Diana Matheson

Diana Matheson

File:Diana Matheson 2013-04-20 Washington Spirit - Western New York Flash-56 (8953809625).jpg
Personal information
Full name	Diana Beverly Matheson
Date of birth	(1984-04-06) April 6, 1984
Place of birth	Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
Height
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Washington Spirit
Number	8
Youth career
2004–2007	Princeton University
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2008–2010	Team Strømmen	32	(11)
2013–	Washington Spirit	58	(22)
International career‡
2003–	Canada	169	(16)
Medal record Olympic Games 2012 London Team Pan American Games 2011 Guadalajara Team 2007 Rio de Janeiro Team
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 04:06, May 20, 2016 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 09:03, May 31, 2015 (UTC)

Diana Beverly Matheson (born April 6, 1984) is a Canadian professional soccer player for Washington Spirit in the National Women's Soccer League. She is known for scoring the bronze medal-winning goal for Canada in the 92nd minute against France at the 2012 Summer Olympics. She also won a gold medal with the Canadian national team at the 2011 Pan American Games.

Early life

Born in Mississauga, Ontario, Matheson attended White Oaks Secondary School in Oakville, Ontario, where she received Principal's Award for athletics and academics. As a member of the Ontario provincial team from 1999 to 2002, she won the national championship in 2001 and was runner-up in 2002. She was captain of the team in 2002. Playing for the Oakville Women's team, Matheson was a 2002 Ontario Cup champion and club national women's champion.

Princeton University

Matheson majored in economics at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey, and was voted Ivy League Player of the Year in 2007 and Princeton Women's Athlete of the Year in 2008.

As a freshman in 2004, Matheson was a unanimous first-team All-Ivy selection and was named Ivy League Rookie of the Year. She earned first-team All-America and first-team All-Mid-Atlantic Region honours and was one of 12 finalists for SoccerBuzz Freshman of the Year. She was a three-time Ivy Rookie of the Week. During her sophomore year, she scored five goals, second-most on the team, and had a team-high of seven assists (ranked third in the Ivy League). She was one of only two unanimous first-team All-Ivy selections. Matheson earned SoccerBuzz first-team all-region and NSCAA second-team all-region honours. After missing the season-opening trip to Florida to play with the Canadian national team, she started all 14 games the rest of the season. As a junior in 2006, Matheson co-captained the squad and led the Tigers with eight goals and five assists for 21 points despite missing five games to train with the Canadian national team. She was a unanimous selection for first-team All-Ivy. As a senior, Matheson missed the first seven games to play in the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup in China. After returning from the tournament, she earned a point in seven straight games of the 10 played and broke Princeton's single-game and career assist records with a four-assist performance against Rutgers. Serving as co-captain of the team, she was Princeton's third four-time first-team all-league honoree and seventh Player of the Year.

Playing career

File:Diana Matheson in 2011.JPG

Matheson in the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup

Club

Team Strømmen

Diana Matheson played the second half of the 2008 season in Oslo, Norway, with Team Strømmen, becoming a runner-up in the Toppserien league and also in the annual Cup competition. She rejoined the same club for the 2009 season running from April to October, and for the first half of 2010 until national team duties called her away. She can be seen in a video made by her Norwegian team.

Washington Spirit

In early 2013, it was announced that Matheson would be joining the Washington Spirit as part of the NWSL Player Allocation, a team in the newly founded National Women's Soccer League. She made her debut during the Spirit's inaugural match on April 15, 2015 against the Boston Breakers. Her first NWSL goal came on a late penalty in the club's home opener against Western New York Flash on April 20, 2013. At the conclusion of the 2013 season, it was announced that Matheson had been selected as a midfielder to the NWSL 2013 Best XI First Team.

International

As a regular player for Canada, Matheson is remarkable for possessing the speed and skill to hold her place in an international team that is known for its physical approach to the game, despite having a height of only 5 ft 0¼. Matheson made her national team debut at the Algarve Cup in March 2003. Matheson scored in Canada's 3–1 win over China on September 30, 2010.

At the 2011 Pan American Games, Matheson helped Canada win the gold medal game against the defending champions Brazil by scoring on the first Canadian penalty kick after extra time. Matheson notched the winning goal in the 92nd minute of Canada's bronze medal game (1–0) against France at the 2012 Summer Olympics on August 9, 2012.

International goals

	Key (expand for notes on “international goals” and sorting)
Location	Geographic location of the venue where the competition occurred Sorted by country name first, then by city name
Lineup	Start – played entire match on minute (off player) – substituted on at the minute indicated, and player was substituted off at the same time off minute (on player) – substituted off at the minute indicated, and player was substituted on at the same time (c) – captain Sorted by minutes played
#	NumberOfGoals.goalNumber scored by the player in the match (alternate notation to Goal in match)
Min	The minute in the match the goal was scored. For list that include caps, blank indicates played in the match but did not score a goal.
Assist/pass	The ball was passed by the player, which assisted in scoring the goal. This column depends on the availability and source of this information.
penalty or pk	Goal scored on penalty-kick which was awarded due to foul by opponent. (Goals scored in penalty-shoot-out, at the end of a tied match after extra-time, are not included.)
Score	The match score after the goal was scored. Sorted by goal difference, then by goal scored by the player's team
Result	The final score. Sorted by goal difference in the match, then by goal difference in penalty-shoot-out if it is taken, followed by goal scored by the player's team in the match, then by goal scored in the penalty-shoot-out. For matches with identical final scores, match ending in extra-time without penalty-shoot-out is a tougher match, therefore precede matches that ended in regulation
aet	The score at the end of extra-time; the match was tied at the end of 90' regulation
pso	Penalty-shoot-out score shown in parenthesis; the match was tied at the end of extra-time
	Light-purple background color – exhibition or closed door international friendly match
	Light-yellow background color – match at an invitational tournament
	Pink background color – Continental Games or regional tournament
	Orange background color – Olympic women's football tournament
NOTE on background colors: Continental Games or regional tournament are sometimes also qualifier for World Cup or Olympics; information depends on the source such as the player's federation. NOTE: some keys may not apply for a particular football player

Goal	Date	Location	Opponent	Lineup	#	Min	Score	Result	Competition
1	2003-06-15	Mazatlan	Mexico	Start	1.1	90	5350.03005 3–0	5350.03005 3–0	Friendly
2	2007-05-06	Nanjing	China PR	Start	1.1	30	4950.01005 1–2	4950.01005 1–2	Friendly
3	2007-07-14	Rio	Uruguay	45. on 46' (off Lang)	1.1	53	5350.03005 3–0	5750.07005 7–0	Pan American Games
4	2008-06-14	Suwon	Argentina	Start	1.1	25	5150.01005 1–0	5550.05005 5–0	Peace Queen Cup
5	2010-02-20	Larnaka	Poland	56. off 56' (on Gayle)	1.1	45	5350.03005 3–0	5350.03005 3–0	Friendly
6	2010-03-03	Nicosia	New Zealand	Start	1.1	71	5150.01005 1–0	5150.01005 1–0	Cyprus Cup
7	2010-09-30	Toronto	China PR	85. off 85' (on McCalla)	1.1	23	5150.01005 1–0	5250.03005 3–1	Friendly
8	2010-12-09	São Paulo	Netherlands	Start	2.1	55	5350.03005 3–0	5550.05005 5–0	Torneio Internacional
9					2.2	67	5450.04005 4–0
10	2011-06-07	Telki	Hungary	Start	1.1	87	5150.01005 1–0	5150.01005 1–0	Friendly
11	2012-07-14	Châtel-Saint-Denis	New Zealand	79. off 79' (on Timko)	1.1	30	5150.01005 1–0	5250.02005 2–0	Friendly
12	2012-08-09	Coventry	France	Start	1.1	92	5150.01005 1–0	5150.01005 1–0	Olympic tournament
13	2013-03-06	Larnaka	Switzerland	Start	1.1	79	5250.02005 2–0	5250.02005 2–0	Cyprus Cup
14	2014-03-07	Larnaka	Italy	Start	1.1	33	5150.01005 1–0	5250.03005 3–1	Cyprus Cup
15	2014-03-12	Nicosia	Republic of Ireland	Start	1.1	56	5050.01005 1–1	5150.02005 2–1	Cyprus Cup
16	2015-12-13	Natal	Trinidad	Start	1.1	10	5050.01005 1–0	5450.04005 4–0	International Tournament
17	2016-02-14	Houston	Trinidad	Start	1.1	24	5050.01005 1–0	5650.06005 6–0	Olympic qualifier: Group B

See also

• List of Princeton University Olympians

References

Match reports

External links

• Diana Matheson – FIFA competition record
• Canada Soccer player profile
• Washington Spirit player profile
• 2012 Olympics player profile
• Princeton player profile
• Diana Matheson on Twitter