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An 8-0 thrashing of El Salvador side Alianza ensured the League1 BC stars earned the first Group Stage win by any Canadian team in the competition.

The 2025 Concacaf W Champions Cup was another positive learning curve for Vancouver Rise Academy’s players, who faced off against some of the top teams in North America.

This fall, the League1 BC side had been playing in the tournament for a second consecutive year following their League1 Canada Women’s Inter-Provincial Championship title win in 2024 while still known as Vancouver Whitecaps Academy.

A standout match of their recent Concacaf campaign was some clinical finishing at Willoughby Community Park, their 8-0 win against Alianza securing a fourth-placed finish out of the five teams in Group B.

Alianza were familiar opponents for the Rise Academy, who beat the El Salvador side 1-0 in the 2024 preliminary rounds under the Vancouver Whitecaps name. But this October’s high-scoring victory marked the first win for any Canadian team in the Group Stage of the Concacaf W Champions Cup.

Winger Seina Kashima opened the scoring for the Rise in the third minute, before Jenna Baxter converted from the penalty spot to double the lead.

Kashima claimed her second of the evening to make it 3-0 within 23 minutes, with the first-half rout continuing thanks to three more quick-fire goals from Myla Ewasiuk, Bianca Patik, and Baxter’s second of the match.

With a 6-0 advantage heading into half-time, it was looking comfortable for the Rise, and Ewasiuk and Patik claimed braces of their own in the second period to make it eight of the best. Baxter was then awarded as the Superior Player of the Match.

Eventual group winners Washington Spirit, who have won silverware in North America’s top flight in four of the last five years, had given the Rise a tough test in their opening match. Tara McKeown, Heather Stainbrook, Trinity Rodman, and Deborah Abiodun all found the net to win 4-0.

Rise Academy scored in their next game, with Anna Bout lifting the Swangard Stadium crowd in a memorable moment against the competition’s reigning champions Gotham FC.

The US side went on to win 4-1, which was followed by a 4-0 victory for serial Liga MX Femenil winners C.F. Monterrey, as the young League1 BC players pitched themselves against some of the best in the continent.

Their efforts were eventually rewarded with a big victory against regular La Primera Femenina champions Alianza, as the Rise Academy recorded a memorable first win in the Concacaf competition – and made headlines on the international stage.