Canada's Janine Beckie scores for Man City in victorious Women's Super League opener
Striker separates herself from Everton defence and delivers shot to opposite corner
A powerful low drive by Canadian striker Janine Beckie helped Manchester City to a 4-0 victory over Everton in their Women's Super League opener on Saturday.
With halftime approaching, the 27-year-old Tokyo Olympic champion separated herself from the Everton defence and delivered a shot to the bottom corner from 20 yards at Goodison Park in Liverpool, England.
Man City captain Steph Houghton completed the scoring while new signings Vicky Losada and Khadija Shaw struck in the first half.
City, which hasn't lost a season opener in each of the last seven WSL campaigns, has now won all 11 meetings between the clubs by an aggregate score of 30-4.
WATCH | Beckie makes impact in City's Super League opener:
Trailing 3-0 at the break, a stunned Everton tried to muster a response, but City successfully kept them out, with Houghton capitalizing in the 67th minute.
Tottenham Hotspur provides the competition in City's home opener on Sept. 12.
Tottenham, Aston Villa prevail
Elsewhere, forward Kit Graham scored the only goal of the game as Tottenham kicked off its WSL campaign with a 1-0 win over Birmingham City at home on Saturday.
Spurs started brightly but were repeatedly denied by a Birmingham side that offered little going forward but were stubborn on defence. The hosts finally broke the deadlock in the 40th minute with Graham scoring a glancing header from a move that was smartly worked around the edge of the box.
Spurs continued to attack in the second half, with substitute Angela Addison going close to adding a second, while Birmingham managed just two shots on target in the entire game.
In other matches, Aston Villa scored twice in two minutes in the second half to claim a 2-1 win over Leicester City. Promoted Leicester took a deserved lead through Natasha Flint in the 39th minute following a goalkeeping error by Hannah Hampton.
Villa, however, came back strongly after the interval, with Sarah Mayling curling in a splendid free kick to equalize in the 63rd minute before captain Remi Allen completed the turnaround a minute later.
Champions Chelsea travel to Arsenal on Sunday.
With files from Reuters
