BATON ROUGE — For the second time in her career, LSU midfielder Taryne Boudreau will wear the jersey of her native Canada at the FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup as she is one of 21 players on the squad set to make the trip to Chile for this year’s championship.
The tournament is set to kick off Nov. 19 in the South American country as Canada will make its fourth-straight appearance in the world’s premier U-20 competition.
Boudreau, who received a redshirt this season while training with the U-20 Canadian National Team, will compete in the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup for the second time and is one of five Canadians making a return to the squad after competing at the 2006 event in Moscow, Russia.
Boudreau joins fellow U-20 World Cup veterans Loredana Riverso, Paige Adams, Erin McNulty and Kaylyn Kyle that were selected for the 2006 squad. She started two of three matches in group play as Canada failed to advance to the eight-team quarterfinal two years ago.
“I’m very excited to be chosen to represent my country again this year, and I hope that we’re able to make a deeper run in the tournament than we did two years ago,” Boudreau said. “We’ve been training very hard these past few weeks to get ready and it’s all going to start next week. It’s a big honor anytime you get to play for your country, and I’m really looking forward to it.”
Canada will join Congo, Germany and Japan as members of Group C and will open group play on Nov. 20 against Japan in Santiago. The side will then square off against Congo in Santiago on Nov. 23 before wrapping up group play with a match against Germany in Coquimbo on Nov. 27.
In order to advance, Canada will need to finish either first or second in its group. The quarterfinal round is set to begin Dec. 1 followed by the semifinals on Dec. 4 and the final on Dec. 7.
“We’re very proud of Taryne, and I know it is a tremendous honor for her to have the opportunity to represent her country in the U-20 World Cup for the second time,” said LSU head coach Brian Lee. “We felt that it was best for her to redshirt this season while training for the World Cup. This is an experience that will only help her continue to mature as a soccer player.
“We look forward to having her back in the spring as we’ll have a very talented team returning in 2009. We only lose two starters off of this year’s team that won the SEC West title and made it to the NCAA Tournament. We’ll have Courtney Alexander ready to play after sitting out this season and we expect to sign several top recruits who will have the opportunity to come in and play. The competition for playing time is going to be very intense next season.”
LSU saw its season come to an end Friday night with its second straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament after finishing with a 14-4-2 overall record and a 7-3-1 mark in SEC play.