Friday night. The home opener. The crowd buzzes impatiently. All 90 minutes, plus most of overtime, were in the books without a score. MSU freshman forward Jasmine “Jazz” Simmons serves the ball across the goal from 20 yards, just as she has done all night without success.
Only this time, the stingy defense was not quite ready, and #91 Rachel Wannek, the one they call “Canada,” flicks the ball into the corner just past the goalie’s fingertips. The crowd ignites as the rest of the Bulldogs rush past their opponents for a group hug and celebration.
To freshman Rachel Wannek, this is exactly how it is supposed to be.
Wannek, who calls Woodstock, Ontario, home, grew up playing soccer all over Canada, the United States and even as far south as Chile – wherever there was competition. She started when she was 5-years-old.
“I was really active when I was young and my parents put me in a lot of sports,” she said. I always got bored with them. So we tried soccer. Ever since then, I haven’t stopped.”
Her first truly competitive team was the Woodstock Green Devils, a traveling team for which she played from age 7 to 10. She moved up to the North London Soccer Club where she helped her squad win 30 tournaments.
She also played for the Ontario Provincial Team, which won the National Silver Cup in 2007 against the best teams in the other Canadian provinces.
From the provincial team, Rachel was scouted for bigger things.
“From provincials, the World Cup team gets picked,” she said. “Each province has a team, and the World Cup coach goes from province to province, looking at all the camps to see which girls are good.”
She continued to play for her club team, and her London coach took the team to a tournament almost every weekend, usually across the U.S. border.
“Our coach knew what the best scouting places and tournaments are, and he would just take his best team there,” she said. “I remember one year we went every single weekend.”
At one tournament in Indianapolis, MSU assistant coach Sarah Strickland found Wannek playing, and saw something in the 5’11” 17-year-old the Bulldogs needed. Strickland said Rachel’s size, strength and athleticism caught her eye.
“She just scored so many goals, and it didn’t matter if she was offense or defense,” she said. “She was a threat. I saw her once and went to the rest of her games to see if she continued to play at that level, and she did.”
Strickland and head coach Neil Macdonald visited Wannek’s family and invited her down for a camp, and Rachel said she liked what she saw in Starkville.
Wannek had a chance to try out for the World Cup team back home, but decided to concentrate on schoolwork for her senior year and get ready for college at MSU.
Now far away from home, Wannek said she is comfortable on her own after years of traveling from soccer.
“I didn’t visit any other school. I just came down here and fell in love with it,” she said. “The people are nice. The school is beautiful. The soccer coaches are awesome. It’s perfect.”
Just like MSU’s 6-0 record this season, a welcome change from last year’s 5-15 record, Macdonald said having a strong forward like Wannek allows him to play more aggressive up front than before – and win games like last Friday’s 1-0 overtime victory.