By Elias Laradi
Canada finished the group stage on Wednesday night beating Costa Rica 3-0 at Shell Energy Stadium in Houston, Texas.
Shelina Zadorsky scored a brace while Jordyn Huitema added another to keep Canada perfect at the inaugural W Gold Cup.
“We have had a really high focus and standard on the game”, Bev Priestman told the media post-game. “ I challenged this team and despite the fact we were already through the standards had to stay the same.”
Canada finished the group stage as the number one seed with three wins, 13 goals, and three clean sheets which is quite the accomplishment heading towards Paris.
“That relentless mindset is what the best things teams can do so that’s our challenge and be a number one mindset team and I am really proud of the group and I am really pleased to keep three clean sheets.”
It didn’t take long for the goals to come as 10 minutes into the game Jesse Fleming with a cross into the box found Jordyn Huitema who was able to dive and head the ball into the back of the net past the Costa Rican keeper Daniella Solera.
“The goals came from different places and set pieces and we worked on that because we know in games that matter they become more important and proud to keep pushing.” - CanWNT Head Coach, Bev Priestman
Seventeen minutes later Adrianna Leon who is the current leader for the Golden Boot for the most goals managed a cross to Zadorsky who was able to head it in to double Canada’s lead.
“Our delivers are expanding and it was determining who can deliver and who can score and evaluating set plays and we have to be creative and more clinical and I am over the moon for Shelina.”
In the 56th minute, Zadorsky scored her second of the game once again off a set piece and she was able to head in another corner to make it 3-0 and seal the win for Canada.
“We have that level of pressure and standards on ourselves and we have put a lot of emphasis on the process and we want to be number one in this tournament.”
Priestman made two changes in her starting 11 before the match giving Clarissa Larisey and Simi Awujo the start and it helped her team with their individual play improve to 15-0 lifetime against Costa Rica.
There was a bit of drama after the game to determine Canada’s next opponent in the quarterfinals as both Costa Rica and Puerto Rico were level on points, goals, and cards after three group games each.
After Paraguay beat El Salvador in the final scheduled game of the group stage 3-2 a lot was drawn to determine Canada's opponent and Costa Rica was pulled meaning they advanced.
The two teams will now meet once again this time on Saturday at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles.
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