BATON ROUGE — LSU junior defender Caroline Vanderpool will join the full Canadian National Team for the first time in her career this weekend as she is set to compete with the squad in an international friendly against the United States on Saturday.
Vanderpool is looking to become the first LSU soccer player to earn an international cap as she joins the 18-player Canadian side in a match scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CDT at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas. The match will be broadcast live on Fox Soccer Channel.
The Quebec native said she received the invitation to join the full national team in an e-mail last week after returning from her stint with the Canadian Olympic Development Team in a winning effort at the 2007 Futbol Internacional in Alabama.
“I was very excited when I got the news that I’d be joining the team,” Vanderpool said. “It’s definitely going to be different than what I’m used to with the speed of the game and level of play from the girls around me, but I’m just trying to stay focused and make an impact on the team.”
Both squads are preparing for the upcoming FIFA Women’s World Cup, which will be held in China from Sept. 10-30. Vanderpool is hoping that her performance this weekend can influence the coaching staff to invite her back for the premier international competition in women’s soccer.
“It would be a great honor to be able to come back and compete in the World Cup,” Vanderpool said. “I’m one of the youngest players here, and I’m going to be playing with a lot of girls who have more experience at this level than I do. Hopefully, I can kick my game up a notch and do well enough that they feel like I can make an impact on the team.”
Vanderpool has earned extensive experience on the international stage during the past year as a member of the Under-20 Canadian National Team. She represented her country at the 2006 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Championships in Moscow, Russia, this past summer, as well as a total of 12 international friendly matches at the U-20 level since January 2006.
Vanderpool was also recently honored by the Soccer Federation of Quebec in December with this year’s Senior Excellence Award as she was recognized as the premier female soccer player in the province for 2006 as the only representative from Quebec on her country’s U-20 team.