VANCOUVER – One of the greatest soccer players in UBC and Canadian history is being inducted into the BC Sports Hall of Fame.
Andrea Neil was announced as one of the members of the 2012 Class of Inductees this morning at an event at the new Hall of Champions in Vancouver.
Neil starred as a midfielder for the Thunderbirds in the early 1990's, winning a CIS (then CIAU) championship in 1993, earning two All-Canadian nods and being named a co-winner of the Marilyn Pomfret award. In 1993, given to UBC's female athlete of the year.
During that 1993 title run, Neil created one of the most memorable moments in UBC's long sports history.
Playing with stress fractures in both legs, Neil scored the only goal in a 1-0 win over McGill at the National Championships, which UBC would eventually win over Dalhousie in the final.
Despite the injuries, she was named the MVP of the McGill game and selected to the CIS championship tournament All-Star team.
Neil graduated from UBC with a Human Kinetics degree in 1996 but later came back to campus as an assistant coach to Dick Mosher in the late '90's.
In 1991, Neil made her debut with Canada's National team and she would go on to play 132 games for her country, including appearances at four World Cups.
Neil retired as National team captain in 2007.
Professionally, she played with the Vancouver Whitecaps and is the team's leader in career minutes and games played and was a W-League All-Star in '01 and '05.
Neil was inducted into the UBC Sports Hall of Fame in 2009. She got the call for the Canada Sports Hall of Fame in 2011 and will add another well-deserved honour at the 2012 Banquet of Champions on September 20 at the Vancouver Convention Centre, when she will be inducted into the BC Sports Hall of Fame.
- with files from Fred Hume, UBC Athletics Historian
