WSOC | McCrimmon commits to the Kodiaks

Feb. 13, 2020 – Coming off a division title winning season, Lethbridge College Kodiaks women’s soccer head coach Sean Carey has one goal in mind when approaching his upcoming recruiting class – taking the next step and pushing the program to an ACAC championship.

Carey is confident his first recruit commitment will aid in that goal, as he has announced the commitment of centre-back Gillian McCrimmon.

McCrimmon is a Calgary, AB native who joins the Kodiaks after playing with McKenzie United Soccer Club as well as Girls Elite Training (GET). 

Carey says her style of game is a great match for his program.   

“It’s very exciting, we’ve watched her play now for a couple of years,” says Carey. “We know the tendencies in her game and she really suits how we play, both on and off the field. She’ll really add some depth to an already strong program of returning girls.”

As with all of his recruits, Carey makes a point to consider how well the player will fit within his team’s desired playing style.

“It’s all about bringing in those quality players that are going to thrive in the environment that we create as a coaching staff,” says Carey.

A post-secondary future with the Kodiaks wasn’t something McCrimmon had envisioned until her GET team participated in a few training sessions with the Kodiaks. After connecting with Carey and following the team on social media, McCrimmon knew it was going to be a great fit.

“I was training with my individual training group GET and we came down for a game and training session with the Kodiaks,” explains McCrimmon. “The more we communicated back and forth it became easy to see why I should come here. Following social media was really great to keep track of the team and their success last season." 

McCrimmon describes herself as an aggressive and vocal defender, who relishes any chance to take a leadership role on the field. Carey said adding depth at central defense was an area they were keen to address this offseason, especially due to the unfortunate run of injuries the team experienced late last season. 

“Gillian’s going to fit in great on the backend, she’s a centre-back so she’ going to give us added depth at that position. It seemed to be our cursed position last year because of injuries, but she’s a strong central defender which is something we felt we needed to add for this group moving forward.” 

Carey says he’s always glad to add talent from a program like Girls Elite Academy.

“Jessica Whyte is doing a great job with the GET program. We’ve had a lot of their girls come down for ID camps and we’re pretty excited to keep that relationship going and getting a few more players interested in our program this year and in future years.”

McCrimmon plans to enroll in Lethbridge College’s well-regarded Exercise Science program when she arrives in the fall.

The Kodiaks will host the 2020 ACAC soccer championships from Oct. 29 to Nov. 1 in Raymond, AB.