by Catherine Grace,
Sport Information, Publications and Web Co-ordinator, Athletics and Recreation


The Concordia Stingers women’s soccer team will play a group of elite players from the Centre Nationale de Haute Performance (CNHP) at the Catalogna Soccerplex at 775 1st Ave. in Lachine on Saturday at 5 p.m.

The CNHP is a program run jointly by the Quebec Soccer Federation and the Canadian Soccer Association. Its goal is to provide training for top players who have been identified as possible national team candidates.

A coach from the national team will be on hand to evaluate the talent. A complete Stingers squad, including all-stars Jerusha Osborne, Shannon Ransom, Ingrid Dubuc and Valerie Desjardins will participate.

Players to watch on the CNHP side include Myriam Gousse of the Lac St. Louis Lakers and Caroline Vaillancourt. Both were members of the Canadian team that won a silver medal in the Under-19 World Cup last summer.

“Playing this game is part of my ongoing plan to upgrade the quality of Concordia women’s soccer,” says head coach Jorge Sanchez. “It gives us a chance to play against the best youth players in Quebec and to measure our abilities and progress. It will allow the players to face a better calibre of soccer than they are used to.”

The Stingers enjoyed their best season in more than a decade. With a 7-4-3 Quebec conference record, the team was above .500 for the first time since 1993. Concordia defeated the McGill Martlets 1-0 in the semifinals before losing 2-0 to the Laval Rouge et Or in the QSSF championship.

The semifinal victory over McGill gave the Stingers their first playoff victory since 1991.