Roster announcement: http://www.whitecapsfc.com/archive/feature05140901.aspx A surprising number of older players. I mean, they have 30-year-olds. Balancing that are some graduates from the youth program. Let's hope they don't lose the focus on developing the young talent. The season opener, May 16 at 4 p.m. PDT against Seattle is apparently going to be broadcast online free at USL Live.
Balancing age is a perfect way to run a program, a quality experience for everyone, and develop talent. Game not listed: http://usllive.com/usl/console.jsp
Vancouver and Seattle tie 1-1. Game report on the Whitecaps site, also on W-League news. Tying goal scored in injury time by Nikki Wright. Nikki Wright is the first Nikki Wright to play for the Whitecaps since the Washington Freedom goalkeeper coach. (Well, she spells it differently but 'Nikki' is short for Nicole.) Sophie Schmidt played the central forward in a 4-3-3. Wonder if that will last. Too bad they didn't manage to do an online feed. Maybe they can do it for the Pali visit. Only the LA Legends game is on the schedule for broadcast (online and local TV).
I'm surprised by the ignorance of this comment. If anything, in women's football, having 30 year olds in a program, I would say would be a fantastic advantage to the young players, and the game in general itself. I would say female players peak at around 27-32, when they have mentally, tactically, and technically matured, but unfortunately many don't stick around because of other factors (financial/family and otherwise). Having some older players, I would say would be something to be celebrated as opposed to looked down upon.
The older players can and probably do play on senior women's teams from fall to spring. In summer they can play in the PCSL. I think the focus of the W-League team should be the development of players aspiring to play internationally or professionally. Of course it's helpful to have some older players to provide stability and guidance to the younger players. At least one, and probably more, also act as youth coaches. The current mix is probably fine. By the way, the video is now up on the USL Live site given above. There's also the Real Colorado v Ventura County game. We should welcome back Michelle French from her recent illness.
The Whitecaps play to their third consecutive 1-1 draw of the season. Game report: http://www.whitecapsfc.com/women/schedule/2009_06_07_v_Pali_Blues.aspx (I notice they give the double-header attendance.) Pleasantly surprised to see Carmelina Moscato return. She did very well as a central defender. Perhaps Morace is encouraging her to continue at that position.
An article in The Province on Carmelina Moscato http://communities.canada.com/thepr...8/moscato-s-money-in-return-to-whitecaps.aspx I don't quite understand though. Why would she have to give up her coaching position to play with FC Indiana? Or maybe she expects to go to Europe.
I wondered why she left Indiana. Probably the same reason it took Erin McLeod months to get a visa to simply play in the WPS. Shameful. And with treatment like that you will see a lot of players go to Europe.
Vancouver finally wins a game: http://www.whitecapsfc.com/women/schedule/2009_06_20_at_Ventura_County_Fusion.aspx They'll need help to get back into the playoff race though. Nice crowd of 922.
Vancouver is developing local and regional Canadian talent and one hundred thousand kudos to them for doing it. Coaching and development over the wallet takes courage and guts and I have no doubt it pans out for them down the road.
No different, of course, from any of the other Canadian W-League teams who are all focusing on developing local and even younger Canadian talent, vs what some of the US W-league teams have been doing.
Chelsea Stewart is a much anticipated new recruit for Vanderbilt: World-class talent comes to Nashville http://vucommodores.cstv.com/sports/w-soccer/spec-rel/061409aab.html Stewart is a well-rounded package of skills that you would want in a midfielder. She's skinny though, only 120 pounds. She's like a young Angie Woznuk.
Preview of Sunday's match against the Colorado Force: http://www.whitecapsfc.com/women/schedule/2009_06_28_v_Colorado_Force_FC.aspx Hope Sophie Schmidt's knee injury is minor. They will miss her experience and tactical savvy.
The Vancouver and Colorado game ended in a--surprise, surprise--draw, 1-1. Brief highlights on a local sportscast (following the Confederations Cup final): http://www.globaltv.com/globaltv/bc/video/index.html?releasePID=4et6TJOJjwyDkTg07Xx5s7E7HARX2fce
The Caps vs the the Cougs was kind of an ugly game. It easily could of been 3-2 for the Cougars. RCC can really pass the ball around, but don't seem to really have the big finisher needed. The Caps on the other hand squandered many offensive chances with totally wasted passes going to no one. I kind of miss the old whitecaps style where if the other team had the ball the Caps would hunt you down until you finally turned it over. It looks like JAR (futute UCLA bruin?) has got her game back. Don't know what happened to her last year but she seems alot more confident (and smarter). She is the main attacking weapon for them this year so maybe that's it. If she doesn't score they are probably not going to win. She looked like a legit striker yesterday. With the ball just beyond the top of the 18 yard box she very patiently made a couple of quick moves to get open and take nice controlled hard shots at the open part of the goal. One for a goal and other was a great stop by the keeper. Probably to late to catch the Sounders I would think.
Whitecaps will apparently have a new coach for next season, Hubert Busby, who has been associated with them in the past. http://communities.canada.com/thepr...by-to-take-over-whitecaps-women-s-duties.aspx At least they avoid the unfortunate situation of the 2009 season, hiring a coach at the last minute who had no previous knowledge of the women players and had no chance to recruit.
Announcement from the Whitecaps' site on the new coach: http://www.whitecapsfc.com/archive/feature12140901.aspx