King’s Leon flashes brilliance in Women’s World Cup

October 17, 2018 · 0 Comments

By Jake Courtepatte

Adriana Leon made her return to the world stage early last week in a qualification game against Cuba, putting together a performance that ensured her a permanent spot on the Canadian Women’s World Cup roster.
The 26-year-old King City native blasted home four goals in a 12-0 routing of against the 88th-ranked Cubans for the fifth-ranked Canadians in the CONCACAF World Cup qualification tournament.
“We’re feeling pretty good,” said Leon on the CONCACAF post-game broadcast. “I think it was a pretty dominant performance. I thought we kept the level high up until the 90th minute, so it was a good team performance.”
Leon, who suits up for the Seattle Reign FC of the National Women’s Soccer League, posted a brace by the 23-minute mark before adding two more in the second half.
She backed up her resume with yet another pair of goals Monday night in a 7-0 win over Panama in the tournament semifinals, a game that clinched a spot for Canada in the Women’s World Cup next year, their seventh straight tournament.
With the top three teams earning qualification, the defending champion United States are also already in, who Team Canada will meet in the finals later this week.
“It’s gonna be physical, for sure,” said Leon. “It’s gonna be tough. It’s always hard to play against the U.S.”
“They’re the number-one team, they’re number-one for a reason. So it’s gonna be a tough battle, but I’m looking forward to it. They’re always our big rival, so we’ll be gearing up for it.”
Growing up in Maple, Ontario, Leon’s parents moved the family to King City when she was 16 years old in 2008. She was still attending classes at The Country Day School the first time she was called up to represent her country internationally, playing in the U-20 World Cup a year later.
Since then, her career has taken her to all corners of the globe, from Cyprus, to Japan, to Germany, and Brazil.
It was in 2012 that she joined the senior squad and got the opportunity to play alongside her childhood idol, Christine Sinclair. She scored the only goal in a 1-0 win over China PR, and has now found the back of the net 12 times since joining the senior team.
Leon was a player on both the rugby and volleyball programs at The Country Day School as well.