Riviere, Zadorsky Strike Olympic Gold as Canada Prevails in Penalty Shootout
8/6/2021 11:54:00 AM | Women's Soccer, Olympics
YOKOHAMA, Japan -- University of Michigan junior Jayde Riviere and former Wolverine Shelina Zadorsky (2010-13) helped Canada take home the women's soccer Olympic gold medal today (Friday, Aug. 6) with a 3-2 win in the penalty shootout over Sweden after the teams ended 120 minutes of play tied 1-1 at International Stadium Yokohama.
Riviere came on as a substitute three minutes into the first session of extra time and logged 27 minutes in her traditional defensive role. Zadorsky checked in as a substitute in the 120th minute and played just under a minute of match time against Sweden. It is the second Olympic medal for Zadorsky, who won a bronze in 2016 at the Rio Games.
Sweden controlled much of the first half and opened the scoring in the 34th minute with a goal from Stina Blackstenius. Canada, outshot 24-14 on the match, earned a penalty kick upon review in the 67th minute, and Jessie Fleming converted to tie the match. After two scoreless extra-time sessions, penalties were knotted at 2-2 before Julia Grosso converted to give Canada the 3-2 victory in the penalty shootout.
The win marks the first gold medal in women's soccer for Canada. It was the first gold-medal match in Olympic history to go to penalty kicks as well as the first to go to extra time since 2008.
Riviere, in her first Olympic Games, and Zadorsky helped Canada to a 1-0-2 record in group play, highlighted by a 2-1 win over Chile on July 24. Tied 0-0 after extra time in the quarterfinal round, the Canadians defeated Brazil 4-3 on penalties (July 30) to advance to the semifinals, where they knocked off the United States 1-0 on Aug. 2.
As a whole Riviere played the full 90 minutes against Chile and Great Britain (July 27), as well as 19 minutes in a reserve role against Brazil. She sat out the semifinal matchup against the United States due to yellow-card accumulation.
Zadorsky played full matches against Chile and Great Britain before not featuring in the matches vs. Brazil and the United States.
During her two seasons at Michigan, Riviere has started 21 games for the Wolverines on defense and was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team in 2019. She has missed four matches in her college career due to national team duty.
Zadorsky was four-year letterwinner and 2013 team captain at Michigan. She helped the Wolverines to a 53-22-10 overall record and three trips to the NCAA Tournament, including the 2012 Sweet 16 and 2013 Elite Eight. Individually, she was a two-time All-Great Lakes Region and All-Big Ten defender.
The gold medals for Riviere and Zadorsky raised U-M's medal count to a final total of 11 (3 gold, 5 silver, 3 bronze). Current Wolverine women's swimmer Maggie MacNeil led the way with three medals (1 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze), while women's swimmer Siobhán Haughey earned two silver medals. Also claiming hardware in Japan were Amanda Chidester (silver, softball), Myles Amine (bronze, freestyle wrestling) and Catie DeLoof (bronze, women's swimming) as well as graduate assistant coach Michael Hixon (silver, diving).
• Jayde Riviere: 27 minutes
• Shelina Zadorsky: 0+ minutes
• Results and Video (NBCOlympics.com)
• Michigan Olympic Updates: Women's Soccer
