RUSTON -- After four separate flights, a three hour airport delay in Houston and a couple of two-hour bus rides, freshman goalkeeper
Corina Brown endured the 40-hour long, 17 time zone trek from her hometown in New Zealand to her new home -- Louisiana Tech.
Prior to arriving in Ruston, La., however, Brown had plenty of plane-sleeping practice when in mid-August she embarked on a measly 15-hour flight, by comparison, to Tokyo, Japan to represent her country of New Zealand in the 2012 FIFA U20 Women's World Cup.
Brown was both humbled and honored to be one of only three goalkeepers on the 21 member roster selected to compete in the 16-team field that included some the best women soccer players in the world.
"It was an amazing experience that I will never forget," said Brown who was born just north of the city of Wellington in Porirua. "You do not really understand how much it means to represent your country until you are actually thrust into that environment. Growing up in a small town it was like looking up at my idols and all of a sudden I was playing amongst them."
New Zealand was given the daunting task of playing in a group stage with the likes of Switzerland, international power Mexico and host country Japan. After defeating Switzerland 2-1 in their opening round robin match in the northern Japanese city of Sendai, the team was pitted against the host country in front of a raucous, but friendly crowd.
"That was an amazing game," said Brown. "It was the biggest crowd we ever had. There were drums going on in the background, and we had a bunch of Japanese kids doing a little dance and chanting and screaming out our names when we were warming up. It was amazing and so nerve-wracking. We were all on the edge of our seats."
Japan came back from two goals down to earn a draw with New Zealand, a result that was very close to being a stunning upset for Brown and company.
A final group match against fast and physical Mexico in the town of Kobe ended in a 4-0 victory for Mexico, and thus eliminated New Zealand from the tournament. Despite not seeing any game action in the World Cup that concludes this Saturday with a finals match of Germany versus the United States, the experience Brown earned is something she and Tech head coach Kevin Sherry hopes to benefit the Lady Techster squad.
"Being involved with the New Zealand national team and playing on the international stage can only help in [Corina's] development," said Sherry who used his international contacts to find a quality keeper that could push Caitlin Updyke at the position. "We hope her experiences will rub off onto her Tech teammates to help them better understand what it takes to play soccer at a higher level."
After only being with the team for one week, Brown got her first career start as goalkeeper for Tech this past Sunday against Jacksonville State in the Trojan Classic tournament in Troy, Ala. and nearly came away with the shutout had it not been for a set play goal in the 82nd minute.
"It is hard jumping into a team and not really knowing quite how they play," said Brown who had seven saves that afternoon. "It still takes a bit of time to adjust to that. It was a good experience, and I have just got to figure out what they want from me and what I can offer them."
