North Vancouver's Rachel Jones and the rest of Canada's national women's team scored a huge 2-1 win over Ghana Saturday to advance to the quarterfinals of the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup.
The Canadians looked like they would cruise into the playoffs after Marie Levasseur scored a pair of goals in the first half. Trouble brewed, however, just five minutes into the second half when Bianca St-Georges was shown a red card, reducing the team to 10 players. Jones, a fullback, subbed into the game for the final 30 minutes to help shorthanded Canada hold off the attack. Ghana scored once but could not get the equalizer that would have bounced Canada from the tournament.
Canada scrapped their way to a second-place finish in the pool, notching ties against Germany (2-2) and North Korea (1-1) before collecting the win over Ghana. Ghana took top spot in the group with their wins over Germany and North Korea.
Jones, a Sutherland Gr. 11 student and member of the Whitecaps girls elite team, came on as a second half substitute in all three of Canada's opening round games.
The team will now meet Venezuela in a quarterfinal matchup Thursday. Canada has never advanced past the quarterfinals at this tournament.
