The Trinity Western women's soccer team signed a major piece of its defensive future Tuesday as coach Graham Roxburgh announced that Burnaby defender Lindsey Pulice will join the Spartans in the fall of 2012.
The 5-4 Burnaby North Secondary student has played with the Whitecaps FC women's elite program since 2010. She also played on Team B.C. and trained at the National Training Centre from 2006 to 2010 and was a member of the Cliff Avenue Synergy Metro Team for her under-13 to u-16 years.
"Lindsey is a very strong outside back who I believe will have an excellent career at TWU," Roxburgh said in a TWU press release. "We were very interested in seeing her join our program since the first time we got to watch her up close and meet with her. We discovered that not only is she a very strong player, but she is also a delightful young lady who will fit into our program well.
"Lindsey has an ability to play on either side at the back as an outside defender. She defends very well and has the ability to get forward into the attack regularly. I am impressed with her ability on the ball and her decision-making skills and I know she has the potential to be a top defender in the CIS for years to come."
In 2008, with her Synergy Metro u-14 side, Pulice helped lead her team to a provincial and a national championship. In 2006, she also represented the Vancouver Whitecaps at a training camp at the University of North Carolina.
Off the pitch, Pulice has been both an honour roll student and been given her school's Work Ethic Award each year since 2008.
"Trinity Western is a great university where everyone is so welcoming and the class sizes are smaller, so it's more comfortable," said Pulice, who plans to study business. "I'm really looking forward to my future at TWU and cannot wait to start playing for such an amazing soccer team."
Roxburgh added: "In meeting with Lindsey, we have been very impressed with her desire to succeed both in the classroom and on the soccer pitch, and she has shown the character and attributes as a person we are looking for at TWU. We are very excited she is coming to be a part of our program."
Pulice will be familiar with some of her Spartans teammates as she will join her cousin Alicia Tesan and former teammate Vanessa Kovacs on the TWU women's soccer team.
In 2011, the Trinity Western women's soccer team finished the regular season atop the Canada West standings with 12-1-1 record and then went on to win the Canada West banner before falling to McGill in the CIS National Championship quarter-finals and ultimately finishing sixth overall.
