BC History: A Woman's National Team Pioneer
A member of the first-ever Canadian Women's National camp in 1986, the scorer of the Women's National Team's first two goals and the first woman to Captain the Canadian Women's team at a Women's World Cup, Geraldine Donnelly is a true pioneer of women's soccer in Canada.
Born in England, but raised in Port Moody from the age of seven, Geri Donnelly would go on to have 71 caps for the Canadian Women's National Team between 1986 and 1999, which was a record at the time. She first played soccer for Port Moody SC, then the BC Provincial Team, then at Simon Fraser University. A true testament to the player pathway within the Province.
Donnelly would captain Canada at the FIFA Women's World Cups in 1995 and 1999, and in 1998, in between those tournaments, should led Canada to a 1-0 win over Mexico, winning the CONCACAF Women’s Championships.
Since women's soccer wasn't held to the same prestige as the men's game at the time, Donnelly and many of her teammates had to keep full-time jobs and fundraise to help cover flights overseas for competition. It was the success of Donnelly and the National Team that helped blaze a trail for women's soccer today.
Donnelly's success wasn't all with the National Team, as she won three Canadian National Championships with the Coquitlam Strikers (1990 & 1994) and Surrey United (2006). While with Surrey United, Donnelly also recorded two silver medals and 3 bronze medals at Nationals before she retired at the age of 43.
Donnelly was named Canadian Player of the Year twice, in 1996 and 1999, and in 2012, she was named to Canada’s all-time women’s team.
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