 Laura Georges, a regular on the French women's national team, had a stellar career at Boston College and is now preparing for a lengthy international career.
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Laura Georges is not your ordinary student-athlete.
For that matter, The Heights' Female Athlete of the Year is not your ordinary athlete.
Georges, a senior communication major from Versailles, France, began playing in the French national program at age 16 and made her first appearance for the French women's national team at age 17. Since then, the defender has been a mainstay with "Les Bleues."
She was named as one of the 20 finalists for the FIFA world Women's Player of the Year award.
For three years, she performed her world-renowned magic right here at Boston College, striking fear into the hearts of ACC attackers.
With her graduation looming, she is on the verge of an exciting future in soccer.
Not only will she continue playing for the French national team - whose qualification quest for the 2009 European Championships will begin shortly after this summer's FIFA Women's World Cup, which France is not a part of - she also has a chance to play professional soccer both abroad and in the newly reformed WUSA, which will relaunch in America next year.
What brought this world-class soccer player to BC all the way from France? A stroke of luck, for both Georges and BC.
"BC came to France to play an exhibition against my club team, Paris St. Germaine," recalled Georges, a freshman attending Leonardo de Vinci University in Paris.
"I wasn't even supposed to play in that game," said Georges. "It was a weekday game, and I had [national team obligations] during the week and was only supposed to play for my club team on the weekends."
Fortunately, she did play in the game - and BC's coaches immediately noticed her talent and approached her shortly thereafter.
"They asked me if I would be interested in playing in the United States … and I said that I [would be]." She said that she had "always loved learning and speaking English" and was interested in coming to BC to get a great education.
Spring Break
