FISU GAMES: CANADIAN WOMEN’S SOCCER FALLS TO CHINA IN FRONT OF 40,000

Natalie Boyd - Freestyle Photography

WOMEN’S SOCCER
SATURDAY, AUGUST 13, 2011
FISU GAMES

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CANADIAN WOMEN’S SOCCER FALLS TO CHINA IN FRONT OF 40,000

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SHENZHEN, China (CIS) – In front of a boisterous, loud and near capacity crowd of 40,000, Canada’s women’s soccer team (1-1) dropped a 1-0 decision to host China (2-0) on Saturday night in its second match of the 26th Summer Universiade.
 
“I thought we were a little unfortunate to come away with a loss tonight because we played them hard,” commented Team Canada head coach Graham Roxburgh, the sideline boss at Trinity Western University. “We tried not to let the occasion affect us [playing in front of the large crowd] as it was a close game and we were unlucky with a couple of chances to tie it up.”
 
The Canadians, who have four Spartans on the roster including Melissa Mobilio (Coquitlam, B.C.), Natalie Boyd (Surrey, B.C.), Nikki Wright (Cloverdale, B.C.) and Daniela Gerig (Langley, B.C.) saw China’s Shanshan Wang score what would be the winning goal in the 41st minute as the red and white dropped their overall record 1-1 on the tournament.

Following 2-0 wins by Canada over Great Britain and China over Taiwan on Thursday, today’s battle was for first place in Pool A.
 
Both teams came out tentative to start the match as the atmosphere was electric at Shenzhen Bao’an Stadium from the get go.
 
After both squads settled down, Canada had the first scoring chance at the 20-minute mark when striker Véronique Laverdière from Montreal had a strong run and just missed wide on a low shot. China then produced a couple of opportunities as they bended a free kick just outside of the post and a long shot trickled past the post within a ten-minute span.
 
China notched  the lone goal of the game in the 41st minute when Shanshan Wang scored on a broken play from 12 feet. She fired a low shot off the far post after confusion by Canadian defenders as the ball ping-ponged between several players.
 
China had glorious chance to increase its lead to two when Rong Zhao was all alone inside the 18-yard box but deflected the ball long over the crossbar. The host team held a 1-0 lead at half.
 
After the intermission, China clamped down on defence as Canada applied more pressure looking for the equalizer.
 
Team Canada suffered a blow in the 70th minute when Laverdière, the reigning CIS player of the year from University of Montreal, suffered an injury and was forced to leave the game.
 
China had the last push for the goal but Keshia Wallin from St. Albert, Alta., and Justine Labrecque from Quebec City both continued their strong defensive play by stopping Zhao inside the box as she was about to strike the ball. For the rest of the second half, Canada was stymied with no real good scoring chances.
 
Roxburgh commented, “We still control our destiny against Taiwan. I do not think they will pressure us like China and we’ll be ready for another tough match on Monday.”

Trinity Western's Boyd played 78 minutes in the contest, Mobilio played 58 and Gerig, coming in as a substitution, played 32 minutes.

In the other Pool A match-up earlier in the day, Great Britain (0-1-1) and Taiwan (0-1-1) tied 1-1. Canada is still in second place with two points. China leads with four.
 
Monday’s Canada-Taiwan tilt is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. local time (7:30 a.m. ET).

Team Canada website: http://english.cis-sic.ca/universiade/summer  
2011 Summer Universiade website: http://www.sz2011.org/Universiade

About the Summer Universiade
The Summer Universiade is an international multi-sport event that takes place every two years and is second only to the Olympic Games in the number of participating athletes and countries. Close to 9,000 athletes from over 150 countries will compete in Shenzhen. The Universiade is open to competitors who are at least 17 and less than 28 years of age as of January 1 in the year of the Games. Participants must be full-time students at a post-secondary institution (university, college, CEGEP) or have graduated from a post-secondary institution in the year preceding the event.
 
-CIS-
 

Last Updated: 2011-08-15
Author: Mark Janzen