Bronze Medal-Winning Squad Praises Goalkeeper McLeod

From last place in the 2011 World Cup to Olympic bronze: this Canadian women’s soccer team has travelled far in a short period of time, and its biggest test was its final one at the London Olympics. They passed the test in large part because their 5-foot-9 ‘keeper, Erin McLeod, had the game of her life.

The Canadian team had four officially credited attempts, but only one shot on net in the entire game. It happened in the 92nd minute, when midfielder Diana Matheson pounced on a loose ball in the penalty area and booted it into the French goal. Her shot sealed a historic 1-0 victory for Canada, capturing the first medal of any kind for the country in a ‘traditional” team sport since the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.

France had dominated the game up to that point, launching 25 attempts at the net in a withering barrage which lasted almost the entire 90 minutes. Four of those chances were listed as shots, while the rest were crosses and other approaches. McLeod was up to the task every time.

It was a glorious turnaround for the native of St. Albert, near Edmonton. McLeod had been in the middle of the action in the match against the U.S. on Monday when she was controversially whistled for holding the ball too long, which began a sequence of events that led to the game-tying goal on a penalty kick. The Americans would go on to win in extra time 4-3, and the Canadians would publicly lash out at the referee.

McLeod was not one of the angry voices heard after that game. She made her opinion clear on Thursday; she wanted a chance at redemption. She had 25 chances to redeem herself, and with every leap and stretch she proved herself worthy in the eyes of her teammates.

“Erin gets (overlooked) in the discussion of world’s best goaltender. I don’t understand why,” said Canadian captain Christine Sinclair in an interview after the match. “She proved if she’s not the best goalkeeper in the world, she should be in the discussion. She kept our team in it.”

“I’d like to take all the credit,” said McLeod, who had started the last four matches. “But Carmelina Moscato make a diving save in front of the ball. I had (Desiree) Scott save one off the line. So we had a couple of ‘keepers. It’s easier when you have more than one in there.”

Whether this makes up for the disappointment of the previous game, where the team was denied a chance to play for the gold medal, is not something they need to address any longer. This third place felt enough like a victory.