Fourth Estate Newspaper

Issue date: 5/8/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Matt Becker UW-Green Bay men's soccer player Tosaint Ricketts will play for Canada's U-23 team.

Tosaint Ricketts had quite a year.
In addition to being a part of perhaps the most productive season in the program's history, Ricketts has had a busy year individually as well.
A native of Edmonton, Alberta, Ricketts was selected to play on the Canadian U-23 soccer team, which competed against the United States last month for a spot in this summer's Olympic games in Beijing, China.
Although the Canadian team lost 3-0 to the U.S. team - which touted the likes of Freddy Adu and a handful of Major League Soccer players - Ricketts took a lot away from the experience.
"It's always a privilege to represent your country at a high level," Ricketts said. "It was really great."
Going into the game, Ricketts had already played Adu and many of the players on the U.S. team.
Players with those kind of resumes can be intimidating, but come game time, they're just players, according to Ricketts.
"Their name is obviously big, but they're just another player on the field," Ricketts said. "You don't really think about it during the game."
Playing on a Canadian national select team was nothing new to Ricketts, as he played for Canada's U-20 World Cup team last summer.
On top of his selection to the Canadian U-23 team this year, Ricketts was also named a starter, a well-deserved honor given that he's 20 years old, according to UWGB's Head Coach Tom Poitras, who recruited Ricketts as a part of his first recruiting class three years ago.
"The experiences he's had, getting to play in the Under-20 World Cup last year, not too many players in the world get to do that," Poitras said. "As a 20-year-old, to get called onto the Under-23 Olympic team and end up being a starter on that team is pretty impressive."
Ricketts was born and raised in Edmonton and first started playing soccer competitively when he was 14.
Ricketts decision to play collegiate soccer at UWGB came after Poitras saw a videotape of Ricketts and made a trip to Canada to see him first-hand.
Poitras liked what he saw, as did Ricketts.
"I wanted to play my freshman year," Ricketts said. "So I came to a school where I thought I could play my freshman year. It was Green Bay."

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