Calgary Foothills WFC beat So Cal Crush FC 3-0 – maintain perfect record

Calgary Foothills WFC earned a 3-0 victory over So Cal Crush FC Friday evening in Calgary – maintaining their perfect start to the new United Women’s Soccer season.

Friday’s win matches their result against Real Salt Lake from seven days ago week and keeps Foothills WFC at the top of the West Conference.

While Foothills WFC head coach Troye Flannery was pleased to bag another three points, he believes there’s still room to improve.

“We’ll take the result for sure,” Flannery said. “We can’t argue with the result. We scored a couple of good goals. But I’m a bit disappointed. I thought we were sloppy times.

“We showed, here and there, glimpses of what we’re capable of, but I think in general we were a bit sloppy,” admitted Flannery. “We were fighting the surface, fighting our first touch. And against an athletic physical team, I thought they disrupted us very, very well. We just weren’t sharp.”

Lauren Raimondo scored twice for the hosts in the 16th and 25th minutes and Jessie Jones added the third late in the second half. Friday’s also marked the Foothills WFC debut of Canadian international goalkeeper Stephanie Labbé, who recently signed with the club.

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While Raimondo was proud of her brace, she was quick to share the accolades with her teammates.

“Overall it was a great performance,” Raimondo said. “The balls for my goals, were perfect set ups. It was just a matter of placing it in the corner. But overall I thought it was a decent game.

“We were able to keep a little bit of possession. I’m grateful for my goals. But it wouldn’t have happened without my teammates.”

The forward had specific praise for a couple of the club’s midfielders.

“I think Jessie Jones was fantastic this game,” said Raimondo. “She has great vision on the ball and she’s great with her feet. And I think that first set up was perfect.

“Also Rehana Murani was fantastic on the ball as well – another one of our attacking midfielders.”

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Flannery and his squad have a quick turnaround and will now prepare for their next match in two days.

“We play in Colorado Springs on Sunday afternoon, a couple hours from Denver,” said Flannery. “We’ve got lots to talk about. There are bits and pieces that are positive from tonight. But we’ve got a lot to fix as well.”

The United Women’s Soccer season runs for six weeks and will see Foothills WFC play a total of 10 matches in the West Conference against Real Salt Lake, So Cal Crush, Santa Clarita Blue Heat, Colorado Pride and LA Galaxy. Playoffs follow the regular season but feature the best from each division.

UWS is a second-tier league in the North American soccer pyramid, below National Women’s Soccer League. The league features 27 clubs but only one Canadian team, Calgary Foothills WFC.

Calgary Foothills WFC’s will next visit Colorado Pride Sunday, June 3. Their next home game is against Colorado Pride at Calgary Soccer Centre Friday, June 8 at 6:30pm.

Single game and season tickets are available online at www.foothillsfc.ca/tickets/ or at the gate.

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