Karina LeBlanc

Karina Chenelle LeBlanc... her father Vans was born in DMA while her mother Winsome was born in JAM... her parents were living in Roseau, DMA, but Karina was born in Atlanta while her parents were stationed in USA for three weeks as a result of a hurricane in the Caribbean... Karina was eight years old when she moved from Roseau to Maple Ridge... she married her husband Jason Mathot in 2016... she was 12 years old when she started playing soccer for Golden Ears Angels... grew up participating in soccer, basketball, field hockey and track... enjoys writing, hanging out with friends, public speaking... favourites have included Gianluigi Buffon, Iker Casillas, Manuel Neuer...

honoured by the Canada Soccer Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2020, with her official celebration ahead of the Canada international home match on 8 April 2022 at BC Place in Vancouver (five teammates Randee Hermus, Karina LeBlanc, Brittany Timko Baxter, Martina Franko and Rhian Wilkison were honoured)... on 26 May 2018, the Karina LeBlanc Field at Merkley Park was named in her honour by the City of Maple Ridge... she was celebrated as part of the London 2012 Olympic soccer team honoured in the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame’s Class of 2019 in Toronto on 23 October 2019 (she was one of 18 players that attended the event)... she was part of the Canadian team that won the 1998 Concacaf Championship, recognised as a Canada Soccer Team of Distinction...

two-time Concacaf champion with Canada (1998 and 2010), in fact Canada’s first two-time champion... won a bronze medal with Canada at the London 2012 Olympic Games... was the first footballer to represent Canada at five FIFA Women’s World Cups (USA 1999, USA 2003, China 2007, Germany 2011, Canada 2015), including a fourth-place finish at USA 2003... in all, represented Canada at two Olympic Games (Beijing 2008 and London 2012)... in all, won six Concacaf medals with Canada (1998 gold, 2002 silver, 2004 bronze, 2008 silver, 2010 gold, 2012 silver)... won medals with Canada at two Pan American Games (bronze at Rio 2007 and gold at Guadalajara 2011)... career 110 international “A” appearances across 19 years from 1997 to 2015 with Canada Soccer's Women's National Team as a goalkeeper...

she was honoured by Canada Soccer for reaching 100 international “A” appearances ahead of the Canada home match on 30 May 2012 at Stade Moncton in Moncton (Canada Soccer President Victor Montagliani presented commemorative plaques to both Candace Chapman and Karina LeBlanc)... after her playing career, she was celebrated by Canada Soccer on 4 February 2017 in the half-time presentation to former Olympic bronze medal winners at BC Place in Vancouver (on that day, Karina LeBlanc, Carmelina Moscato and Emily Zurrer were honoured at the Canada match)...

club career in Canada and USA... with Portland Thorns FC, an NWSL Championship winner (2013)... with New Jersey Wildcats, a USL W-League Championship winner (2005)... with Los Angeles Sol, won a WPS regular-season title (2009)... with Boston Breakers, won a WUSA regular-season title (2003)...

part of the Canada Soccer visit to meet Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Parliament Hill on 4 May 2012 in Ottawa (Karina LeBlanc and Rhian WIlkinson)... sat next to Prime Minister Stephen Harper on 5 July 2015 at the Final Match of the FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015 at BC Place in Vancouver...

earned a Bachelor of Science, Business Administration and Management, from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln... one of four members of iS4, a group that is dedicated to empowering others through workshops, speaking engagements, team building, and soccer camps... named in her honour, the Karina LeBlanc Game Changer Award recognised a BC Games participant who removed barriers to participation in sport....

has served as an ambassador for UNICEF Canada (starting in 2013)... has participated in We Day (Vancouver 2013 and Vancouver 2014)... spoke at the United Nations General Assembly in the Summer of 2014 (she spoke on the importance of sport and challenging others to their greater purpose)... spoke at Beyond Sport panel at Yankee Stadium in July 2014... was a participant at the FIFA Female Leadership Programme in June 2016... attended the FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019...

said LeBlanc after the 2000 WUSA Draft, “it’s great for Nebraska soccer that so many of us have this opportunity (and) I think it just shows how great the program is. We didn’t get here on own own as there are great coaches - Marty Everding, Megan Bechtold, and John Walker - and great athletes that have helped to give us this opportunity”... said LeBlanc ahead of her fourth FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2011, “you want to live each moment like it is brand new because every FIFA Women’s World Cup is different”...

said Suzanne Muir in 2021 of then rookie Karina LeBlanc in the late 1990s, “she brought the energy, the excitement, the commitment and a desire to learn... and she brought laughter, too. You knew she knew she would go a long way and not just in sport”...

said LeBlanc after being named Thorns FC general manager before the 2021 NWSL playoffs, “the way the community, the club and the team made me feel, was something that I would never forget. I thought I might come back as a player, but never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would be coming back as the general manager of what is for me, the greatest club in the world. My experience as a Thorn helped shape me into the woman I am today”...