Whitecaps Women Eliminated From Playoffs

LOVELAND, CO – Vancouver Whitecaps FC women saw their USL W-League playoff hopes come to an end on Friday night, as they lost 3-0 away to Colorado Force FC.

The home side scored two first-half goals through Nikki Marshall and Emily Pfankuch to take command at Loveland Sports Park in Loveland, Colorado, as the Whitecaps were unable to recover. Pfankuch sealed the win with a second goal late in the second half.

The result eliminated the Blue and White from playoff contention, and combined with Seattle Sounders women’s 2-0 loss away to Los Angeles Legends, the win leaves the Force in second place in the W-League Western Conference standings. Craig Deacon’s side now look likely to make the playoffs, while the Whitecaps will miss the postseason for only the second time in club history.

Whitecaps head coach Alan Koch was missing numerous starters for Friday’s match. This included leading goalscorer Jodi-Ann Robinson, midfielders Chelsea Stewart and Carmelina Moscato, and defender Shannon Woeller. The quartet are all with the Canadian women’s national team for a pair of international friendlies versus the USA. This meant that young strikers Julie Armstrong and Chelsea Buckland both got their first starts of the season, while Kate Qually and Eden Hingwing lined up in the defensive backline. As well, Katie Thorlakson was switched from fullback to midfield, lining up in a 4-3-3 formation alongside Amy Vermeulen and youngster Monica Lam-Feist.

The Force were riding a two-match win streak, and were in as great a need of a victory in this game as Vancouver. The home side came out flying, and were clearly the better team in a fast-paced first half. Colorado hit the crossbar in the opening minutes before forcing a good save from Whitecaps goalkeeper Sian Bagshawe on the quarter-hour mark.

At the other end, Vancouver’s best chance of the half came from a dangerous cross by Armstrong on 12 minutes, which was cut out well by Force goalkeeper Maria Del Guercio. The Whitecaps had their fair share of possession, but rarely threatened Colorado’s goal in the first 45 minutes.

The Force opened scoring on 18 minutes on a breakaway. A Vancouver giveaway by Qually allowed quicksilver Force winger Marshall a clear run in on goal from the right-hand side. Her first shot hit the post, but she put away her own rebound to make it 1-0.

It was almost 2-0 minutes later, as a huge scramble in front of the Whitecaps goal was finally cleared, in what was a narrow escape. It proved to only be a temporary reprieve, however, as on 23 minutes, another mad scramble in front of goal ended up with the ball finding its way into the back of the Whitecaps net through Pfankuch.

“We didn’t show up at the start of the match,” Koch told whitecapsfc.com after Friday’s game. “They came out blazing, and scored two relatively early goals to put us in a hole, and we weren’t able to crawl our way out of it.”

The Whitecaps problems were compounded at the half-hour mark, as striker Kirsteen Buchan suffered a badly bruised thigh, which forced her to come off soon after. She was replaced by young striker Nikki Wright on 36 minutes.

It was 2-0 to the Force at halftime.