OLYMPIAN FEET
After winning gold and bronze in Tokyo, national team players back for playoff race
Two experiences as a young spectator helped launch Nichelle Prince’s journey to professional soccer.
When Prince was 8 years old in 2003, the Canadian traveled with her family from Ajax, Ontario, to Boston to watch the FIFA Women’s World Cup. When she was 13, she attended a Canadian Women’s National Team game in Toronto.
Prince, in watching the world’s best players perform the sport she loved, was able to see what was possible if she continued to develop her skills.
Now Prince, a 26-year-old forward with the Dash, is one of the professional players little girls in her native Canada are looking to as they start to dream their own dreams.
Last month, Prince and Dash teammates Allysha Chapman and Sophie Schmidt helped the Canada women’s team reach the final of an Olympic tournament for the first time, and they added the ultimate feather to their caps by winning the gold medal in penalty kicks over Sweden.
“Being able to see people do what you do is so important,” Prince said. “Obviously, men’s soccer is everywhere, but my parents made it a goal to take us to a lot of women’s national team games. It was really important to them for us to see girls playing sports.
“I remember (watching those games) and thinking it was so cool with all those fans watching the players. As a kid, waiting for those players outside the stadium for an autograph was a moment I’ll never forget. It was definitely a moment that I felt, ‘Wow. This is what I want to do.’ ”
Three other Dash players were on their Olympic teams, too, setting an example for girls in their countries.
Kristie Mewis and Jane Campbell were on the United States roster and came home from Japan with bronze medals. Rachel Daly helped Great Britain qualify for the knockout stage.
After their Olympic experiences, those three and the three gold-medal-winning Canadians have returned to Houston to help the Dash try to qualify for the NWSL playoffs for the first time.
The 10-game stretch run begins at 6:30 Sunday night when Houston hosts Racing Louisville at BBVA Stadium. All six Olympians likely will play together for the first time since July 2.
They’ll have their own Olympic experiences to draw from as they try to hit the ground running Sunday.
Mewis’ inclusion in the initial USWNT 18-player roster was a victory in and of itself. She had lost a lot of her confidence and, for six years, tried to get it back. When she finally did, she returned to the USWNT camp and performed well enough there and with the Dash to begin earning regular national team callups.
Mewis appeared in one game for the Americans in Tokyo, their stunning 3-0 loss to Sweden in the group stage opener.
“It was obviously a huge accomplishment to be rostered,” she said. “I was kind of shocked but also just so excited. Of course, it’s not ideal that we came in third, just because we saw more for ourselves. But we got a medal.
“That was a good learning lesson for all of us. It kind of gave us a kick in the ass that we needed.”
Though they were on different teams, Schmidt and Campbell had similar experiences. Both were left off the initial 18-player rosters and traveled to Japan as alternates who were not eligible for medals.
But shortly before the tournament began, rosters were extended to 23 players, and both were added. Neither appeared in a game during the tournament, but they practiced throughout and were there at the end to have medals hung around their necks.
“It was a bit of an emotional roller coaster for sure,” Schmidt said. “I was super grateful and thankful that they changed the roster size, and to be in a position to not only support my team off the field but also potentially on the field. That was huge for the psyche and gave me a boost of confidence.
“Then to have the team go out and get a medal and be a part of the whole experience, it would have been very hard to do as an alternate.”
None of the six will be alternates over the final 10 games of the NWSL regular season. They’ll be major factors in whether the Dash make the playoffs.
The Dash went 1-3-2 in six games with at least some of the Olympians unavailable and slipped all the way to eighth place in the 10-team table. It has not been a great run, but they’re a manageable three points away from the final playoff berth.
They could make that up with a win Sunday, but it will take a lot more than one win to get over the hump. For Mewis, it is all about consistency.
“I feel like that’s something that we’ve been lacking for the past couple of years,” Mewis said. “It’s just kind of about getting on a consistent winning streak, which I feel like has been our hardest thing. … And we definitely need three wins (this week) to try to push for the playoffs.
“The Olympic girls and I are just really looking forward to coming back and making an impact, and hopefully, we can push for it.”