Soccer Martlets head overseas to France

MONTREAL – The McGill University women's soccer team is heading overseas for the third time in school history, to play a pair of "international friendly" exhibition games in France.

The Martlets, who previously toured England in 1998, then France and Spain in 2004, are holding a spring training camp in the Basque region of southern France, where they are scheduled to play exhibition games against Real Unión (May 6), a Spanish team from Irún and SCALA (May 8), an undefeated women’s senior team from the Aquitaine region, before returning to Montreal May 11.

The Martlets will be based in the Basque city Saint Jean de Luz, situated on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, some 200 kilometres south of Bordeaux.

“We have a lot of young players returning in the fall and will use this training camp to assess our level of talent one more time before our team breaks for the summer,” said Mounicot, originally from Saint Jean de Luz. “But perhaps more importantly, the team will also have the chance to have a taste of the culture and history in that part of the country. The Basque people are divided in the French and Spanish territories but both have kept their original language and culture.”

This marks the ninth time that a McGill varsity team has visited France. The previous teams to do so include men’s hockey (2004 and 1991), women’s soccer (2004), women’s hockey (2002) and basketball (1999), the swim team (1996), football Redmen (1993) and men’s hockey (1991).

SOURCE:

Earl Zukerman Communications Officer Athletics & Recreation McGill University 475 Pine Avenue W., Montreal, QC  H2W 1S4 CANADA 514-398-7012 (Tel.) 514-398-1956 (Fax) www.mcgill.ca/athletics