Canada midfielder Diana Matheson as seen during the bronze medal game at the 2012 Summer OlympicsFrank Gunn/The Canadian Press
Diana Matheson, Adriana Leon and Kaylyn Kyle scored for Canada in a 3-1 victory over Italy at the Cyprus Cup on Friday.
Canada improved to 2-0 with the win after shutting out Finland 3-0 in the tournament opener two days earlier.
Matheson opened the scoring against the Italians by converting a cross in the 33rd minute. She then fed Adriana Leon for a tap-in goal 10 minutes later.
Early in the second half, Rhian Wilkinson crossed the ball to Kyle who scored from close range to make it a three-goal game.
"We just started to press them more and once we started pressing them, we were able to win the ball higher up the field," Matheson said.
Cristiana Girelli scored Italy's lone goal in the 51st minute.
The game turned rather chippy later in the half, but Canadian coach John Herdman was pleased with how his team responded.
"The Italians were relentless with their pressure and when you skip a tackle, they'll leave a foot in and bring you down," he said. "And I was pretty pleased with how the girls got a bit testy as well and decided to try and match that pressure and physical intensity."
Canada, which is currently ranked seventh in the world, will wrap up preliminary-round play Monday against No. 11 England.
Canada has won this tournament three times but has lost in the final the last two years: 1-0 to England last year and 2-0 to France in 2012.