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Chapman, Canada Advance to Olympic Quarterfinals

by Will Stafford (@WillStaffordLSU)
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Chapman, Canada Advance to Olympic Quarterfinals

BATON ROUGE – Former LSU Soccer standout Allysha Chapman and the Canadian Women’s National Team are into the quarterfinals of the women’s soccer competition at the 2016 Olympic Games as Group F winners after defeating Germany, 2-1, in their final group match held Tuesday at Mane Garrincha Stadium in Brasilia.

Despite falling behind the Germans in the 13th minute of the match through Melanie Behringer’s converted penalty kick, the Canadians stormed back thanks to a brace by Melissa Tancredi as she drew the team level in the 26th minute with her first goal of the afternoon before netting the winner in the 60th minute for a historic 2-1 victory.

With the win, Canada earned its first ever result against European champions Germany while staying perfect atop Group F with nine points after opening the Rio Olympics with a 2-0 shutout of Australia on Aug. 3 and a 3-1 victory over Zimbabwe on Saturday. Germany finished second in the group on four points with a better goal difference than Australia, which also totaled four points for third place.

Chapman, LSU Soccer’s first Olympian, featured in each of Canada’s three group wins while earning the start against Germany on Tuesday after coming on as a second-half substitute in their other two games.

By topping Group F, Canada faces France in Friday’s Olympic quarterfinals in what will be a rematch of the Bronze Medal Match from the 2012 Olympic Games in London when Canada earned a 1-0 win for its first medal in the competition. They return to Corinthians Arena in Sao Paulo, Brazil, with kickoff against the French set for 5 p.m. CT.

Other women’s quarterfinals at the Rio Olympics on Friday feature the United States against Sweden at 11 a.m. CT, China against Germany at 2 p.m. CT and Brazil hosting Australia at 8 p.m. CT.