When naming the Canadian goal of the year you have to take several things into consideration.
Was the goal pretty? Was it important? Was it widely seen? Did it have a wide impact.
It's rare that a goal will meet all the criteria. However, this year's came close.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
It wasn't pretty. No, it was a scramble goal that featured a midfielder throwing herself away from the ball.
However, it's unlikely that there has been a goal scored by a Canadian that has ever been as cheered by Canadians than Diana Matheson's bronze winning effort in extra time against France.
A couple other goals were considered -- Doneil Henry's winner in Olympic qualifying, a goal that knocked the Americans out (and that goal was the preferred choice of our western voters) and Atiba Hutchinson's assisted winner against Panama. The ultimate failure of those two teams makes it hard to argue that those goals were more important than Matheson's.
IOC copyright rules prevent us from embedding the goal, but if you want to re-live the magic go here.