By Canadian Press

Chukwu’s hat trick helps Canadian women advance to CONCACAF U-20 Championship

Feb 25, 2025 | 7:17 PM

PORT OF SPAIN — Annabelle Chukwu continued her prolific scoring at youth level with a hat trick Tuesday as Canada qualified for the CONCACAF U-20 Women’s Championship by thumping Trinidad and Tobago 12-0 to win its qualifying group.

Chukwu scored in the sixth, 11th and 54th minutes, with the middle goal a thing of beauty. The 18-year-old from Ottawa effortlessly danced around two defenders in the penalty box before beating goalkeeper Zofia Richards in a sequence that would have made Lionel Messi smile.

Chukwu, a freshman at Notre Dame, added to her Canadian youth international goal-scoring record (previously held by Christine Sinclair). She now has 34 goals in 37 games from the under-15 to under-20 level.

Chukwu has been called into camp by the Canadian senior side but has yet to win a cap.

Kierra Blundell, who didn’t enter the match until the 64th minute, also had three goals. Kaylee Hunter, Lea Larouche, Juliette Perreault, Jeneva Hernandez Gray, Teegan Melenhorst and Ella Kettles added singles for Canada, which led 5-0 at the half.

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Hernandez Gray, who has one senior cap and plays in Portugal for Sporting CP, also served as an elegant provider throughout the game.

Hunter and Chukwu exited in the 64th minute, the damage done.

Several of the other Canadian goals were also of the highlight-reel variety with Melenhorst curling a shot from distance into the top corner to make it 9-0 in the 74th minute.

And there could have been more goals.

Canada hit the woodwork twice and several other Canadian shots were cleared off the goal-line. Richards made several fine saves in the second half before having to leave in the 84th minute after being hurt in a goalmouth collision.

Canada fullback Sienna Gibson needed to be helped off the field after going down late in the first half. She did not return.

Two years ago in the same CONCACAF qualifier, the young Canadians outscored their opposition 40-1 in four games. The Canadians opened play with a 15-0 win over Martinique before downing St. Vincent and the Grenadines 12-0, Cuba 4-0 and El Salvador 9-1.

Canada had a 43-0 edge in three games this time around.

Canada’s senior women’s side is ranked sixth in the world compared to No. 77 for Trinidad.

While both Canada and Trinidad went into Tuesday’s finale with six points, the young Canadians were assured of winning the group with a win or a draw given their plus-31 goal difference (compared to plus-10 for Trinidad).

Canada opened Group E play with a 22-0 romp over Dominica before dispatching Bermuda 9-0. Host Trinidad, meanwhile, downed Bermuda 3-0 and Dominica 7-0.

Canada’s win over Dominica was the second-largest victory in CONCACAF Women’s Under-20 Qualifiers history, behind only the Dominican Republic’s 25-0 romp over the British Virgin Islands in September 2005.

The U.S. and Mexico, as the top-ranked countries in the confederation, got to skip the qualifying round and go directly to the 2025 CONCACAF U-20 Championship. Canada and 23 other teams had to win their way there.

Those 24 teams were divided into six pools with only the group winners moving on to the main CONCACAF competition. Four CONCACAF teams will make it to next year’s FIFA U-20 World Cup in Poland.

Puerto Rico, Nicaragua and Costa Rica all won their groups Monday to advance. Guyana defeated Haiti 1-0 Tuesday to join them by winning Group A at 2-0-1. Panama and the Dominican Republic squared off Tuesday evening to decide Group C.

Dominica edged Bermuda 2-1 earlier in the day to finish third in Group E at 1-2-0. Bermuda was last at 0-3-0.

Canada had won all four previous meetings against Trinidad and Tobago in under-20 play, with an 18-2 edge in goals.

Canada coach Cindy Tye rotated her roster, as she has done the entire tournament, with team stalwarts Hernandez Gray, Larouche, Hunter and Janet Okeke retaining their place in the starting 11.

The Canadian squad features six returning players from last year’s FIFA Women’s U-20 World Cup in Colombia where Canada made it to the round of 16 before losing 2-1 to Spain.

Canada has taken part in nine of the previous 11 editions of the FIFA U-20 tournament, missing out in 2010 and 2018.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 25, 2025.

The Canadian Press