Tina Romagnuolo’s unofficial welcome to international play came seven minutes after she stepped onto the field.

Making her debut for the Canadian women’s soccer team in a friendly match against the United States, Romagnuolo was the victim of a foul that earned Abby Wambach — one of the United States’ most iconic players — a yellow card in the 87th minute.

For Romagnuolo, it was an out-of-body experience.

‘It was pretty cool. Not going to lie,’ Romagnuolo said. ‘I got a lot of Facebook messages about it and texts about it, but it was awesome.’

Romagnuolo left Syracuse for two weeks in September to be with the Canadian team for training and a pair of games against the United States. She missed SU’s matchups against Connecticut and Rhode Island, but the experience gained by playing against some of the best players in the world is invaluable.

Now, she is back with the Orange (3-4-3, 2-2 Big East) as the team prepares for its games at Seton Hall (7-2-2, 3-1) on Friday and Rutgers (6-4-1, 1-2-1) on Sunday.

Romagnuolo’s teammates back in Syracuse watched her excitedly. Fellow Canadian Alyscha Mottershead, who watched the entire game, found it to comical that Romagnuolo was just fouled by one of the most revered women’s soccer players in the United States.

‘It’s funny because you watch the World Cup over the summer and things like that, and then you see those big, huge-name players, especially someone like Abby Wambach,’ Mottershead said. ‘And then to see Tina get in there and to end up having the spotlight on her for a second just because Abby couldn’t get the ball or try to foul her a little bit. It’s definitely a little funny.’

With Canada already trailing the United States 2-0 during the Sept. 22 contest in Portland, Ore., Romagnuolo was told by head coach John Herdman she had a good shot of entering the game. Then with just 10 minutes to go, the Syracuse junior got the call to substitute in.

Romagnuolo took the field in front of 18,570 people at Jeld-Wen Field. The near-capacity crowd resulted in more people than all the fans Romagnuolo played in front of at home or away in an Orange uniform this season.

With this all being new to her, Romagnuolo said she had to take a deep breath as she checked in.

‘Definitely really nervous,’ Romagnuolo said. ‘Seeing all the fans just watching you. I mean, I was really scared.’

Although she might have had weak legs, it was still a moment Romagnuolo wanted to achieve long before she started playing in the Canadian national team program in 2005.

‘It’s definitely a big goal of mine since I was little to go the Olympics and the World Cup, so hopefully I get the chance to do that,’ Romagnuolo said.

Syracuse head coach Phil Wheddon said Herdman, who took over for Canada after a disappointing showing by the national team in this summer’s World Cup, called him to get a better idea of what Romagnuolo brought to the table.

And before she departed from Syracuse, Wheddon made sure to give Romagnuolo advice on what to look forward to in international play.

‘We spoke about what is expected,’ Wheddon said. ‘Their coach would be expecting things about how to conduct herself and things like that. I just told her to conduct herself with class at all times.’

Overall, Romagnuolo performed well enough in training and her 10 minutes of action against stars like Wambach, Alex Morgan and the other U.S. players that she has a good chance of being invited back when the Canadian team reconvenes in November.

‘(Herdman) said I most likely will,’ Romagnuolo said. ‘He thought I did well. I was kind of injured for the first part, so it was unfortunate. But the times I played for the last week I did well.’

While Romagnuolo made a strong first impression, there are still parts of her game that could use improvement if she wants to be a mainstay on the national team and play in venues like the Olympics and World Cup.

But for right now, Romagnuolo is focused on what’s in front of her: two Big East games this weekend against Seton Hall and Rutgers.

‘It’s awesome to be back,’ Romagnuolo said. ‘I’m happy to show everybody what I’ve learned and bring it to the team, so hopefully we’ll do really well in the Big East.’

dgproppe@syr.edu

 

Published on September 28, 2011 at 12:00 pm