Canberra United are pleased to announce the arrival of a brace of new goalkeepers for the forthcoming Westfield W-League season as promising youngsters Mackenzie Arnold and Trudy Burke start training with the championship winning club.
Canberra United are pleased to announce the arrival of a brace of new goalkeepers for the forthcoming Westfield W-League season as promising youngsters Mackenzie Arnold and Trudy Burke start training with the championship winning club.
Arnold and Burke have arrived in Canberra early for pre-season training with Matildas and Canberra United goalkeeping coach Paul Jones in the lead-up to Canberra United trials and official start of training on 21st September. Arnold has previous experience in the Westfield W-League starting all ten matches with Perth Glory last season whilst for Burke this will be her first move into the national league stepping up from the highly ranked Illawarra Stingrays FC on the NSW South Coast.
Both players have moved to Canberra from their home towns for the duration of the Westfield W-League season and have big gloves to fill as they look to replace injured United custodian Lydia Williams who is forced to sit out the season to recover from surgery for a knee injury sustained while playing in Sweden.
United Head Coach Jitka Klimkova is delighted by the prospect of having two very promising Australian goalkeepers, both of whom were part of the Matildas Development Squad that met for a training camp at the AIS in April this year.
“We are happy that these two promising goalkeepers want to play for Canberra United and I-m happy that they have already moved to Canberra to commence training with Paul Jones,” Klimkova, who will return to Canberra in mid-September, commented. “We are unfortunately without last year-s Westfield W-League goalkeeper and Player of the Year, Lydia Williams, who is not available due to injury and we are looking forward to developing the next generation of top goalkeepers, not just for Canberra but for the Australian national team.”
Whilst their primary aim will be to claim the number one jersey for the opening match of the season, scheduled for Saturday 20th October, both Arnold and Burke will be participating in Community and Game Development work as part of their agreement with the club. And, even though Arnold has the experience of playing in the competition, there is no pre-set number one or two as training commences.
“Having two good up and coming goalkeepers gives us the position of being able to select on merit,” Klimkova continued. “Both Mackenzie and Trudy have the potential to be the number one and I have no doubt that they will support each other well during the season. “
Canberra United kicks off the defence of their Westfield W-League crown with a home fixture, and Grand Final rematch, against Brisbane Roar on Saturday 20th October at McKellar Park at 2.00pm. Details of tickets for that fixture, Canberra United Season Tickets and Membership Packs will be released shortly.
