Sylvia Gee (born 30 November 1977) is a former Republic of Ireland women's international footballer who has spent the majority of her career playing in various women's association football leagues in the Republic of Ireland and 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 territorie ...

. Between 2003 and 2007, Gee was a prominent member and captain of the successful UCD team which qualified for the

UEFA Women's Cup The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. The ...

on three successive occasions.

Playing career

Early years

Gee grew up on a farm in

County Offaly County Offaly (; ga, Contae Uíbh Fhailí) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is named after the ancient Kingdom of Uí Failghe. It was formerly known as King's County, in hono ...

before attending

Wesley College, Dublin Wesley College is an independent co-educational secondary school for day and boarding students in Ballinteer, Dublin, Ireland. Wesley College is under the control of a Board of Governors, appointed each year by the Methodist Church in Ireland. W ...

between 1990 and 1996, where she studied for her

Leaving Cert A secondary school leaving qualification is a document signifying that the holder has fulfilled any secondary education requirements of their locality, often including the passage of a final qualification examination. For each leaving certifica ...

. At Wesley, Gee played several sports including

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...

and

indoor soccer Indoor soccer or arena soccer (known internationally as indoor football, fast football, or showball) is five-a-side version of minifootball, derived from association football and adapted to be played in walled hardcourt indoor arena. Indoor socc ...

Eric Miller Eric, Erik, or Erick Miller may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Eric Miller (record producer) (c. 1941–2017), American record producer and Norman Granz's protégé *Eric Miller (photographer) (born 1951), South African photographer during and ...

was one of her fellow students. Between 1996 and 2000 Gee attended the

University of Limerick The University of Limerick (UL) ( ga, Ollscoil Luimnigh) is a Public university, public research university institution in Limerick, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Founded in 1972 as the National Institute for Higher Education, Limerick, it beca ...

where she studied production management. While a student at UL, Gee also played association football for Listowel Celtic and Benfica. In 2000, she spent the summer playing for Springfield Sirens in the

USL W-League The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, pl ...

and in 2001–02 she played for

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

in the

FA Women's Premier League The FA Women's National League, formerly WFA National League and FA Women's Premier League (WPL), is a group of six football divisions run by the English Football Association. Founded in 1991 by the Women's Football Association, the League includ ...

. While playing for Leeds, Gee also worked in the club ticket office.

UCD

Between 2003 and 2007 Gee played for UCD. Together with Caroline Thorpe and

Mary Waldron Mary Veronica Waldron (born 5 May 1984) is an Irish association football player and cricketer who has represented both the Republic of Ireland women's national football team and the Ireland women's cricket team. She has also stood as an umpire ...

, Gee was a prominent member and captain of the UCD team which, under coach Larry Mahoney, emerged as one of the strongest women's teams in the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

. UCD completed a four in a row of

Dublin Women's Soccer League The Dublin Women's Soccer League was a women's association football league featuring teams from the Republic of Ireland. While the majority of the participating clubs were based in the Greater Dublin Area, the DWSL had regularly included teams f ...

titles between

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

and

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

. Gee also played for UCD in the 2003 and 2004

FAI Women's Cup The Football Association of Ireland Women's Cup is the senior cup competition for women's association football in the Republic of Ireland. It is commonly known as the Women's FAI Cup, the WFAI Cup, or prior to 2001, the Ladies FAI Cup or the LFAI ...

finals, helping the club win the cup three times in row. After winning the FAI Women's Cup, UCD also qualified on three successive occasions to represent the Republic of Ireland in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. Gee subsequently captained UCD during their 2003–04, 2004–05 and 2005–06 UEFA Women's Cup campaigns. While playing for UCD, Gee, a

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

B licensed coach also established a small business called Primary Coaching, which saw her coach association football to children in both primary schools and summer camps.

United States

In September 1999 Gee played for the

in an away friendly against the

. The following summer Gee and some of her Republic of Ireland teammates, including Claire Scanlan, Geraldine O'Shea and Margaret Saurin, returned to the United States to play for Springfield Sirens in the

. The 2000 Springfield Sirens won thirteen out of fourteen games and finished the season as the W-League second division champions. Since 2008 Gee has regularly spent summers playing and coaching in North America, mostly in the United States. In

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

she played for MYSC Lady Blues, helping them win the

Women's Premier Soccer League The Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL) is an amateur women's soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is the top amateur league for women's soccer in the United States soccer pyramid, below only National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). T ...

Midwest Conference. In the subsequent

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

and

2010 WPSL season The 2010 Women's Premier Soccer League The Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL) is an amateur women's soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is the top amateur league for women's soccer in the United States soccer pyramid, below only N ...

s she played for Chicago United Breeze and

Arizona Rush Arizona Rush was an American women's soccer team, founded in 2007. The team was a member of the Women's Premier Soccer League, the third tier of women's soccer in the United States and Canada, until 2010. The team played in the North Division of ...

respectively. In

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

Gee played for

London Gryphons London Gryphons is a Canadian women's soccer team, founded in 2004. The team is a member of the USL W-League, the second tier of women's soccer in the United States and Canada. The team plays its home games at North London Stadium in the city ...

in the USL W-League. In the 2012 W-League season she played for Central SC Cobras. During the winters Gee returned to Ireland and played for Tullamore Town in the Combined Counties Football League.

Women's National League

When the Women's National League was inaugurated in 2011–12, Gee played for Cork W.F.C. She was subsequently approached by Larry Mahoney, her former coach at UCD, to join him at

DLR Waves Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown Waves, also referred to as DLR Waves is an Irish association football club based in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown. It was originally founded in 2012. The club enters teams in the FAI Women's Cup and the Women's National L ...

. While playing for Waves, Gee was named WNL Player of the Month for November/December 2012. Gee was also selected for the

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

WNL Team of the Season. In 2013–14 she was also inducted into the WNL Hall of Fame. During the 2014–15 season, Gee played for

Peamount United Peamount United Football Club () is an Irish association football club based in Newcastle, South Dublin. The club is best known for its senior women's team who in 2011–12 became founder members and inaugural champions of the Women's National ...

, helping them reach the final of the

WNL Cup The League of Ireland Women's Premier Division ( ga, Príomhroinn na mBan i Sraith na hÉireann, sponsor name SSE Airtricity League Women's Premier Division) is a professional women's association football league in the Republic of Ireland, org ...

. The 2015–16 season saw her switch to Kilkenny United. While playing in the WNL, Gee has also coached at Portlaoise A.F.C.

International career

Gee has represented the

at university and senior level. In September 1999 Gee played for the

in a 5–0 away defeat to the

. At the time Gee was still a student at

and playing for Benfica. In September 2000 Gee was also included the squad for the Celt Cup, a tournament which saw the Republic of Ireland emerge as winners after defeating

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. On 12 August 2001 Gee scored for the Republic of Ireland, after coming on as a substitute, in a 4–1 win against Scotland at the

AUL Complex The Athletic Union League is an association football league featuring junior and amateur teams mainly from Northside, Dublin. The AUL currently operates thirteen divisions. Its senior division is known as the Premier A. Teams from the AUL also co ...

Olivia O'Toole Olivia Christina O'Toole (born 25 February 1971) is an Irish former international association football forward. She made her debut for the Republic of Ireland women's national football team in 1991 and captained the team before retiring in 2009 ...

also scored a hat–trick for the Republic. Gee was subsequently a member of the Republic of Ireland squad during their

1999 FIFA Women's World Cup The 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup was the third edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the world championship for women's national soccer teams. It was hosted as well as won by the United States and took place from June 19 to July 10, 1999, at ...

UEFA Women's Euro 2001 The 2001 UEFA Women's Championship was the eighth UEFA Women's Championship, a competition for the women's national football teams and member associations of UEFA. It took place in Germany between 23 June and 7 July 2001. It was won by Germany wi ...

2003 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup was the fourth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial championship of women's national soccer teams organized by FIFA. It was held in the United States from September 20 to October 12, 2003, at s ...

and

UEFA Women's Euro 2005 The 2005 UEFA Women's Championship, also referred to as UEFA Women's Euro 2005, was a football tournament for women held from 5 June to 19 June 2005 in Lancashire, England and Cheshire, England. The UEFA Women's Championship is a regular tournament ...

qualifying campaigns.

Honours

;Individual * Women's National League Team of the Season **

* Women's National League Hall of Fame Award ** 2013–14 ; UCD *

**''Winners'':

, 2004,

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

: 4 **''Runners-up'': 2002: 1 *

**''Winners'': 2003, 2004 : 2 **''Runners-up'': 2006: 1 *

DWSL Premier Cup The Dublin Women's Soccer League was a women's association football league featuring teams from the Republic of Ireland. While the majority of the participating clubs were based in the Greater Dublin Area, the DWSL had regularly included teams f ...

**''Winners'': 2004,

, 2007: 3 ; Springfield Sirens * USL W-League W-2 ** ''Winners'': 2000 ; MYSC Lady Blues * WPSL Midwest Conference ** ''Winners'':

;

** ''Runners-up'':

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gee, Sylvia 1977 births Living people Association footballers from County Laois People educated at Wesley College, Dublin Alumni of the University of Limerick Republic of Ireland women's international footballers Republic of Ireland women's association footballers Leeds United Women F.C. players UCD Women's Soccer Club players Cork City W.F.C. players Peamount United F.C. players Kilkenny United W.F.C. players USL W-League (1995–2015) players FA Women's National League players Dublin Women's Soccer League players Women's National League (Ireland) players Expatriate women's footballers in England Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States Limerick W.F.C. players Women's association football utility players Women's association football defenders Women's association football midfielders Women's association football forwards Arizona Rush players Women's Premier Soccer League players Benfica W.S.C. players