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Vancouver Whitecaps FC (women)

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This article is about the former USL W-League team. For the League1 BC team, see Whitecaps FC Academy § Women's.

Vancouver Whitecaps FC
2003–2010 crest
Founded2000; 24 years ago (2000)
DissolvedDecember 2012; 12 years ago (December 2012)
Stadium
OwnerVancouver Whitecaps FC
LeagueUSL W-League

The Vancouver Whitecaps FC women was a Canadian soccer club based in Vancouver, British Columbia that played in the USL W-League, the second tier of women's soccer in the United States and Canada. The team was formed in 2001 under the name Vancouver Breakers following a merger of the Vancouver Lady 86ers and Vancouver Angels. In 2003, they changed their name to the Whitecaps to match the men's team.

History

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Pre-formation

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Vancouver Lady 86ers

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In 2000, the Vancouver Lady 86ers played an exhibition season over the summer along with three other new Pacific Northwest teams: Portland Rain, Spokane Chill and the Seattle Sounders Select Women, with the four teams planning to join the USL W-League for the 2001 season.[1]

Vancouver Angels

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Main article: Vancouver Angels

In 2000, the Vancouver Angels were established to play in the Women's Premier Soccer League.[2][3] During the 2000 season, the Angels finished in fourth place in the eight team division.[4]

Breakers years

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The team played its first two USL W-League seasons as the "Vancouver Breakers".

In 2001, David Stadnyk, the owner of the Angels, purchased the Vancouver 86ers and merged the Angels with the Lady 86ers under the name Vancouver Breakers, while renaming the male 86ers to their former name Vancouver Whitecaps[5] The team joined the USL W-League for the 2001 season.[6]

In their debut season, they finished first in the Western Conference advancing to the playoffs. In the semi-finals, the Breakers needed a 104th minute overtime golden goal from Andrea Neil to advance on a 1–0 win over the host Hampton Road Piranhas. After a two-and-a-half hour thunderstorm delay that resulted in the cancellation of the 3rd place game, the championship final was played at the Virginia Beach Sportsplex. When the skies cleared, despite a goal from Vancouver’s Tammy Crawford, the Breakers were defeated 5-1 by the Boston Renegades.[7]

In 2002, the Breakers had another strong season, losing only one match (in overtime) during the regular season. However, in the playoffs, they lost in the semi-finals to the Charlotte Lady Eagles on penalty kicks. After the 2002 season, following a complaint from the WUSA's Boston Breakers, the Whitecaps held a contest to determine a new club name.[8][9]

Whitecaps years

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In 2003, both the men's and women's teams were purchased by Greg Kerfoot and the Breakers were renamed as the Whitecaps to consolidate the men's, women's, and youth teams under a single name.[10][11] The team won the 2004 and 2006 championships, and was runner-up in 2001 and 2010.[11] Vancouver played in the Western Conference against the Colorado Force, Colorado Rush, LA Strikers, Pali Blues, Santa Clarita Blue Heat, Seattle Sounders Women and Victoria Highlanders Women.

In 2010, the Whitecaps played their home games at Swangard Stadium in the city of Burnaby, British Columbia, 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) east of Downtown Vancouver. In 2011, the women played each home game in a different city in British Columbia.[12] The team's colours were blue and white.

The club announced that it will not field a team for the 2013 USL W-League season. They stated it was because many of the best players in Canada are going to play in the National Women's Soccer League, involving the United States Soccer Federation, Canadian Soccer Association, and Mexican Football Federation.[13] The Whitecaps continued fielding an under-18 team, their girls elite program, in the 2013 Pacific Coast Soccer League.

In 2019, several former Whitecaps Women players published allegations of sexual abuse and misconduct from coaches at the club.[14] The claims centered around behaviour by head coach Bob Birarda, who was fired in 2008 after an internal investigation, and Hubert Busby Jr., who coached the team from 2011 to 2012.[15] Several supporters groups for the men's team organized protests and walk-outs during matches in April and May 2019 in support of an independent investigation into the allegations.[16][17] At one protest in May, they were joined by visiting Portland Timbers fans.[18]

In late 2021, MLS announced an independent investigation and review into the conduct of both coaches as well as the Whitecaps organization.[15][19] The investigation found that the Whitecaps' response "was appropriate" and "adhered to all of the [internal] investigator's recommendations".[19][20] A parallel investigation into Canada Soccer's actions found that the allegations of Birarda's behaviour with the under-20 team were "mishandled" by CSA.[21]

REX Program

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Main article: Canada Soccer National Development Centres § NDC British Columbia (Whitecaps Academy REX)

In 2015, in collarboration with BC Soccer and the Canadian Soccer Association, the Whitecaps launched the first Women's Regional EXCEL Centre (REX) in Western Canada, for top Canadian women soccer prospects.[22]

Northern Super League

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In December of 2022, it was announced that the Vancouver Whitecaps would be an inaugural member of the planned Northern Super League (then known as Project 8), a proposed fully-professional women's soccer league in Canada. They are scheduled to start play in 2025 alongside five other clubs under a new identity known as Vancouver Rise FC.

Former head coaches

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Head coaches
Years Name Ref
2001–2003 David Dew [23]
2004–2005 Chris Bennett [24]
2005 Patrick Rohla [25]
2006-2008 Bob Birarda [26]
2009 Alan Koch [27]
2010–2011 Hubert Busby, Jr. [28]
2012 Jesse Symons [29]

Seasons

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as Vancouver Breakers

Season League Record Rank Playoffs Ref
2001 USL W-League 12–1–1 1st, West Runners-Up [30]
2002 11–0–1 1st, West 3rd

as Vancouver Whitecaps Women

Season League Record Rank Playoffs Voyageurs Cup Ref
2003 USL W-League 10–1–1 1st, West Quarter-finals Not held [30]
2004 13–1–0 1st, West Champions West Champions
2005 13–0–1 1st, West 3rd West Champions
2006 11–1–0 1st, West Champions West and Super Cup Champions
2007 6–3–3 3rd, West did not qualify Not held
2008 7–3–2 2nd, West Quarter-finals
2009 2–4–6 5th did not qualify
2010 6–4–0 1st, West Runners-Up
2011 8–4–2 2nd, West 3rd
2012 3–6–5 6th, West did not qualify

Top Goalscorers

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Top goalscorer
Year Name Goals Ref
2001 Diana Artuso 10 [31]
2002 Christine Sinclair 7 [32]
2003 Phebe Trotman 13 [33]
2004 Martina Franko 19 [34]
2005 Amber Allen 16 [35]
2006 Christine Sinclair 12 [36]
2007 Tiffany Milbrett 11 [37]
2008 Tiffany Milbrett 5 [38]
2009 Jodi Ann Robinson 7 [39]
2010 Melissa Tancredi 6 [40]
2011 Sydney Leroux 12 [41]
2012 Mele French 5 [42]

Awards and honours

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  • USL W-League Champions: 2004, 2006
  • USL W-League Western Conference Champions: 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2010, 2011
  • Voyageurs Cup
West titles: 2004, 2005, 2006
Super Cup titles: 2006

Notable players

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Famous Players

  • See also List of Vancouver Whitecaps Women players

References

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  1. ^ Howells, Emily (June 9, 2000). "Seattle has select group of players". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. p. C8.
  2. ^ "Canadians In Soccerdom: Tammy Crawford". Nuke Soccer. August 24, 2004. Archived from the original on July 17, 2005.
  3. ^ "Meet the Director". Nexstar Soccer.
  4. ^ Litterer, Dave. "The Year in American Soccer, 2000". Soccer History USA.
  5. ^ "Whitecaps roll in, 86ers roll out of A-League". CBC. October 25, 2000.
  6. ^ Douglas, Alan (February 14, 2001). "Vancouver Breakers to be Featured in Three Soccer Double-Headers at Burnaby's Swangard Stadium". Vancouver Breakers. Archived from the original on July 2, 2001.
  7. ^ Timko, Brandon (July 29, 2011). "A Recap of Past W-League Final Four Appearances for Whitecaps FC". Vancouver Whitecaps.
  8. ^ "Vancouver Breakers Announce Contest For Re-Naming Team". whitecapssoccer.com. November 13, 2002. Archived from the original on December 11, 2002.
  9. ^ Ewen, Steve (November 13, 2002). "Ownership computes for Kerfoot". The Province. p. A54. Retrieved December 27, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ Timko, Brandon (June 7, 2010). "Chapter 3: Rebirth of the 'Caps". Whitecaps FC.
  11. ^ a b "Community Forum: Whitecaps FC USL PRO Proposal for Queen's Park Stadium" (PDF). New West City. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 10, 2021.
  12. ^ "2011 Women's Schedule". Vancouver Whitecaps. Archived from the original on April 20, 2011.
  13. ^ "Vancouver Whitecaps FC announce W-League team status for 2013 season". Vancouver Whitecaps FC.
  14. ^ Hall, Matthew (April 11, 2019). "'The sickest thing': Canadian soccer rocked by claims of systemic abuse". The Guardian. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
  15. ^ a b Larsen, Karin (November 4, 2021). "MLS investigation into Vancouver Whitecaps to be made public, includes tip line". CBC News. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
  16. ^ Adams, J.J. (April 18, 2019). "Whitecaps supporters, fans, stage walkout protest during Wednesday's game". The Province. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
  17. ^ Seucharan, Cherise; Chiu, Joanna (May 2, 2019). "Whistleblower, fans 'disappointed' in Whitecaps' handling of abuse investigation". Toronto Star. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
  18. ^ Goldberg, Jamie (May 10, 2019). "Portland Timbers, Vancouver Whitecaps fans participate in walkout over Whitecaps' handling of abuse allegations". The Oregonian. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
  19. ^ a b "Whitecaps' response to misconduct allegations was appropriate, review says". The Guardian. August 11, 2022. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
  20. ^ Johnston, Patrick (August 11, 2022). "Whitecaps' sexual misconduct investigations in 2008 and 2011 'rushed,' superficial: Major League Soccer review". The Province. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
  21. ^ Davidson, Neil (July 28, 2022). "Canada Soccer 'mishandled' sexual harassment allegations in 2008 against then-coach Bob Birarda, review finds". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
  22. ^ "Whitecaps FC Girls Elite Super REX Program in Partnership with BC Soccer and the Canadian Soccer Association". Vancouver Whitecaps FC.
  23. ^ Douglas, Alan (June 30, 2011). "Whitecaps FC women play Canada Day match against provincial rivals Victoria Highlanders FC". Vancouver Whitecaps FC.
  24. ^ Prest, Andy (August 31, 2014). "Bennett headed to Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame". North Shore News.
  25. ^ "Whitecaps Women solidify 2010 coaching staff". Vancouver Whitecaps. December 14, 2009.
  26. ^ Johnson, Patrick (December 11, 2020). "Former Whitecaps women's coach arrested on sex charges". The Province.
  27. ^ "Koch named women's head coach". April 20, 2009. Archived from the original on August 13, 2011.
  28. ^ "Whitecaps women's team appoints Hubert Busby Jr. as new head coach". CP24. December 14, 2009.
  29. ^ Weber, Marc (January 19, 2012). "Symons to lead Caps' women". The Province.
  30. ^ a b Litterer, David (June 16, 2011). "USA – United States Women's Interregional Soccer League (W-League)". RSSSF.
  31. ^ "Vancouver Breakers 2001 Stats". Vancouver Breakers. Archived from the original on August 10, 2002.
  32. ^ "Vancouver Breakers 2002 Stats". Vancouver Breakers. Archived from the original on October 4, 2002.
  33. ^ "Vancouver Whitecaps 2003 Stats". Vancouver Whitecaps. Archived from the original on February 2, 2004.
  34. ^ "Vancouver Whitecaps 2004 Stats". United Soccer League. Archived from the original on August 12, 2014.
  35. ^ "Vancouver Whitecaps 2005 Stats". United Soccer League. Archived from the original on August 12, 2014.
  36. ^ "Vancouver Whitecaps 2006 Stats". United Soccer League. Archived from the original on December 21, 2014.
  37. ^ "Vancouver Whitecaps 2007 Stats". United Soccer League. Archived from the original on December 21, 2014.
  38. ^ "Vancouver Whitecaps 2008 Stats". United Soccer League. Archived from the original on December 21, 2014.
  39. ^ "Vancouver Whitecaps 2009 Stats". United Soccer League. Archived from the original on December 21, 2014.
  40. ^ "Vancouver Whitecaps 2010 Stats". United Soccer League. Archived from the original on December 21, 2014.
  41. ^ "Vancouver Whitecaps 2011 Stats". United Soccer League. Archived from the original on August 12, 2014.
  42. ^ "Vancouver Whitecaps 2012 Stats". United Soccer League. Archived from the original on August 12, 2014.
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