Whitecaps Girls Elite squad looks to defend national title, then face CONCACAF's best

Katie Collar (right), head coach of the Vancouver Whitecaps FC League1 BC women’s team, is shown (standing) on the sidelines May 5, 2024, in a game against TSS Rovers at Thunderbird Stadium in Vancouver. (The Canadian Press / Handout / Bob Frid / Vancouver Whitecaps)

The Vancouver Whitecaps women are headed to the new Northern Super League next year. But there are more immediate matters at hand.

It starts this week with the League1 Canada Inter-Provincial Championship in Hamilton. Then it's on to San Salvador for an Aug. 15 playoff against El Salvador's Alianza Women FC to determine the final berth in the inaugural CONCACAF W Champions Cup.

The Whitecaps FC Girls Elite squad starts defence of its Canadian pro-am title on Friday against the Calgary Blizzard. NDC Ontario faces CS Mont-Royal Outrement in the other semifinal at Tim Hortons Field.

There is plenty at stake in the days ahead. But for Vancouver coach Katie Collar, the challenge for the team is not to get ahead of itself.

"Our biggest conversation this week and over the last couple of weeks has been just focusing on the next step and making sure that we're ready to win that next game or train our best that next training session and get ready for the upcoming (challenges)," she said.

So far, so good.

Under Collar, Vancouver topped the League1 B.C. regular-season standings at 10-0-2, outscoring the opposition 48-7, before beating Burnaby FC 2-1 Sunday for its third straight playoff title.

The inaugural 2024-25 CONCACAF W Champions Cup runs through May 2025, featuring the top women’s clubs from North and Central America and the Caribbean. The winner will represent CONCACAF at the inaugural FIFA Women’s Club World Cup in 2026.

The Vancouver-Alianza playoff winner will slot into Group B of the CONCACAF tournament for games Aug. 21 at Mexico's Club America and Sept. 4 at Panama's Santa Fe before hosting the NWSL's San Diego Wave on Oct. 1 and Portland Thorns on Oct. 15.

Getting into the CONCACAF W Champions Cup would be invaluable experience as Vancouver prepares for life in the six-team NSL, which is slated to kick off next April.

"We've got quite a few young players in our squad that should be looking forward to that pro league," said Collar, a former NCAA Division I player at Eastern Kentucky who was put in charge of the Whitecaps FC Girls Elite program and Vancouver's League1 BC women’s team in April 2022.

Former Canadian goalkeeper Stephanie Labbe, the Whitecaps GM of women’s soccer, is in charge of building the NSL roster.

Collar's team drew heavily on young talent from the Whitecaps FC Girls Elite Academy. But with some of the team's graduating seniors leaving for NCAA and Canadian university clubs before the playoffs, Collar strengthened her team with the addition of goalkeepers Dakota Beckett and Morgan McAslan, defender Brianne Reed, midfielder Josie Longhurst, midfielder-forward Jessica De Filippo and forward Jourdan Ziff.

On the plus side, Canadian youth internationals Jeneva Hernandez Gray and Jaime Perrault elected to stay with the team for another year.

Four of Collar's academy players are currently away with Canada at the CONCACAF Girls' U-15 Championship in Costa Rica.

Vancouver dominated the League1 BC 2024 awards with Hernandez Gray named player of the year, young player of the year and top midfielder.

"On the ball, she's a special talent," said Collar. "The game slows down when the ball's at her feet. She makes it look easy."

Captain Kierra Blundell, the league's leading goal-scorer and a freshman at Arizona State, won top forward honours.

"An absolute force in the league … a special talent," said Collar, who was named coach of the year.

Vancouver appointed Sinead King last month as chief business officer of its NSL entry.

Former New Zealand international Emma Humphries, wife of Canadian women's coach Bev Priestman, left her post as the Whitecaps director of women’s football several weeks ago to focus on her duties as Canadian under-17 women's coach.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 6, 2024.