Melissa Palma Julie Tancredi (born December 27, 1981) is a
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
retired
soccer forward who played for the
Canada women's national soccer team. 3 time Olympian, 2 time Bronze Medalist. She won an Olympic bronze medal as a participating member of Canada's national team at the
2012 Olympics when Canada defeated
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
1–0 in the bronze medal match on August 9, 2012. Tancredi was a participating member when Canada won Bronze defeating Brazil 2-1 in the 2016 Rio Olympics. Tancredi's nickname is "Tanc".
Early life
Tancredi was born in
Ancaster,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...
, to parents Peter and Ann-Marie Tancredi, her father being Italian-born from
Ascoli Piceno. She began playing soccer at age four.
She played soccer, volleyball, and track at
Cathedral High School in
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Hamilton has a Canada 2016 Census, population of 569,353, and its Census Metropolitan Area, census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington, ...
. She was named soccer MVP and senior athlete of the year during her senior year.
Tancredi played for the under-19 provincial team and Burlington Sting club program. She helped the Burlington Sting win the Canadian title and Ontario Cup and was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the
Burlington Sting in 1999.
College
Tancredi attended the
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...
in the U.S. from 2000 to 2004 where she majored in anthropology and pre-medicine studies. She played on the school's soccer team, but she was sidelined her first year due to an
anterior cruciate ligament
The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligament
Cruciate ligaments (also cruciform ligaments) are pairs of ligaments arranged like a letter X. They occur in several joints of the body, such as the knee joint and th ...
injury.
In 2003, Tancredi was named First Team
All-American, Second Team All-American,
NSCAA
The United Soccer Coaches (formerly known as the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)) is an organization of American soccer coaches founded in 1941. It is the largest soccer coaches organization in the world, with more than ...
Second Team All-Region,
Big East
The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...
Defensive Player of the Year, and First Team All-Big East Conference. She was a finalist for the
MAC Hermann Trophy.
In 2004, Tancredi returned to Notre Dame after being awarded a fifth year of eligibility and was named as tri-captain. She helped lead the Irish to the
NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...
National Championship and was named First Team All-American, Second Team All-American, First Team All-Big East, and Big East Defensive Player of the Year for a second straight season.
Playing career
Club
In 2004, Tancredi played with the
Detroit Jaguars in the
W-League, scoring two goals and providing two assists in ten games played.
From 2005 to 2006, she played for the
Atlanta Silverbacks Women in the W-League and was named to the 2005 W-League All-League team.
In 2009, Tancredi played for the
Saint Louis Athletica
Saint Louis Athletica was an American professional soccer club that was based in the St. Louis suburb of Fenton, Missouri that participated in Women's Professional Soccer. Athletica started the 2009 season playing its home games at Ralph Korte S ...
in the
Women's Professional Soccer
Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) was the top-level professional women's soccer league in the United States. It began play on March 29, 2009. The league was composed of seven teams for its first two seasons and fielded six teams for the 2011 sea ...
league. In 2010, she joined the
Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on March ...
in the
W-League and led the team with six goals and two assists, The team was undefeated in the regular season and had a spot in the W-League's
final four.
In 2011, Tancredi was a member of the
Piteå IF
Piteå Idrottsförening, commonly known as Piteå IF, is a Swedish football club located in Piteå that currently competes in Sweden's top-division women's league, Damallsvenskan.
In 2018, they won the Swedish national Championship for the fi ...
in Sweden. In 2012, she played with the Swedish team
Dalsjöfors GoIF. In 2014, she was allocated to the expansion
Houston Dash
The Houston Dash is a professional women's soccer team based in Houston, Texas. It joined the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in the 2014 season, and is affiliated with the MLS team Houston Dynamo FC.
History Establishment
On November ...
by Canadian national team coach
John Herdman
John Herdman (born 19 July 1975) is an English professional Manager (association football), football manager who is the head coach of the Canada men's national soccer team, Canada men's national team.
Coaching career Early career
Herdman beg ...
, but was traded to the
Chicago Red Stars
The Chicago Red Stars are a professional women's soccer club based in Bridgeview, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. A founding member of the Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) league, they have played in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) sin ...
for fellow Canadian international
Erin McLeod
Erin Katrina McLeod (born February 26, 1983) is a Canadian soccer player who plays as a goalkeeper for Stjarnan of the Icelandic Besta deild kvenna.
She first appeared for the Canada women's national soccer team at the 2002 Algarve Cup and ...
before the Dash's expansion draft.
International
Tancredi was a member of the
Canadian U19 national team and trained in British Columbia with the U20 national team in 2000. She was also a member of the 1999 national 'B' training team.
Tancredi made her debut with Canada as a central back, starting in all five games of the 2004 Olympic qualifying tournament in Costa Rica. Canada had 6–0 wins over
Jamaica
Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
and
Panama
Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...
, two wins over
Costa Rica (2–1, 4–0), and a 2–1 loss to
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
that cost the Canadians a spot at the Olympic Games. Tancredi had previously been invited to play with the Canadian national team at the
2000 Algarve Cup
The 2000 Algarve Cup was the seventh edition of the Algarve Cup, an invitational women's association football tournament. It took place between 12 and 18 March 2000 in Portugal with United States winning the event defeating Norway, 1-0, in the fina ...
in Portugal.
Tancredi was part of the Canadian team that finished second to the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
at the
2006 CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup
The 2006 CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup was the seventh edition of the CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup, and also acted as a qualifier tournament for the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup. The final tournament took place in the United States between 19 and 27 Novem ...
. In 2007, Tancredi scored the second-fastest goal in World Cup history (just 37 seconds from the start of the September game against
Australia) in her first game at the
2007 FIFA Women's World Cup
The 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, the fifth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, was an international association football competition for women held in China from 10 to 30 September 2007. Originally, China was to host the 2003 edition, but th ...
in China.
Tancredi won a bronze medal at the
2007 Pan American Games
The 2007 Pan American Games, officially known as the XV Pan American Games, were a major continental multi-sport event that took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from July 13 to 29, 2007. A total of 5,633 athletes from 42 National Olympic C ...
. She played for 199 minutes (starting three games) at the
2011 FIFA Women's World Cup. She was part of the bronze medal-winning teams at the
2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...
and
2016 Olympics
)
, nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams)
, athletes = 11,238
, events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines)
, opening = 5 August 2016
, closing = 21 August 2016
, opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer
, cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro ...
, scoring four goals in the London games and two in the Rio games.
Matches and goals scored at World Cup and Olympic tournaments
Tancredi competed for team
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
in three
World Cup final tournaments:
2007,
2011 and
2015; and three
Olympics:
Beijing 2008
The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...
,
London 2012
The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
, and
Rio 2016
)
, nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams)
, athletes = 11,238
, events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines)
, opening = 5 August 2016
, closing = 21 August 2016
, opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer
, cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...
. At these tournaments, she played in 24 matches and scored 8 goals. She and her teammates won bronze medals at both the London and Rio Olympics. Tancredi scored both goals in a 2–1 win against Germany on the third match day of the 2016 Rio Olympics to put Canada at the top of their group.
International goals
Personal life
Tancredi is openly
lesbian. Tancredi announced her retirement from soccer in January 2017. She is now a
Doctor of Chiropractic
Chiropractic education trains students in chiropractic. The entry criteria, structure, teaching methodology and nature of chiropractic programs offered at chiropractic schools vary considerably around the world. Students are trained in academic ar ...
, practicing out of The Workshop Performance Clinic in
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
.
Honours
;Canada
*
Summer Olympic Games: Bronze Medal,
2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...
References
;Match reports
External links
*
*
*
Chicago Red Stars player profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tancredi, Melissa
Living people
1981 births
Canadian expatriate sportspeople in the United States
Canadian expatriate women's soccer players
Canadian women's soccer players
Canada women's international soccer players
Footballers at the 2007 Pan American Games
Footballers at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Footballers at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Olympic soccer players of Canada
Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's soccer players
Saint Louis Athletica players
Soccer players from Hamilton, Ontario
Chicago Red Stars players
National Women's Soccer League players
Canadian people of Italian descent
2011 FIFA Women's World Cup players
2015 FIFA Women's World Cup players
USL W-League (1995–2015) players
Vancouver Whitecaps FC (women) players
Olympic medalists in football
Olympic bronze medalists for Canada
Dalsjöfors GoIF players
Damallsvenskan players
Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Canadian expatriates in Sweden
Expatriate women's footballers in Sweden
Women's association football forwards
FIFA Century Club
Pan American Games bronze medalists for Canada
Footballers at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Lesbian sportswomen
LGBT association football players
Canadian LGBT sportspeople
Pan American Games medalists in football
Atlanta Silverbacks Women players
2007 FIFA Women's World Cup players
Medalists at the 2007 Pan American Games
Women's Professional Soccer players