said striker Brian White.
“We take the good and the bad from last game, learn from what we could have done better and go to LAFC with confidence and, obviously, with a whole lot of respect,” he said.
“We know that we can go there and give them a very good fight and hopefully come away with a win.”
The winner of Friday’s game will face the No. 4-seed Seattle Sounders in a one-game Western Conference semifinal on Nov. 23 or 24.
The ‘Caps finished the regular season eighth in the west with a 13-13-8 record and have since surprised many with their post-season play.
First, Vancouver trounced its regional rivals, the Portland Timbers, 5-0 in a wild-card game. Then, the squad dropped a tightly contested 2-1 decision to the top-seeded L.A. before posting a decisive home victory on Sunday.
Vancouver has scored seven goals this post-season, second only to the L.A. Galaxy (nine). Vancouver also leads the league in expected goals (6.84) through the playoffs.
No one outside of the club expected the Whitecaps to win when the Vancouver-L. A. series began, said defender Ranko Veselinovic.
“We’ve shown to ourselves that we can compete with them,” he said.
Now in his fifth season with the ‘Caps, Veselinovic said Friday’s game will be the biggest he’s played for the team.
“We haven’t had much success in the playoffs so, definitely, this is the one that can put our season on another level,” he said.
This is the second year in a row the Whitecaps have faced LAFC in the first round of the playoffs and last year, Vancouver was ousted in two straight games.
The team isn’t thinking about revenge as it prepares for Game 3, White said.
“More importantly than (beating LAFC), we want to get to the next round,” he said. “LAFC’s a very good team. We’ve come up against them a number of times in different competitions and they always seem to get the better of us. So it’d be huge for us to get the better of them this time.”
Earning a win last weekend required slowing L.A.’s transition game and limiting offensive opportunities for the team’s big stars, including Denis Bouanga.
Those factors will be important again on Friday, said Whitecaps head coach Vanni Sartini, who warned that his team could face a different style of game.
“I think the most important thing is going to be to match their intensity at the beginning of the game,” he said. “Because I think they’re going to come at us a million miles per hour.”
The ‘Caps will once again look to captain Ryan Gauld for some offensive firepower. The Scottish attacking midfielder leads MLS in playoff goals with five and has scored in all three of Vancouver’s post-season appearances this year.
Gearing up for another do-or-die matchup is exciting, Gauld said.
“Knowing it’s a winner-takes-all kind of game, being in that kind of environment is nice,” he said. “It’s when you see the best in players.”
LAFC faces the bulk of the pressure heading into the matchup, Sartini said, given the club’s appearances in the last two MLS Cup finals and its 2022 championship title.
“They’re supposed to win and we are not,” the coach said. “But it’s beautiful to have a little bit of pressure on us, too.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
Each PWHL team operated under its city name, with players wearing jerseys featuring the league’s logo in its inaugural season before names and logos were announced last month.
The Toronto Sceptres, Montreal Victoire, Ottawa Charge, Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost and New York Sirens will start the PWHL’s second season on Nov. 30 with jerseys designed to reflect each team’s identity and to be sold to the public as replicas.
Led by PWHL vice-president of brand and marketing Kanan Bhatt-Shah, the league consulted Creative Agency Flower Shop to design the jerseys manufactured by Bauer, the PWHL said Thursday in a statement.
“Players and fans alike have been waiting for this moment and we couldn’t be happier with the six unique looks each team will don moving forward,” said PWHL senior vice president of business operations Amy Scheer.
“These jerseys mark the latest evolution in our league’s history, and we can’t wait to see them showcased both on the ice and in the stands.”
Training camps open Tuesday with teams allowed to carry 32 players.
Each team’s 23-player roster, plus three reserves, will be announced Nov. 27.
Each team will play 30 regular-season games, which is six more than the first season.
Minnesota won the first Walter Cup on May 29 by beating Boston three games to two in the championship series.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
