

Posted by

Emily Dulhanty ,

September 19, 2014 Email

Emily Dulhanty

On Twitter:

@emidul

One of the biggest challenges faced by Canadian national team members is finding consistent playing time at professional clubs. The lack of a domestic league is a problem for the sport in our country, but the commitment that the Canadian Soccer Association has made to pay the salaries for a significant number of women in the National Women’s Soccer League is positive, compared to the option of having the majority of players just in residency camp year round.



That being said, it’s fair to say that this past NWSL season was disappointing from a Canadian perspective for a number of reasons, starting with the number of players who actually played in the league. The CSA originally allocated 16 players (the status a player receives when having their salary paid by the CSA), the same number as in 2013. However, Desiree Scott’s transfer to Notts County in England and Selenia Iacchelli’s ongoing injury meant that these two did not play in NWSL this season at all. Factoring in injuries to Lauren Sesselmann and Carmelina Moscato, but adding forward Nkem Ezurike to the list, who was picked 8th overall by Boston in the college draft, there were only 13 Canadians in NWSL who played significant minutes.



Of these 13, only three played in the NWSL playoffs (Gayle, Matheson and Sinclair), and none played in the NWSL final. No Canadians made the NWSL best or second best XI, and Christine Sinclair was the only player to earn a Player of the Week accolade.



Now, let’s break down the playing time and limited stats available, by position, for each Canadian player who participated in NWSL. GP= Games played, GS= Games started, MP= Minutes played, G= Goals, A= Assists, S= Shots, SOG= Shots on goal



Forwards



Christine Sinclair was streaky this season- it took her nine games to score her first goal, then, in the second third of the NWSL season, she netted seven goals in ten games and looked like her usual dangerous self. However, Sinclair was unable to score in Portland’s remaining six games. She looked very tired on the field at times in the latter part of the season, so it will be interesting to see how Canada’s coach John Herdman manages Sinclair’s playing time this fall, with two friendlies against Japan on the horizon. Though she still has a lot left to give at the international level, national team supporters have to be realistic. Over the last two years, Sinclair has not been able to score the amount of goals that she typically scored yearly for the majority of her career, which RNO’s Sam Gregory wrote about earlier this year.



We can’t talk about scoring and the women’s national team without discussing the much-anticipated return of Melissa Tancredi. Tancredi joined Chicago mid-season after taking a two-year hiatus from soccer to finish chiropractic school. It was always going to take some time to transition back into the game, but if returning to professional soccer was Tancredi’s first test, she passed. She looked lively up front for Chicago, and was able to generate some good attack after not much practice time with the team. Some still may be skeptical that the 32-year-old will be able to make an impact at the international level, with good reason, but Tancredi’s half season with Chicago shows that she still has something to contribute to the national team for a few more years.



Jonelle Filigno was only able to take eight shots, three of them on goal, in almost 700 minutes on the field for Sky Blue FC, a stat that is quite disappointing. Though Filigno has 56 caps for Canada at age 23, she is yet to develop into the consistent scoring threat that many thought she would be.



Midfielders







All three Canadian midfielders in the chart above put in consistent performances for their respective clubs, day in and day out. Diana Matheson was likely Canada’s best player in NWSL for the second season in a row, and with their improved roster, Washington was able to reach the NWSL playoffs, a great turnaround after finishing the 2013 season in last place. Sophie Schmidt played a more defensive role this year for Sky Blue, which may explain why she scored just one goal this season compared to seven in 2013.



Defenders



With Lauren Sesselmann tearing her ACL back in March and Carmelina Moscato’s ongoing foot injury, only three defenders played significant minutes this season. A stat that stands out here is Gayle’s contribution to Washington’s attack- two goals, one assist and seven shots, all from the full-back position.



Looking at the stats above, some questions arise regarding Rachel Quon. After switching from the American to the Canadian program last summer (eligible as a dual citizen), Quon was allocated by Herdman and was a crucial part of Chicago’s defense for the second year in a row. Herdman must have Quon in the team’s plans for 2015 if he allocated her, so why hasn’t she been a regular in camp for the team’s three friendlies so far this year? It’s a question worth asking, especially when 17-year-old full-back Sura Yekka, who has been getting a lot of minutes with the senior team since last fall, did not have the stand out performance many thought she would at the under 20 women’s world cup in August. Might Quon get more minutes with the national team in their friendlies against Japan this fall? We will have to wait and see.



Goalkeepers (S= Shots faced, SOG= Shots on goal faced, GA= Goals against)







Despite the difference in save percentage stats between Karina Leblanc and Erin McLeod, I would be quite surprised if McLeod moves from first to second on Herdman’s goalkeeping depth chart, as there was nothing strikingly good or bad about both keeper’s performance this NWSL season. For the second year in a row, Leblanc had a much better team in front of her than McLeod.



Other NWSL notes



1) The NWSL recently announced its plans for the 2015 season. The league will play a 20 game schedule and will take a two-week break in June for the Women’s World Cup group stage. The league also confirmed that the CSA will continue to allocate players for the 2015 season, and that these national team players will be released from residency camp in order to play some NWSL games at the beginning of the season.



2) Last February, Herdman told Steven Sandor of the11.ca that the CSA did not replace Desiree Scott’s allocation spot after she transferred to Notts County because there was not a free agent good enough to take said spot. Herdman likely had a tough time finding a replacement player for this allocation spot due to several women’s national team players turning down NWSL contracts, as reported by Daniel Squizzato at Canadian Soccer News in January.



3) 21-year-old Canadian defender Shelina Zadorsky was in preseason camp with eventual league winners FC Kansas City back in March. At the time, it looked like Zadorsky had a very good chance of signing with the team as a free agent, but coach Vlatko Andonovski told The Blue Testament that Zadorsky had to return to school and would re-join the team in May. However, she did not re-join the team in May, and ended up playing for the Ottawa Fury of the W-League this past summer. She recently signed a contract with Perth Glory of the Australian W-League, which runs from September to December.



4) The Washington Spirit waived veteran center back Candace Chapman, who has 114 caps for Canada, on March 29th. The 31-year-old was not allocated by the CSA in either 2013 or 2014, but signed with the Spirit as a free agent in 2013 and played quite a few minutes while struggling with injuries. Before she was waived in March, Chapman spoke with RNO’s Steve Bottjer on the future of her playing and coaching career.



5) Besides Christine Sinclair for Portland, Erin McLeod was the other Canadian to captain her NWSL side this season. Giving McLeod the captaincy for a young and struggling expansion team was a testament to her leadership on the field, a trait she will need in abundance next summer when directing Canada’s young defensive stars, like Kadeisha Buchanan, Sura Yekka and Rebecca Quinn.



