Labbe uses men’s team shot as fuel
No. 1 in world rankings goal for veteran ’keeper shut out by USL circuit
Canadian goalkeeper Stephanie Labbé has no regrets after months of taking her career into her own hands.
The 31-year-old Albertan parted ways with the National Women’s Soccer League’s Washington Spirit in February. By March, she’d announced she was trying something new.
Labbé began training with Calgary Foothills FC, a men’s under-23 team, with the goal of making the roster and playing in the United Soccer League’s League Two (formerly the Premier Development League).
She made the cut, but was barred from playing because “the PDL is a gender-based league, women are ineligible to play,” Labbé wrote on her website at the time.
An online petition supporting her right to play and demanding the league allow women boasted 7,841 signatures as of Sunday. “When … everything went down it was pretty tough on me, and it was pretty tough to handle,” Labbé told the Star from Edinburg, Texas, where she is competing for Canada at the CONCACAF Women’s Championship.
“I think looking back on it, it was one of the best things that has happened to me and I’m super grateful for everything that’s happened, because I know I am where I am because of everything I’ve been through.” Labbé had no complaints about the soccer side of her experience in Calgary, saying the only gender issue was the need for her own locker room.
By the time she’d joined Swe- den’s Linkopings FC women’s team in July, she felt up to the task.
“When I went to Sweden I felt super sharp, and I felt that I was able to get into the team right away and show what I could bring to the club, and really feel that I was able to make an impact early on in the game,” she said.
The decision to try out for a men’s team stemmed in part from a desire to help the fifthranked Canadian women’s team achieve a major goal: No. 1 in the world rankings. Labbé made her national team debut more than 10 years ago at age 21.
She’s been No. 1 in net since early 2016, when Erin McLeod went down with a knee injury.
McLeod has only played one game since, and was pulled from Canada’s current roster at the last minute with plantar fasciitis.
While Labbé is no longer scrapping for playing time — she has started 30 games for Canada since 2016, Kailen Sheridan five — the competition is keeping her on her toes.
The Canadian squad has impressive depth in net.
Sheridan, 23, tied the NWSL save record this year with 108 in 23 matches for New Jerseybased Sky Blue FC.
Sabrina D’Angelo, 25, has won back-to-back regular-season titles with the North Carolina Courage and an NWSL championship this year.
Both pose a challenge to Labbé, who says any of Canada’s four goalkeepers could beat any team in the world on a given day.
“I’ve spent a lot of time in the past comparing myself to others and seeing what others are doing, and trying to do that bet- ter than them, but that really doesn’t make me better because their strengths are not my strengths,” she said.
Labbé calls the progress of Canada’s young goalkeepers on the international scene “amazing” and notes that the rise of the women’s game means more of their games are available to watch online.
“We can watch each other and see how much growth we’re having,” she said.