LSU is a Canadian haven.
 
Three of the LSU soccer team’s 11 starting players are Canadian, including junior midfielder Natalie Martineau, the newest arrival.
 
“I wanted to go somewhere hot, that’s for sure,” Martineau said. “My dad liked American football, and he said LSU’s a really good school, so I looked into it, and I just fell in love with it right away.”
 
Martineau plays her first season with the Tigers after transferring from the University of Montevallo, a Division II school in Alabama. The Ontario native said the competition she saw at Montevallo doesn’t compare to Southeastern Conference play, but she still enjoyed her time before transferring.
 
“I met a lot of people and played some really good teams,” Martineau said. “There are some good teams in Division II, but it’s more balanced teams and balanced players in Division I.”
 
Canadian universities don’t give out athletic scholarships, which Martineau said makes recruiting difficult. Many athletes play in tournaments for club teams and travel to U.S. states like Ohio and Florida to get noticed.
 
“A bunch of the college coaches will go to the tournaments and just get your contact information,” Martineau said. “When you go back home, you wait for a call and hopefully they like the way you play.”
 
LSU junior midfielder Allysha Chapman was in a similar situation when she began her Tiger soccer career. She transferred to LSU from the University of Alabama-Birmingham after her freshman season.
 
Chapman has known Martineau since she was 15. The duo played together in the summer for the Toronto Lady Lynx of the W-League, which represents the highest level of women’s soccer outside of Women’s Professional Soccer. Martineau had made previous W-League stops with the Cocoa Expos, Rochester Rhinos and Ventura County Fusion.
 
But Martineau didn’t know junior defender and Alberta native Taryne Boudreau personally before arriving at LSU. Boudreau said she had heard of Martineau.
 
“She played with some people I grew up with back home,” Boudreau said. “It’s awesome playing with other Canadians because it reminds me of home.”
 
Chapman said she didn’t think she played a major role in Martineau’s decision to transfer, but some familiarity couldn’t hurt.
 
LSU coach Brian Lee said having Chapman and Boudreau has helped Martineau acclimate immediately to a new environment. He also said Canadian players tend to have more experience at a higher level by the time they enter college.
 
Martineau is already starting for the Tigers.
 
“The Canadian kids coming in tend to be more soccer savvy and more ready to play right away than even a high-level American is,” Lee said.
 
Lee said word of mouth plays a significant role in recruiting players out of state. He said Atlanta and Canada are two places LSU has had success reeling in athletes, and it’s mainly because players talk positively about their time to each other.
 
Former Tiger and Canada native Caroline Vanderpool, who was recruited before Lee came to LSU, honed her skills in Baton Rouge. Lee said when she returned home to play in Canada the coaches saw how much better she had gotten and spoke positively about LSU. He said her experience may have helped influence some current Tigers to go to LSU.
 
Lee said he hopes Canadian players will continue to join the team in the future, but it is still rare to see players from America’s northern neighbor travel to the South.
 
“They tend to magnate to a couple schools, and we just happen to be one of them,” Lee said.
 
 
 
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Contact Rowan Kavner at [email protected]