The next generation from one of the Island’s most celebrated sporting families is blazing its own trail.
Brooklyn Courtnall has joined her father, former 16-season NHLer Russ Courtnall, as an international. Brooklyn Courtnall was part of the Canadian team that qualified Saturday for the 2022 FIFA Under-20 women’s World Cup of soccer with a 2-0 win over Puerto Rico in the CONCACAF tournament in the Dominican Republic.
A Courtnall cross, converted into a header goal by Florianne Jourde, accounted for the second Canadian goal against Puerto Rico. Courtnall, who was raised in California but qualifies for sa国际传媒 through her father, scored twice in the qualifying tournament. sa国际传媒 won six of seven games to capture the third CONCACAF berth behind the U.S. and Mexico for the World Cup this summer. A fourth CONCACAF nation, Costa Rica, is in as host.
“We came here with a mission to qualify and it was an entire team effort all the way through the tournament,” Canadian U-20 head coach Cindy Tye said in a statement. “We kept our processes consistent and that helped because we asked our players to be adaptable and flexible through a long tournament. This tournament is just the start of this group’s journey and we are excited to see where they will be when the FIFA U-20 World Cup kicks off in August.”
This is the generation of players that will eventually restock the roster of the defending Tokyo Olympic champion Canadian senior national team.
Brooklyn Courtnall, a five-foot-nine defender who plays for the USC Trojans of the NCAA Pac-12, is the second international in the family. Dad Russ came out of the Victoria Cougars of the Western Hockey League to place fourth with sa国际传媒 in the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics and was sa国际传媒’s leading scorer in a fourth-place finish in the 1984 world junior championship tournament in Sweden.
Brooklyn, whose mother is former actress Paris Courtnall (nee Vaughan) and grandmother the late singing legend Sarah Vaughan, would take the family sporting legacy to the next level by stepping onto an international podium that her dad twice just missed.
The athletic genes are evident as the family includes Brooklyn’s sister Ally Courtnall, who played soccer and ran track in the NCAA Pac-12 for the UCLA Bruins, and brother Lawton Courtnall, who played NCAA hockey for Western Michigan and is a pro with the South Carolina Stingrays of the ECHL.
Brooklyn’s uncle Geoff Courtnall is a Stanley Cup champion who came out of the Victoria Cougars undrafted before forging a 17-season NHL career. Brooklyn’s cousin, Tampa Bay Lightning-drafted Justin Courtnall, came out of the Victoria Grizzlies of the BCHL to play NCAA at Boston University and pro in the AHL and ECHL.
