(FREDERICTON, NB) Olivia Rowinski is trading her Fredericton District Soccer Association yellow for UNB red.

The talented centre back has signed a U SPORTS Letter of Intent and will join the Reds women’s soccer team in the 2019-20 season.

“I’m always looking for new ways to improve, on and off the field, and this is a competitive environment I can contribute to,” said Rowinski.

The 18-year-old was a member of New Brunswick’s Canada Games team in 2017 and has worked with the Team NB program for four years, where she was a team captain at three different age levels.

Rowinski played five seasons of New Brunswick Premiership soccer with FDSA teams, most recently helping the U17 side to back-to-back New Brunswick titles (2017 & 2018) and appearances in national championship tournaments.

“The leadership and determination of the girls on the team pushed me to decide to play here,” said Rowinski. “I’ve played with and against a majority of them the past few years, and they have such an admirable team chemistry. I respect both Jon and Joe (Crossland) as coaches, seeing how they have developed this group of strong and driven girls, and having Mark LeBlanc help, he’s one of my favourite coaches, made the decision even easier.”

She was a member of Soccer NB’s High Performance Academy, and in 2018, Rowinski was named MVP of her FDSA U17 side and of Fredericton High School’s varsity girls soccer team.

“We’re excited to add Olivia to our group in 2019,” said Reds head coach Jon Crossland. “She’s put a lot of time into her game in the past number of years and it’s paying off for her. She’s a great kid and it’s awesome for us that we can add a player that has come through the FDSA and Reds Academy programming and developed into a university caliber student-athlete.”

Rowinski will enter UNB’s Faculty of Arts and study History, Philosophy, and Political Science. She has plans on further studying Human and Civil Rights Law and International Relations.

“As an athlete, I bring my strength and speed and communications skills, and I’ll work hard to implement them,” said Rowinski. “I think I bring positivity, passion, good work ethic, and leadership to the team.”

“We welcome Olivia’s speed and strength in the backline,” said Crossland. “She has great reads defensively, and it won’t be easy to get around her. Her ability to make a first pass, or dribble to start the attack, will get us out of our back and into the attack well.”