BATON ROUGE – Allysha Chapman‘s first goal as a member of the Canadian Women’s National Team proved to be a match winner as LSU’s former All-SEC defender found the back of the net in the 51st minute to lift Canada to a 1-0 victory over Italy in its final group match on Monday and send her nation into the championship final at the 2015 Cypress Women’s Cup.
On the back of a 2-0 win over Scotland on Wednesday and a 1-0 win over South Korea on Friday of last week, Canada clinched the top spot in Group A while keeping its third clean sheet on the spin with a 1-0 defeat of Italy on Monday to seal its place in the Cypress Women’s Cup final where it faces England in Larnaca, Cypress, on Wednesday.
A two-time First-Team All-SEC selection and the 2011 SEC Defensive Player of the Year during her career with the Tigers, Chapman has certainly cemented her position with the Canadian Women’s National Team since making her full international debut for her country at the senior level on Oct. 25, 2014.
Since making her debut back in the fall, Chapman has gone on to earn seven international caps with six starts for Canada at the senior level while scoring her debut goal in Monday’s 1-0 win over Italy.
“When it happened, I was in a little bit of shock,” Chapman told CanadaSoccer.com following the match. “I saw Tanc (Melissa Tancredi) coming off the front, and she made a great spin turn. I was under-lapping her and hoped she could get that touch to me. She saw me and put it through and I just slammed it on net. I wasn’t expecting to score, but I am really happy.”
John Herdman, head coach of the Canadian Women’s National Team, spoke of the changes he made to his side’s playing style at halftime as the key to Canada’s victory and berth into the Cypress Women’s Cup final.
“Both teams put each other under immediate pressure, but we started slow,” Herdman told CanadaSoccer.com following the contest. “I had to change the structure at halftime as the shape we set up with (in the first half) didn’t really cope well with their diamond formation. The change at halftime changed everything, and we were able to get a goal quite quickly.”
Chapman’s professional career has certainly taken off after playing her final collegiate season with the Tigers in 2011. She is now playing her professional soccer in the United States as a member of the Houston Dash in the National Women’s Soccer League, joining the club ahead of the league’s opening day on Friday, April 10, as an allocated national team player from her former club team Eskilstuna United DFF in Sweden.