By Canadian Press

Canada goal spree in CONCACAF U20 qualifying play continues with 9-0 win over Bermuda

Feb 23, 2025 | 5:32 PM

PORT OF SPAIN — Captain Jeneva Hernandez Gray and substitute Ella Kettles each scored twice as Canada ran its goal total to 31 in two games in CONCACAF U-20 women’s qualifying play with a 9-0 win over Bermuda on Sunday.

The young Canadians opened play Friday with a 22-0 romp over Dominica.

Kaylee Hunter, Kierra Blundell, Teegan Melenhorst, Annabelle Chukwu and Iba Oching also scored Sunday for Canada, which led 3-0 at the half. The score could have been more lopsided had it not been for Bermuda goalkeeper Taya Rodrigues, whose stops included a Natelle El Mokbel penalty in the 85th minute.

Chukwu, a freshman at Notre Dame, added to her Canadian youth international goal-scoring record (previously held by Christine Sinclair). The 18-year-old from Ottawa now has 31 goals in 36 games from the under-15 to under-20 level.

Hunter, who is with AFC Toronto of the new Northern Super League, has six goals at the tournament.

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Canada wraps up Group E play Tuesday against host Trinidad and Tobago, which faced Dominica later Sunday.

The United States and Mexico, as the top-ranked countries in the confederation, get to skip the qualifying round and go directly to the CONCACAF U-20 Championship in May. Canada and 23 other teams have to win their way there.

Those 24 teams have been divided into six pools with only the group winners moving on to the main CONCACAF competition in May. Four CONCACAF teams will make it to next year’s FIFA U-20 World Cup in Poland.

Bermuda lost 3-0 to Trinidad and Tobago in its opener Friday.

While Canada had never played Dominica or Bermuda before at this level, it has won all four previous meetings against Trinidad and Tobago in under-20 play, with an 18-2 edge in goals.

Canada’s win over Dominica marked the second-largest victory in CONCACAF Women’s Under-20 Qualifiers history, behind only the Dominican Republic’s 25-0 romp over the British Virgin Islands in September 2005. Canada, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica (21-0 in 2001) are the only teams to score 20 or more goals in a single match.

Canada coach Cindy Tye made seven changes to her starting lineup Sunday with only Hunter, Lea Larouche, Janet Okeke and Hernandez Gray retaining their spots.

It was 29 C at kickoff at Ato Boldon Stadium.

Bermuda held out for 15 minutes before Larouche fed a wide-open Hunter for the opening goal in the 16th. Goals followed by Blundell in the 18th and Melenhorst in the 23rd.

Melenhorst’s was perhaps the pick of the bunch as she evaded two defenders and then looped the ball high into the goal out of Rodrigues’ reach with a left-footed shot.

Canada made it 4-0 in the 46th minute, winning the ball back after Bermuda kicked off the half with Hernandez Gray providing the finish. The 18-year-old from Coquitlam, B.C., who has one senior cap, scored again in the 58th minute with more goals coming from Kettles (65th), Chukwu (75th), Kettles (92nd) and Oching (94th).

Canada’s senior side is ranked sixth in the world compared to No. 147 for Bermuda.

Two years ago in the same CONCACAF qualifier, the young Canadians outscored their opposition 40-1 in four games. The Canadians opened play with a 15-0 win over Martinique before downing St. Vincent and the Grenadines 12-0, Cuba 4-0 and El Salvador 9-1.

The Canadian squad features six returning players from last year’s FIFA Women’s U-20 World Cup in Colombia where Canada made it to the round of 16 before losing 2-1 to Spain. The veterans are Hernandez Gray, Okeke, Chukwu, Noelle Henning, Sofia Cortes-Browne and Jadea Collin.

Chukwu and Okeke have been called into camp by the Canada senior side but have yet to win a cap.

Canada has taken part in nine of the previous 11 editions of the FIFA U-20 tournament, missing out in 2010 and 2018.

Canada’s best showing was runner-up in 2002, led by a young Sinclair, in the first edition of the tournament when it was still an under-19 event. The Canadian women reached the quarterfinals in 2004 and 2014 (on home soil), failing to make it out of the group stage on five other occasions.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 23, 2025.

The Canadian Press