A Richmond soccer product will be playing NCAA D1 in the fall, after signing with the Montana Grizzlies.
Madi Elcombe - an alumnus of McMath secondary, the former Richmond Girls Soccer Association, Fusion and TSS Rovers - is moving to the bigs after spending a year at Division II Simon Fraser, a member of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
The midfielder was spotted by Montana coach Chris Citowicki, who was wowed after watching Elcombe’s video.
"I look at everybody's film, because you never know who's in there," Citowicki told the university’s website GoGriz.com.
"I watched her video, and she was outstanding. She is very good at keeping the ball in tight spaces. It's a unique thing that not a lot of American players are raised with. She just has it."
Elcombe will be far from alone down in the U.S. as she will have the company of two former Team BC colleagues, defender Molly Quarry (Bowen Island) and goalkeeper Camellia Xu (Port Moody).
"That 100 percent helped convince me to come," Elcombe told GoGriz.com.
"I've played with them before, so it's nice to already know some people. I know how they play, so I know what I'm getting into."
Although signing with Simon Fraser in November 2019, Elcombe never got on the field last year due to COVID cancelling the season.
