TicketsCINCINNATI - Vanessa Gilles, a former standout for the University of Cincinnati women's soccer team, has been called into the Canadian Women's National Team camp as the Canadians prepare for this summer's FIFA World Cup with a pair of international friendlies and the 2019 Algarve Cup. Gilles, who is currently playing professionally for Les Girondins de Bordeaux in Division 1 Feminine France, is joining her second national team after earning a spot on the France U23 side in November.
"It's an honor to be given the opportunity to represent my country and prove myself at this level," Gilles said. "It's been a goal and dream of mine to be able to represent one of my countries at the highest level so my family and I are incredibly humbled and thankful. Although I made one list, there are always more goals to set and more work to be done so hopefully it doesn't stop here!"
"I cannot begin to say how proud we are of Vanessa and the work she has put in to make this dream a reality," UC Head Coach Neil Stafford said. "As I have said before, she is so driven and unwavering in all she does, whether that was playing for the Bearcats, earning her degree, playing professionally, and now internationally. I am excited to see what Vanessa makes of this opportunity and look forward to seeing her not only represent Canada, but also the University of Cincinnati on an international level."
Gilles will be one of 23 players on the roster that will play a pair of closed door international friendlies in the coming weeks. First, Canada will travel to La Manga, Spain, to face Switzerland on Thursday, January 17, before playing Norway, a fellow participant in the upcoming World Cup, on Tuesday, January 22. Both training matches are closed to public. From there, the team will travel to Portugal for the 2019 Algarve Cup with Canada playing matches with Iceland (February 27), FIFA World Cup qualifier Scotland (March 1) and a team to be determined (March 6) to determine the team's final standing in the eight-team event.
Following the Algarve Cup, Canada will add more matches in the spring ahead of the FIFA World Cup, which will be held in France. Canada will face Cameroon (June 10) in Montpellier, New Zealand (June 15) in Grenoble and the Netherlands (June 20) in Reims.
Back in November, the Ottawa native was called into the France U23 camp and played for Les Blues in a 5-2 victory at Belgium. Despite playing 35 minutes for the French team, Gilles has not made a senior-level debut, meaning her international allegiance is not locked in to France. Should she make an appearance for Canada in any of the coming matches, her allegiance will be locked in to Canada since her time with France was not with their full national side.
In the history of the UC program, Gilles is the second rostered player to have earned a call-up to her native national team, joining Alana McShane. With McShane having sat out the 2013 season at UC before transferring to Georgia Southern, Gilles is the first former UC player that saw action for the Bearcats before being called into a national team camp.
// LOOKING BACK
In her career with UC, Gilles was twice named to NSCAA all-region teams (All-Northeast Region Second Team in 2016 and All-Southeast Region First Team in 2017) to become the fifth Bearcat to earn a pair of regional honors in a career and the first since Heather Herweh was named to the NSCAA All-Great Lakes Region first team in 2002 and second team in 2001. Herweh, along with two of her teammates, were the last Bearcats to receive regional awards from the coaches association in 2002 before Gilles earned her first honor following the 2016 season.
In 2017, Gilles was a four-time American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Week and, following the season, was tabbed as the 2017 AAC Co-Defensive Player of the Year, making her the fifth Bearcat to earn the defensive honor and the first since 2001 when Christy Hoffman was honored by the coaches of Conference USA. The post-season honor is the third major accolade of Gilles' career after she also was named the 2016 and 2017 AAC Pre-Season Defensive Player of the Year. Ranked 19th on Top Drawer Soccer's Women's National Top 100 Players, Gilles was a four-time conference team honoree after being selected to the AAC first team in 2017 and 2016, second team in 2015 and all-rookie in 2014. With her selection, she became just the third Bearcat to garner four honors, joining Tina Matlock (1995-98) and Tracy Pohl (1994-97). She capped her career earning CoSIDA Academic All-America Third Team honors.
"It's an honor to be given the opportunity to represent my country and prove myself at this level," Gilles said. "It's been a goal and dream of mine to be able to represent one of my countries at the highest level so my family and I are incredibly humbled and thankful. Although I made one list, there are always more goals to set and more work to be done so hopefully it doesn't stop here!"
"I cannot begin to say how proud we are of Vanessa and the work she has put in to make this dream a reality," UC Head Coach Neil Stafford said. "As I have said before, she is so driven and unwavering in all she does, whether that was playing for the Bearcats, earning her degree, playing professionally, and now internationally. I am excited to see what Vanessa makes of this opportunity and look forward to seeing her not only represent Canada, but also the University of Cincinnati on an international level."
Gilles will be one of 23 players on the roster that will play a pair of closed door international friendlies in the coming weeks. First, Canada will travel to La Manga, Spain, to face Switzerland on Thursday, January 17, before playing Norway, a fellow participant in the upcoming World Cup, on Tuesday, January 22. Both training matches are closed to public. From there, the team will travel to Portugal for the 2019 Algarve Cup with Canada playing matches with Iceland (February 27), FIFA World Cup qualifier Scotland (March 1) and a team to be determined (March 6) to determine the team's final standing in the eight-team event.
Following the Algarve Cup, Canada will add more matches in the spring ahead of the FIFA World Cup, which will be held in France. Canada will face Cameroon (June 10) in Montpellier, New Zealand (June 15) in Grenoble and the Netherlands (June 20) in Reims.
Back in November, the Ottawa native was called into the France U23 camp and played for Les Blues in a 5-2 victory at Belgium. Despite playing 35 minutes for the French team, Gilles has not made a senior-level debut, meaning her international allegiance is not locked in to France. Should she make an appearance for Canada in any of the coming matches, her allegiance will be locked in to Canada since her time with France was not with their full national side.
In the history of the UC program, Gilles is the second rostered player to have earned a call-up to her native national team, joining Alana McShane. With McShane having sat out the 2013 season at UC before transferring to Georgia Southern, Gilles is the first former UC player that saw action for the Bearcats before being called into a national team camp.
// LOOKING BACK
In her career with UC, Gilles was twice named to NSCAA all-region teams (All-Northeast Region Second Team in 2016 and All-Southeast Region First Team in 2017) to become the fifth Bearcat to earn a pair of regional honors in a career and the first since Heather Herweh was named to the NSCAA All-Great Lakes Region first team in 2002 and second team in 2001. Herweh, along with two of her teammates, were the last Bearcats to receive regional awards from the coaches association in 2002 before Gilles earned her first honor following the 2016 season.
In 2017, Gilles was a four-time American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Week and, following the season, was tabbed as the 2017 AAC Co-Defensive Player of the Year, making her the fifth Bearcat to earn the defensive honor and the first since 2001 when Christy Hoffman was honored by the coaches of Conference USA. The post-season honor is the third major accolade of Gilles' career after she also was named the 2016 and 2017 AAC Pre-Season Defensive Player of the Year. Ranked 19th on Top Drawer Soccer's Women's National Top 100 Players, Gilles was a four-time conference team honoree after being selected to the AAC first team in 2017 and 2016, second team in 2015 and all-rookie in 2014. With her selection, she became just the third Bearcat to garner four honors, joining Tina Matlock (1995-98) and Tracy Pohl (1994-97). She capped her career earning CoSIDA Academic All-America Third Team honors.