Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – A call from her agent in the third week of July set a whirlwind process in motion for Maya Morrell as she went from a League 1 B.C. player to a professional more than 8,000 km away in a little over a week.
The former MacEwan Griffins forward/midfielder – a Canada West first team all-star in 2022-23 – wouldn't have it any other way as she's realizing a dream after signing a contract with Spanish third division side Sport Extremadura.
"It's sometimes hard to believe that something I've been dreaming about since I was young – wanting to play soccer professionally – is actually happening," said Morrell, who wrapped up an illustrious six-year (five-season) career with the Griffins after the 2023 season and was playing for Altitude FC in her hometown of Vancouver before turning pro. "But it's really cool to be learning a different way of playing with different styles of players with a completely new system.
"I think that's really important as a soccer player to get better is to have different coaches, different players. Soccer is a way of life over here. Everyone plays soccer. That's really cool to see the other side of it, as well. I've been enjoying practices so far; they've been a lot of fun."
��⚫️ ���������������� | Maya Morrell es nueva jugadora del #SportExtremadura.
— Sport Extremadura (@SportExCD) August 8, 2024
➡️ La delantera de 24 años se une a las filas del #Sport para la nueva temporada.
�� ¡Bienvenida, Maya!#FúbolConCorazón #SPORTEX pic.twitter.com/LJVNw7IzMA
Morrell has been in Badajoz, Spain just over a week training with the team and, while it's been enjoyable, it's certainly been an adjustment. Not only is she trying to learn a new system and style that the team plays, she's the only North American player on the squad. Just two of her teammates – and none of the coaches – speak English.
Knowing very little Spanish, herself, it's been a difficult process trying to acclimate.
"That's been the hardest thing since I've been here," she said. "I'm feeling a little isolated moving to a new country where I don't speak the language."
So, she's learning Spanish the hard way – being thrown into the fire – but the team has been a big help.
"Even though there's the language barrier here, the club and the players have all been super nice and super welcoming since I've gotten here," she said. "It's hard because I would love to chat with them at practice, get to know them a bit, but since we don't speak the same language I can't really do that. But the ones that do will translate for me and even if they don't speak (English), they'll still make the effort to come up to me and ask how I am."
Maya Morrell's final regular season game for the Griffins - the 58th of her career - was at the University of Lethbridge Oct. 15, 2023 (Lethbridge Sports).
Morrell is the fourth Griffins women's soccer player to land a pro contract in Europe since the pandemic, following in the footsteps Emily Burns – who recently won the French third division goalkeeper of the year award with FC Nantes – Jamie Erickson (Galway United in Ireland) and Erin Van Dolder (Treaty United in Ireland).
She reached out to them, as well as some her teammates from her youth club team Fusion FC who've also gone to Europe on pro deals, for advice. Burns, who spent her first pro season in Spain, has gone through a similar experience, overcoming the language barrier.
"I tried to reach out to as many people as I could," said Morrell. "They were telling me the beginning's going to be rough moving away from home, but you just have to stick with it, give yourself grace, keep at it and it will turn out great. You will end up getting to where you want to be.
"It was nice talking to them to get a level of comfort from other people who have done it."
Morrell produced 26 points in 58 career regular season games at MacEwan – the fourth most by a player in the program's Canada West history. She was a key member of the Griffins team that captured the 2021 U SPORTS women's soccer national championship.
Maya Morrell (#15) and teammates celebrate after beating UBC in the national semifinal, en route to the 2021 U SPORTS Championship in Cape Breton (Jefferson Hagen photo).
"I'm so happy for Maya," said Griffins head coach Dean Cordeiro. "I know when she first stepped foot onto the MacEwan campus, that was always a goal of hers to have an amazing career at MacEwan and hopefully put herself in a position where she could go to the pro ranks and that's exactly what's happened here.
"She's put in a lot of work. She had an illustrious career at MacEwan, winning a national championship in 2021 and making the Canada West first team all-stars. She was one of our leaders on and off the pitch. She's going to do some amazing things in Spain."
Morrell wants to progress as a player this season, while also helping Sport Extremadura get over the hump and earn promotion into the Spanish second division – an aim they've come up just shy on the last couple years.
"For this first season, I'd love to get promoted to the second division," she said. "That would be pretty cool. But I think I want to just find my feet, play my game, grow, learn as much as I can. Getting to be playing under a new coach who has different experiences is amazing. I just want to grow as a player and stay healthy.
"It's a long season. I haven't played a season this long before. I'm used to the very condensed seasons at MacEwan and in the summers with League 1. So, I'm going to have to take care of my body so I last all the way until May. I just want to keep growing as a soccer player and see where I can keep going with this career."
