Sarah Gomes is moving up the soccer pitch -- from Duchess Park and the youth level to the college ranks.
The 17-year-old, who has starred for the Condors and captained the Prince George Youth Soccer Association's under-17 team, has agreed to join the Thompson Rivers University Wolfpack varsity women's soccer team for the 2010-11 season. Gomes, a centreback, helped her Prince George team to a third-place finish at this past weekend's Slurpee Cup tournament in Kamloops, an event hosted by the Kamloops Youth Soccer Association.
"Sarah is a very calm player who makes very good decisions," said TRU coach Tom McManus, in a TRU press release.
"She leads the team on and off the field. She is a very hard-working player who is extremely coachable. From the first time I saw her, I knew she had the talent to play university soccer."
Gomes turned down a chance to stay at home and play for the University of Northern British Columbia Northern Timberwolves, and also turned down scholarship offers from U.S. schools.
"TRU has a great facility and they have a program I want to take," Gomes, who will take science courses, said in the press release.
"(TRU) is close enough to home, yet far enough away for me to have some independence. I also have family in Kamloops."
