Canada names 23-player roster for CONCACAF Women’s U-17 Championship in Nicaragua

Team Canada is shown in a team photo before a 3-0 win over Scotland at the U-17 Costa Calida MIMA Cup women's soccer tournament in Murcia, Spain, on Thursday, Feb.13, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO — Canada Soccer

Forward Kaylee Hunter and goalkeeper Olivia Busby, part of the Canadian squad that qualified for the CONCACAF Women’s U-20 Championship last month, now look to do the same with the under-17 side.

The two have been named to Canada’s 23-player roster for the CONCACAF Women’s U-17 Championship, the final stage of regional qualifying for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup scheduled for Oct. 7 to Nov. 8 in Morocco.

“This will be the first tournament format experience for some players, but also another opportunity for others within the group that have been in a Championship qualifying setting before,” interim U-17 coach Gary Moody said in a statement.

Hunter is set to play for AFC Toronto when the new Northern Super League kicks off next month. The Canadian squad also includes five members of the NSL’s Vancouver Rise academy.

Busby, who is with Ontario’s National Development Centre team, has committed to attend Harvard.

The young Canadians went 1-2-0 at the U-17 Costa Cálida MIMA Cup in Spain last month, with a 3-0 win over Scotland sandwiched around losses to Sweden (3-1) and England (2-0). The roster for the CONCACAF tournament features 19 players, including the two alternates, who were part of the MIMA Cup squad.

The 12-team CONCACAF Championship runs March 31 to April 6 2025 in three different venues.

Competing in Group B in Managua, Canada opens against host Nicaragua on April 1 before facing Panama on April 3 and Puerto Rico on April 6.

Mexico hosts Group A which also features Haiti, Costa Rica and Bermuda while Trinidad and Tobago stages Group C which also features the United States, El Salvador and Honduras.

Canada, Haiti, Mexico and the U.S. made the CONCACAF field as the region’s four highest-ranked teams. Puerto Rico, Honduras, Panama, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Nicaragua joined them as the six group winners from the first round of qualifying while Trinidad and Tobago and Bermuda secured their places as the two best second-place finishers.

After round-robin play, the three group winners and the best second-place finisher qualify for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup. The FIFA tournament is now an annual event expanded to 24 teams from 16.

Canada has taken part in seven of the eight previous editions of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, missing out in 2024 when it lost 2-1 after extra time to Mexico in semifinal play. Only the two finalists at the 2024 CONCACAF Women’s U-17 Championship in Mexico qualified for that U-17 World Cup given it was hosted by the Dominican Republic, a CONCACAF member.

Canada U-17 Roster

​Goalkeepers: Olivia Busby, NDC-CDN Ontario; Khadijah Cissse, CF Montreal; Kellyanne Dumas, CF Montreal

Defenders: — Mya Angus, NDC Ont.; Emma Donnelly, NDC Ont.; Molly Hale, NDC Ont.; Reese Kay, NDC Ont.; Marika Martineau, CF Montreal ; Bridget Mutipula, Vancouver Rise FC academy .

Midfielders: Joëlle Bader, Vancouver Rise FC academy; Torah Betteridge, Vancouver Rise FC academy; Olivia Chisholm, NDC Ont.; Emma Reda, Emma, NDC Ont.; Chloe Taylor, Vancouver Rise FC academy .

Forwards: Alyssa Garreaud, CF Montreal ; Ailish Hennessy, NDC-CDN Ontario; Kaylee Hunter, AFC Toronto; Gabriela Istocki, NDC Ont.; Melissa Kekic, NDC Ont.; Lacey Kindel, Vancouver Rise FC academy; Alyssa McLeod, NDC Ont. 

Alternates

Defender: Mia McLean Mercier, CF Montreal . 

Forward: Adalyn Fairweather, St. Albert Impact.

Staff

Interim Head Coach: Gary Moody.

Assistant Coaches: Jen Herst, Tina Cook, Christopher Cinelli-Faia.

Analyst: Laurent Klein.

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