Ajax, Courtice, Whitby and Pickering athletes repping Canada at Olympic soccer tournament

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Published June 24, 2021 at 2:16 pm

prince_and_chapman

Durham Region Olympic Profile #1

Durham Region will be well represented on the soccer pitch in Tokyo this summer, with four local players named to a Canadian side that will try to win an Olympic medal for the third consecutive Games.

Houston Dash teammates Nichelle Prince (Ajax), who has scored 11 goals for her country, and Allysha Chapman (Courtice), with 77 caps to her credit, will be playing in their second Olympics after earning bronze medals in Rio in 2016.

Goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan (Whitby) will be looking for her Olympic debut after travelling with the team in 2016 as an alternate. Pickering’s Jayde Riviere, 20, will also be appearing in her first Games.

Prince, 26, a forward, played college ball at Ohio State (graduating with a degree in sports management) before joining the Dash in 2017. She has scored seven goals as a pro after finding the net 27 times for the Buckeyes.

Chapman, 32, is a fierce defender who played NCAA soccer with Alabama-Birmingham and LSU before playing pro in Sweden for three years. She joined the NWSL in 2015 and is now in her second stint with Houston.

Sheridan, 25, was a two-time all-ACC star with Clemson before turning pro with Sky Blue (now Gotham FC) in the NWSL in 2016. She made her first appearance for Canada in the 2016 Algarve Cup and has made 11 appearances for her country.

Riviere worked her way up the ladder with national youth teams before being named to the World Cup team in 2019.

She scored her first goal for Canada in an Olympic qualifier last year.

Eighth-ranked Canada opened the Olympic tournament July 21 (two days before the opening ceremonies) with a 1-1 draw against host  Japan, ranked 11th in the world.

Canada follows that game with matches against Chile (37) on July 24 and Great Britain (6) on July 27.

PHOTO (Canadian Press) – Nichelle Prince and Allysha Chapman celebrate Prince’s goal against New Zealand in 2019.

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