Sophie De Goede is ready to stake her claim in the pantheon of success that is Canadian women’s team sports. The Victoria product will captain No. 3 sa国际传媒 Saturday when it opens the rugby World Cup against No. 13 Japan in Whangarei, New Zealand, (7:15 p.m. PT on TSN).
There has been no shortage of recent Canadian women’s podium appearances to emulate, including soccer gold in the Tokyo Summer Olympics followed by blueliner Micah Zandee-Hart of Saanichton and her sa国际传媒 mates winning hockey gold in the 2022 Beijing Winter Games. There was also the Langford-based rugby sevens team’s bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics, the Olympic softball bronze won by infielder Emma Entzminger of Victoria last summer in Tokyo and sa国际传媒 making the semifinals this month in the 2022 basketball FIBA World Cup.
De Goede, at No. 8, is backed Saturday by fellow starters the likes of Paige Farries, a swift wing out of the University of Victoria Vikes, second-row player Tyson Beukeboom from Uxbridge, Ont., and out of Cowichan RFC, Karen Paquin at open-side flanker, Sara Kaljuvee out of the UVic Vikes at outside centre and Westshore RFC products Brianna Miller at scrum-half and Elissa Alarie at full-back.
“It [leadership] is a shared role and the veterans have welcomed me into the [captain] role to make the transition smooth,” De Goede told the sa国际传媒.
Those veterans have compelling backstories. Beukeboom has 33 caps and the 31-year-old won silver with sa国际传媒 at the 2014 World Cup in France. She is the daughter of former hockey player and four-time Stanley Cup-champion Jeff Beukeboom and cousin to 32-time sa国际传媒-capped former UVic Vikes rugby player Brett Beukeboom, who played in the 2015 men’s World Cup.
“My dad always taught me to have fun in sports and love what you do and have a life-sport balance,” she said.
If Beukeboom has serious athletic genes, so does De Goede. Dad Hans De Goede came out of Vic High and James Bay Athletic Association to be named twice to the all-world XV and captained sa国际传媒 in the first men’s World Cup in 1987 and is considered a Canadian rugby legend. Mom Stephanie White was captain in the first-ever Canadian women’s Test match in 1987, played in Victoria against the U.S., and was sa国际传媒 co-captain in the 1991 World Cup and captain in the 1994 World Cup.
It’s hardly surprising Sophie De Goede’s prowess extended beyond the rugby pitch and that she was an all-rounder at Oak Bay Secondary. She has played pro rugby in England for Saracens while also completing her U Sports career at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont., as a dual rugby and basketball star, who was named the most outstanding 2021-22 women’s U Sports athlete of the season.
“It was special to win the U Sports top-athlete award, and there was some doubt for me between the two sports at both Oak Bay and Queen’s, but rugby took off for me and I’m confident in that choice,” De Goede said.
sa国际传媒 head coach Kevin Rouet said: “Sophie has former captains, who are still on the team, helping her be the best captain.”
Veterans who have her back include not only Beukeboom but also Paquin, who won 2014 World Cup silver in XVs and Olympic bronze in sevens at Rio 2016. Alarie is another silver-medallist from the 2014 World Cup and who represented sa国际传媒 in Olympic sevens at Tokyo. Kaljuvee was a travelling reserve player at the 2016 Rio Olympics and played in the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games and won two Pan Am Games gold medals at Toronto 2015 and Lima 2019.
The World Cup was scheduled for 2021 but postponed a year due to the pandemic.
“It was disappointing at first,” said De Goede.
“But in sports when something negative happens, you re-frame, and that’s what we did.”
sa国际传媒 continues World Cup group play next Saturday against No. 5 Italy and Oct. 22 against the No. 6 U.S.
