2019 China Test Series

The Women’s National Team kicks off 2019 with a three week training tour in China. Both the senior and junior national team athletes will travel to China on January 10th and return at the end of the month. Scheduled test matches are listed below. The Junior National Team is also on the ground in Panzhihua, training and competing in unsanctioned test matches agains the Chinese U23 team.

PHOTO ALBUM | JWNT PHOTO ALBUM

GAME ONE [CAN 2 – 3 CHN]

Canadian Goal Scorers: Kate Wright, Steph Norlander

Cap Milestones: Elise Wong played her first senior international match. Anna Mollenhauer was listed on the roster but missed her opportunity at her first cap as she has been sidelined with an injury. Amanda Woodcroft played her 100th senior international cap.

Game Quote: Amanda Woodcroft – “Though we did not get the result we were looking for in the first game, I am confident that we will bounce back stronger and keep pushing hard during the rest of this six game series. We will take key learnings from this first game and implement the necessary changes to get a result in game two.”

GAME TWO [CAN 3 – 5 CHN]

Canadian Goal Scorers: Steph Norlander (2), Sara McManus

Cap Milestones: Steph Norlander and Shanlee Johnston both reach the 100 cap milestone in the same game.

Game Quote: Shanlee Johnston – “China is a great team to play, they are skilled, fit, disciplined, and peaking for their pro league competition. A very tough team, but a team we need to learn how to beat.”

GAME THREE [CAN 2 – 0 CHN]

Canadian Goal Scorers: Steph Norlander, Sara McManus

Game Notes: Canada responds to losing the first two games of the series with a gutsy 2-0 victory backstopped by veteran goalkeeper Kaitlyn Williams. Steph Norlander leads Canadians with four goals through three games. After recovering from her injury, Anna Mollenhauer played in her first career senior international match. The UVic second-year is daughter of FHC Hall of Famer, Nancy Mollenhauer.

Game Quote: Sara McManus -“I think we made some key adjustments in today’s game that really allowed us to simplify the game. I thought we did a better job of focusing on our individual roles and communicating with our teammates.”

GAME FOUR [CAN 1 – 0 CHN]

Canadian Goal Scorer: Natalie Sourisseau

Cap Milestone: Alison Lee (50)

“It was always a dream of mine to play for my country, so every time I put the red and white jersey on it is an honour. Playing my 50th match for Canada just reminds me how lucky I am to be here and compete with such an incredible group of women,” said Lee.

GAME FIVE [CAN 3 – 4 CHN]

Canadian Goal Scorers: Maddie Secco, Steph Norlander, Hannah Haughn

Game notes: Game five was a back-and-forth battle as the team’s traded leads. China scored the game winner in the 55th minute giving them a 3-2 series lead heading into the final match. Steph Norlander notched her series-leading fifth goal. UBC’s Margaret Pham played in her first officially capped match.

Game Quote: Rachel Donohoe – “The opportunity to play such a well organized and structured team has been a good one. It has given us some perspective on what we as a team, need to work on and has empowered us and shown us that we can compete with high level international teams.”

GAME SIX [CAN 0 – 0 CHN]

Game Notes: Canada and China wrap up their test series with a nil-nil draw. The Canadians now head back to their daily training environment to prepare for the 2019 Pan American Games which is set to start in late July in Peru.

JUNIOR TEST MATCH RESULTS:

JAN 19 – Canada 1-7 China
JAN 20 – Canada 1-4 China
JAN 22 – Canada 2-4 China
JAN 23 – Canada 0-2 China
JAN 25 – Canada 2-4 China
JAN 26 – Canada 1-5 China