Rise Higher

England

In their first of two matches this week, Chelsea played Liverpool in a 2-1 win. Kadeisha Buchanan was still injured, but she is expected to make it back in time for the team’s fixture on the 10th of May. Jessie Fleming played 88 minutes in that match. In Chelsea’s second match, they obliterated Everton with a 7-0 win. Fleming played that entire match and earned one goal and one assist. Sabrina D’Angelo earned the clean sheet for Arsenal in a 1-0 win over Leicester. Manchester United defeated Tottenham 3-0, but the match had promising signs for Canadian fans: Shelina Zadorsky started the match after a long time away due to illness, and Jayde Riviere earned her professional debut.

France

Vanessa Gilles continued her impressive run with a goal for Lyon in their 3-0 win over Dijon. The rest of the results did not go the Canadians’ way in France this week: Marie Levasseur started for Fleury in a 2-1 loss against Montpellier, which hurts their chances of UWCL qualification. Ashley Lawrence and PSG split the points with Paris FC as they drew 0-0.

Italy

Happily, Julia Grosso seems to have gotten over the worst of her injury as she returned to the bench for Juventus. She did not feature in their 2-2 draw against Inter.

Portugal

Cloé Lacasse earned one assist in a 2-0 win against Valdares that clinched the Liga BPI title for Benfica. Marie-Yasmin Alidou continued scoring goals for Famalicão as she notched one of their four goals in a 4-0 win over Ourisense. Whilst Lysianne Proulx was not in the roster, her team Torreense fared well, earning a 2-1 win over Amora.

Sweden

Sura Yekka and Sarah Stratigakis played the full match for Vittsjö against Vaxjo in a 1-0 win. In their second match of the week, Vittsjö won 1-0 against IK Uppsala. In that match, Stratigakis played the full match, and Yekka played the second half. BK Häcken also played two matches this week: a 2-0 win against Öbrero and a 1-0 win against Hammarby. Clarissa Larisey featured in both matches, playing 64 minutes and 92 minutes respectively. Evelyne Viens and Kristianstads had a bad start to their week as they lost 2-0 to Rosengård. Their latter match of the week was a much better showing: they won 4-1 over Brommapojkarna. In that match, Viens scored a goal.

USA

In another round of Challenge Cup matches, the Courage drew Gotham 1-1. Sydney Collins played half the match for the Courage, whilst Victoria Pickett made her debut for the Courage against her former club. Allysha Chapman and Sophie Schmidt’s Dash faced off against Bianca St-Georges’ Red Stars. The Dash won by a score of 2-0. Lastly, the OL Reign drew ACFC 0-0. Quinn did not feature as they are still injured, and Jordyn Huitema played 15 minutes.

In regular league play, Gabrielle Carle played 86 minutes for the Washington Spirit in a 3-1 win against the San Diego Wave. On the other side, Kailen Sheridan featured in net for the Wave. The Courage and the Portland Thorns played in a goal-filled 3-3 draw. Sydney Collins was not in the roster for the Courage, but Pickett came on in the 56th minute and scored minutes later for her first goal for the Courage. For the Thorns, Christine Sinclair started the match, and Adriana Leon was subbed on in the 76th minute. Excitingly, Amanda Allen earned her professional debut, entering in the 87th minute for the Orlando Pride in a 1-0 win against Racing Louisville. After having a goal disallowed, Jordyn Huitema found the back of the net to notch another goal for the Reign as OL Reign beat the Houston Dash 2-0. Schmidt and Chapman both played the entire match for the Dash. The last Canadian to see action in the NWSL was St-Georges, who started for the Red Stars in a 2-1 loss to Gotham FC.

Player of the Week: Jessie Fleming

Goals: 6 (Alidou x1, Fleming x1, Gilles x1, Huitema x1, Pickett x1, Viens x1)

Assists: 2 (Fleming x1, Lacasse x1)