VANCOUVER – One of the most talented UBC T-Birds to ever lace up a pair of boots is heading down under, as recent graduate
Danielle Steer has signed her first professional contract with Western United Football Club of the Liberty Women's A-League based out of Melbourne, Australia.
The 23-year-old striker makes the immediate move to the pro ranks following a prolific five-year career with the UBC women's soccer team that included Steer taking over top spot as the Canada West women's soccer all-time leading scorer this past fall. Steer's impressive five-season total with the blue and gold saw her score 46 goals and add 25 assists for 71 total points to surpass the previous mark of 65 points set by fellow T-Bird alumna Jasmin Dhanda who now occupies second place overall.
"I'm very excited to be starting my professional career at Western United," said Steer. "Turning Soccer into a career has been a dream of mine since forever and I believe the A-league is the right fit for me to grow as a player. There are lots of opportunities to succeed but plenty of new challenges I will have to face as well. The team and the staff here have made the transition really easy as the culture and environment created here feels similar to what I was used to at UBC. Despite some adversity being alone in a new country, I'm hoping to bring the same tenacity and scoring ability I became most known for at the U SPORTS level.
The product of Surrey, B.C. who helped lead the storied UBC program to a seventh national championship title victory in 2019 is coming off an impressive final campaign with the 'Birds that saw her score 14 goals while adding eight assists for 22 total points to equal the all-time individual single-season points record. As a result, Steer was awarded the 2022 Canada West Player of the Year while also being named a U SPORTS first-team All Canadian. Steer also helped the T-Birds women's soccer team set a record for wins this season with 13, marking the first ever BC team to reach that total in the history of Canada West while matching the highest point total at 39.
"To be able to jump right into a top professional environment with internationals going to the World Cup this year right after her last season with us is quite the accomplishment," added UBC Women's Soccer head coach
Jesse Symons. "She deserves to jump right in with what she accomplished in her years with UBC and I am so excited to see her continue to progress as a player and person on her next journey."
Both Steer and Symons believe her experience with the Thunderbirds was invaluable and mutually beneficial for the rare talent and program to flourish together, find consistency and set new expectations.
"I grew a lot as a person and player in my time at UBC," commented Steer. "Naturally there were ups and downs but overall the experiences and memories made are some of the best. I think competing in U SPORTS helped me prepare for the professional level by understanding and adapting to change that happens every season with new incoming players as well as filling the shoes of graduating players. Having to fit into completely unknown environment in Australia, I was able to relate back to my first year self and recall how I needed to be patient while continually trying to prove myself. Being part of a program like UBC, there were high expectations everywhere. My time within U SPORTs taught me how to deal with the pressure that comes with bigger games.
"Dani was able to bring so much into the program since her first year in 2017," Symons concluded. "She joined a team with exceptional attacking players and pushed into the starting 11 in her first year. She had a lot of growing to do and I felt the playoff run to our 2019 national championship really set her onto another level. She used the year off in 2020 as a spring board to push to a level mentally and physically to become a top player in her last 2 seasons with the team and has helped propel her to set records that our young players will look to now target. She has helped bring in a mindset that ripples through the team and keeps everyone wanting to improve and get better. This is a legacy that will continue to help push the program success."
While this will be Steer's first venture into Australian football, she is no stranger to Australia and Australian sports culture – Steer's mother is born and bred in Sydney and is the niece of swimming legend and four-time Olympic gold medalist Dawn Fraser.
All involved expect Steer's addition to the Western United FC line-up to be a seamless injection for the team that has enjoyed a perfect 5-0 start to the A-League season which pits them in a three-way tie atop the standings alongside Melbourne City FC and Sydney FC all with 15 points, while WUFC has played one less game.
Steer's contract with Western United runs through the end of the current 2022-23 campaign which extends until the end of April and sees the final regular season game scheduled for Friday March 31
st. It's still unclear when Steer will make her WUFC debut but the club is excited to haver her join the attacking scheme with a busy slate of games scheduled for the new year beginning with their next match, this Friday when they meet Wellington Phoenix FC for an 8:00 p.m. local time kick off.
