Perth’s travelling ‘keeper tells us about life in the USA, psyching up with Akon and sharing her name
You-re a Canberra girl, how are you finding being in Perth?
I-m currently not living in Perth, I-m in Canberra but I-m signed with Perth Glory and they-ve made it very flexible for myself to continue training in Canberra and go play with the Glory girls whenever they travel.
So who are you training with?
I-m training with the likes of Paul Jones who is currently looking after the Matildas goalkeepers at the moment.
I read a story on-line about you going for a clean sheet record while you were at Mississippi University, but couldn-t find if you got it. Did you?
I-m not sure if I did. I may have. I think I did end up getting that through the school and that record. Overseas they-re all about statistics and coming back to Australia you don-t get the sort of gratitude and high fives. They take it very seriously over there and it was great accolade to take on under the circumstances of going over there to come away with a couple of records like that was great.
How long were you in the USA?
I was there for four or five months. I was planning on a longer stint, but like any young player away from home it does get difficult and I come from a large Italian background so leaving them was very difficult.
What was the biggest thing you missed about Australia?
Besides my family cooking? Mainly what I missed was home and my mates, but saying that I made a great group of girls and the coaching staff were incredible and accommodating to my needs and when I wanted to have a chat about home they were there.
What-s the funniest thing that has happened at Perth this year?
Totally off soccer, there-s a girl called Shannon and the first game that I did play she couldn-t play and I wasn-t sure if it was due to injury or suspension. But she-d had a swimming carnival, a sports day, and the young kids like to put their team names on their bellies, but her and a group of mates had decided to write their names on each other-s backs, so she had in really large capital letters ‘SHAN- on her back and it-s still there after three weeks. She got a bit of stick for that.
What-s playing on your MP3 at the moment?
It-s a bit of a mixture. To the games it-s a bit of Papa Roach or Frenzal Rhomb.
No Eye of the Tiger?
No no, that-s a lame one. In the change rooms it-s different. I work in a nightclub so it-s strictly dance music, there-s Ministry of Sound with a bit of trance. But you can come into a change room where you-ve gfot the likes of Akon and you-re like “Guys, we-re about to go play a game and he-s singing about all the ladies we wants to sleep with and all the money he-s making”. It-s not very motivating so I whack on a bit of Kiss, Megadeath and gee myself up that way.
Did you know you have the same name as an Italian actress?
Apparently I do, yes. My mum being the Italian she is and wants to always find out about things so she googled me and goes “did you know that you-re an actress?” and I said “Mum, I-m hardly an actress”. She showed me the page, but apparently I-m also a designer, so there-s a bit of a designing career in there too. Currently I-m being dressed by Stock Jeans and General Pants Co. They-re doing well for me at the moment.
Who-s going to win the W-League and the A-League?
In the W-League I-d like to see an upset. Queensland-s a tough team but the week before we gave them a rough time, we were beating them at half time, so I think the W-League is open at this stage. As far as the A-League… I don-t even know who-s on top of the ladder.
Adelaide have snuck up there.
Well, seeing as I-ve spent some time in Adelaide I-m going to have back the Adelaide boys.
