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GUATEMALA CITY - Summer Clarke scored three times in the first half and was involved in another two to lead defending champion Canada to a 6-0 victory over Panama on Wednesday in the opening match of the CONCACAF Under-17 Women's Championship.
The offensive output nearly matched the goals scored by its predecessor that won the 2010 championship (seven), and was more than half of the goals allowed by Panama in the group stage two years ago.
Clarke's interception of an attempted clearance started a scoring sequence finished by Nichelle Prince in the seventh minute, she sent Jasmin Dhanda in for the second the 12th, and then scored goals of her own in the 21st, 40th and 43rd to stake the Canadians to a dominating lead.
Panama, which brought a roster that included eight members of its team that reached the semifinals of the CONCACAF U-20 Championship at home in March, was on the defensive throughout much of the match.
It managed rare chances on Canadian lapses in the back.
Yassiel Franco intercepted a rather lazy lateral ball across the top of the Canadian penalty area by Rebecca Pongetti in the 20th minute, but Canadian keeper Kailen Sheridan came off her line to block the shot.
In the 56th, Franco again challenged Sheridan for a backpass at the edge of the six, and her deflected clearance attempt fell to Karla Riley in the middle of the area. Sheridan recovered quickly to block Riley's shot, with Riley's follow-up attempt on the rebound going wide left.
Canada pushed forward from the opening kickoff and generated its first corner in the second minute.
Prince put the Canadians ahead after Clarke blocked Yerenis de Leon's defensive free kick in the middle third of the field, sending it back toward the Panama goal. Yomira Sanford attempted to send it back to de Leon, but Clarke raced in, touched it past de Leon and beat keeper Karen Chavarria from the edge of the six.
Canada doubled the lead five minutes later when Clarke sent a ball from the right into the path of Dhanda, who ran in from the top of the offensive third, around Chavarria at the arc and scored into an open net.
Clarke scored her first in the 21st, running onto a ball out of the Canadian half by Rebecca Quinn, closing on goal, allowing Astrid Diaz to slide by before shooting high from seven meters.
Canada was repeatedly caught offside but added to its lead in the 40th when Clarke settled Nicole Loncar's cross on the right side of the penalty area with her chest and easily scored from 10 meters.
Clarke completed her scoring less than three minutes before halftime, running on to Ashley Lawrence's headed ball off a corner kick and volleying it from the top of the area.
Amanda Pierre-Louis concluded Canada's scoring in the 51st, a minute after she replaced Clarke. Lawrence sent a ball wide left where Pierre-Louis was left unmarked. With Panamanian defender de Leon raising her hand looking for an offside flag, Pierre-Louis ran in unchallenged and rolled a ball under Chavarria from the edge of the penalty area.
Panama had a little more of the play in the second half, even hitting the post with Franco's left-footed effort from 20 meters in the 74th. But with temperatures hovering around 82 degrees Fahrenheit (27 Celsius) and 39 percent humidity at kickoff, Panama began to suffer from cramping in the second half - most notably Marta Cox, who had to be removed on a stretcher in the 67th minute.
