Two months ago, Hannah Taylor, a senior-to-be at Meadowdale High School, wasn’t even on the radar of Canada’s U-17 women’s national soccer team.
In less than one month, Taylor will find out if she will represent Canada in the U-17 World Cup in Jordan.
Taylor is a dual citizen of both the United States and Canada. Her mother, Lola, was born in Seattle, but her father, Greg, is a native of Vancouver, British Columbia.
Taylor’s uncle, Moreno Stefani, played soccer at the University of Victoria and is well connected in the Canadian soccer community. For three years, Stefani used his connections to get Taylor’s name to the right people within Canadian soccer, but until recently nothing had come of his efforts.
Taylor recently traveled to Kansas City with the Seattle Sounders women’s team where she competed against Becky Sauerbrunn, who was a member of U.S. Women’s National Team that won the 2015 World Cup and is considered one of the best defenders in the world. After the match, Taylor took a photo with Sauerbrunn and sent it to Stefani. Stefani forwarded the photo to his contacts with Team Canada and soon after Taylor was invited to Vancouver to try out for the team.
The tryout went well and Taylor was invited to join Team Canada in an international tournament in Weifang, China, which took place July 12-16. Taylor returned home July 18 and will learn by Aug. 22 if she did enough to make the World Cup roster.
It may have taken a while for Team Canada to take notice of Taylor, but Stefani always had faith his niece could play at this level.
“Personally, as an uncle, I believed in Hannah all along,” Stefani said. “I come from a soccer background and I played at a decent quality myself. I saw her growing up. We played in the backyard and I remember going inside and stopping everybody and saying, ‘She’s pretty special.’ And this was at the age of 5.”
Taylor, who played center back for Canada, felt she played well in China, but admits she doesn’t know if it will be enough to make the roster for the World Cup.
“I’m really hoping for the best,” Taylor said. “I did the best I could and gave it my all, so I’m hoping that it all works out.”
Taylor has stayed busy on the soccer field since returning from China. She traveled to Frisco, Texas with her select team, Eastside FC G98Red, July 25 to compete for the U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships. It will be Taylor’s first appearance at the national championships, but Eastside FC has been there before, winning the national title in 2013 in the U-14 division and placing third in 2014 at U-15.
Eastside FC head coach Tom Bialek said Taylor is deserving of all of the good fortune that has come her way recently.
“It couldn’t happen to a nicer kid,” Bialek said. “She really is a sweetheart of a kid and it’s nice to see somebody that’s a nice kid who works so hard at it get rewarded for it.
“It’s the biggest honor that a player could ever have to be called up to the national team,” Bialek added. “It’s huge. Very few people ever get to play for their national team. She got to go to China and play in three games and it looks promising to go to the World Cup — we’ll see if that actually happens or not. But it’s what every player dreams of, so for her to achieve it is a great honor.”
Though Taylor grew up in the United States, her father’s connection to Canada has always been a big part of her life and playing for Canada is something she’s always wanted to do.
“Almost through my old childhood I always thought and hoped that it would happen, especially with my uncle being so big into soccer,” Taylor said. “He’s kind of always talked about it and it’s always been there. Now it’s actually being pursued, so it’s really cool.”
Playing with Eastside FC has no doubt helped prepare Taylor for the opportunity to represent Canada. Some of the best players in the Pacific Northwest play for the team and she is one of two players on the roster, joining Bellevue’s JoJo Harbor, who have a chance to play in the U-17 World Cup. Harbor is waiting to hear if she made the final cut for the U.S. team.
“We’re fortunate that we’ve got a really good group of kids,” Bialek said. “They’ve worked very hard and they’ve made each other better. Just being able to train day in and day out with a great group of kids, the level is always high and I think that’s a good thing for them.”
Playing against players like Sauerbrunn couldn’t hurt either.
“She got some good experience in that game because Becky is probably one of the best soccer defenders in the U.S. or around the world,” said Kim Calkins, coach of the Sounders women’s team. “She definitely got a taste of a higher level during that match and it was exciting to see her rise to the occasion.”
Playing in China was perhaps the biggest stage Taylor has played on to date. Canada played its games at the Weifang Sports Center Stadium, which holds up to 45,000 people.
Canada won one game and lost two in the tournament, falling 3-1 to Japan — the defending U-17 World Cup champions — in the first game after leading 1-0 in the 85th minute, beating New Zealand 3-0 in the second game and falling to China 1-0 in the third game.
Facing the host country brought the biggest crowd. Taylor said there were roughly 8,000 people at the game against China.
“I’ve never played in a game with that many people watching,” Taylor said. “There were people with air horns constantly going. It was very loud. On the field, you had to communicate even louder and talk louder so that your teammates can hear you. But honestly, you’re so focused on the game that you kind of just block it out.”
Taylor’s coaches say her ability to focus on the game has always been one of her biggest assets.
“She has this very unique poise to her where she doesn’t get flustered or frazzled,” Meadowdale head coach Brian Monroe-Jones said. “She doesn’t get too emotional out there. She’s just a very steady, very technically sound player.”
If Taylor, who will play her college soccer at Seattle University, makes the World Cup roster, it would mean she won’t be able to play for Meadowdale as a senior. The World Cup begins September 30 and concludes October 21, which is during the heart of the high school season.
“It’s a bit conflicting, especially because it’s my senior year and I’m the captain so it would be really hard not to be able to play because I’ve had so much fun in past years,” Taylor said. “But at the same time the opportunity is huge and it would just be a once in a lifetime thing and something that I would for sure never forget.”
Playing without Taylor would be a blow to the Mavericks, but Monroe-Jones said he and the girls on the team wish only the best for their captain.
“We get to be part of it,” Monroe-Jones said. “We get to claim a little piece of this thing as far as, ‘Hey, she played here, she’s one of us. She wore Meadowdale colors and she’s No. 9.’ There are a whole bunch of those pieces that we get to claim and nobody gets to take those pieces away from us.”
Waiting to hear if she has made the World Cup roster is definitely nerve-racking for Taylor, but her uncle expects Aug. 22 to be a day for her family to celebrate.
“I would be absolutely shocked if she didn’t make the team,” Stefani said. “I’m anticipating it as a day to rejoice as opposed to wondering if she’s going to make it or not.”
No matter what happens, Greg Taylor beams with pride when he talks about his daughter.
“To be able to play at the international level is the highest honor,” he said. “As a family, and friends that know her, we couldn’t be more proud. It brings tears to your eyes just thinking about what she’s accomplished. Every kid gets breaks and has opportunities, it’s what they do with it that makes the difference. In this particular case, she’s made the best of her opportunities.”
Aaron Lommers covers prep sports for The Herald. Follow him on Twitter at @aaronlommers and contact him at alommers@heraldnet.com.
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