Soccer player leaves Iceland to play at SWU
She’s a fresh face to the SWU soccer team, and also to the United States of America.
In the spring of 2005, Elisabet Gunnarsdottir was recruited by Southern Wesleyan University from Iceland. When Tom Price was hired as head women’s soccer coach in June, he made sure that everything was ready for her arrival to the states.
“Elisabet is a team player and knows her role. She has a level head on her shoulders,” Price said.
Gunnarsdottir has not only had to adjust to the warmer climate here, but also to the American style of soccer.
“American soccer is much more aggressive than in Europe,” Gunnarsdottir said.
Other members of the team have encouraged Gunnarsdottir to be more aggressive on the field, and she is developing in that area more and more, Price said. Off the field, the SWU soccer team is close-knit, also.
“I love the girls on the team. They have taken good care of me. They couldn’t be any better,” Gunnarsdottir said.
She said she has been able to experience the family atmosphere of Southern Wesleyan University through the hospitality and love that the women’s soccer team has displayed.
“They are all really nice, and have taken me in as one of their own,” Gunnarsdottir said.
“America is not that different from Iceland,” Gunnarsdottir said. “But the shopping is better.”