Every university athletic program in Canada has foundational pieces to build their teams and for the women’s soccer program at UNBC, Sidney Roy was nothing short of a trailblazer.
Her accomplishments on the field solidified a spot on the Timberwolves Wall of Honour – the first women’s soccer player to accomplish this feat.
“When I got the call from Loralyn on Friday I was shocked. My heart was just pounding and I honestly felt so thankful to be apart of such an amazing program and school. It’s been such an honour.”
After being recruited out of the Lower Mainland in 2012, Roy brought her athletic prowess to a Timberwolves program in its infancy stages that recently made the jump to the Canada West.
Roy was a multi-sport athlete growing up, recognized as one of the best lacrosse players in BC, and considered playing the game in the United States before committing to UNBC.
“I was always more into box lacrosse than field lacrosse. They actually don’t have women’s box lacrosse in any school and it came down to soccer versus field lacrosse and I just decided that I wanted to stay a little closer to home, stay in the province and I also picked the environmental engineering program at UNBC because it was the only one of its kind in Western Canada.”
During their inaugural season, Roy led the way as a freshman rippling the onion bag five times, and was subsequently named UNBC’s Female Rookie of the Year.
Roy told MyPGNow, there were some definite growing pains in that first year.
“We came in as a really young team. We didn’t even have enough players that year to basically field a whole team and we were coming in playing the UBC’s and Trinity Westerns of the world that have people lined up out the door to play there. It was a really big adjustment in that sense but looking back, I would not have changed because it brought our team closer together.”
However, one of Roy’s most memorable moments came during the program’s sophomore season where they finally broke the goose-egg and picked up the first win in UNBC history.
“We were playing Winnipeg and I remember the feeling after the game. We actually won 4-0, which was crazy because we had never won a game before and we came out and played really well. I just remember the feeling of hugging all of our teammates after and being so happy and so thankful on how far we had come in that first year getting three ties with no wins and then finally getting a win under our belt.”
“It was kind of a sense of relief,” added Roy.
Over the next two seasons, Roy asserted herself at the university level utilizing her speed and athleticism setting a T-Wolves single-season record for goals during the 2014-15 campaign.
After wrapping up her third season at UNBC, Roy’s academic pursuits led her to Vancouver where she attended UBC for a year continuing her studies in environmental engineering.
Following the year-long absence, the 2017-18 campaign saw Roy return under head coach Neil Sedgwick.
“I always knew I was coming back and I was going to play my last year and that is something that kept me going and kept me motivated was the fact that I would get to return one day. That return year was amazing where we made the playoffs so I got to see my dream playout in my last year.”
“He (Neil) was great with the new players and he was great with me coming in and was really driven to change the program and make it better. He really has so far as the program has continued to improve year after year since I started for sure,” added Roy.
UNBC competed in a play-in game against the Calgary Dinos in Victoria that season.
To cap off her university career, Roy was named UNBC’s best offensive player for a fourth time.
Roy is the all-time record holder for shots and goals.
“Coming from Vancouver and being a big-city girl make the trek to Prince George has been a crazy-amazing experience for me and I just love the small-town feeling and how much love I have been receiving from everyone. I am so thankful that I got to come out to UNBC and start my life out in Prince George. I wouldn’t change anything for the world.”
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