AUS next step for Green
Kinkora Regional High School graduate to join UPEI Panthers in September
Rachel Green is excited to take the next step in her soccer career.
The 2017 graduate of Kinkora Regional High School (KRHS) will join the UPEI Panthers in September.
“I’ve always wanted to play university soccer since I started when I was 12,” said Green, who will study kinesiology. “I just want to do my best and see the field a lot, and have a good bond with the players.” UPEI head coach Graeme MacDonald is excited to add Green, who plays the centre midfield position.
“First and foremost it’s important that we get the best Island girls to come to UPEI,” said MacDonald. “The identity of the team here at UPEI is strong Islanders, and that’s important.”
Key contributor
Green starred in an undefeated season by KISHORA – a combined team from KRHS and Kensington IntermediateSenior High School (KISH) – in the P.E.I. School Athletic Association Senior A Girls Soccer League in her senior year. Green, who scored two goals in KISHORA’s 3-0 championship game over Charlottetown Rural, was also recognized as a league all-star.
“She has good technique,” assessed MacDonald. “She has a technical ability that she can definitely play at the university level.
“She is composed on the ball, which is important, especially when she is under pressure. She is very good at keeping the ball, and her passing accuracy is strong too. She is strong, has a great attitude, reads the game really well and understands the game.
“Coming into this level it is a key thing that she understands how the game of soccer operates.”
Adjustments
Green, who also represented KRHS in basketball, badminton and dodgeball and was named a co-winner of the prestigious school spirit awards with Bailey Dawson, understands she will face some adjustments in making the transition to the Atlantic University Sport Women’s Soccer Conference.
“It will be a big change on the field because the level of play will be a lot different,” explained the 18-year-old daughter of Steven and Marcia Green of Borden-Carleton. “It will be a different physical level, and I will have to get my fitness up and become a lot stronger mentally and physically.”
It’s a busy summer for Green, who is playing in the New Brunswick Senior Women’s Soccer League (Premier Division) with P.E.I.’s Canada Games women’s team. Green will have just two weeks off from soccer following the Canada Games in Winnipeg and the opening of UPEI’s training camp.
“I will likely spend that time at the gym getting ready for training camp, and getting healthy if I’m hurt,” said Green. MacDonald said the coaching staff will have realistic expectations in Year 1 for Green and all other first-year players entering the Panthers’ program.
“It’s all about development,” emphasized MacDonald. “In (Green’s) first year coming in, she has to start to understand how university soccer operates, the teams she will be playing against, the speed of the play, the physicality of it all will be a much higher level.”
“I’ve always wanted to play university soccer since I started when I was 12. I just want to do my best and see the field a lot, and have a good bond with the players.”
Rachel Green