Today we profile a young lady who grew up in neighboring Rhode Island before playing her college soccer in Storrs. Stephanie Ribeiro scored 105 goals at Cumberland High School where she was a three time All State performer, Team MVP in her junior and senior seasons...and in the fall of 2011, was named All New England...Next stop UConn..
In her freshman year of 2012, the Huskies were just a .500 team at 9-8-2..Stephanie notching her first point, an assist against Vermont...her first goal against Maine of the three she'd score along with three assists in 19 games played where she had 38 shots, 19 on goal....As a sophomore, Ribeiro, who isn't the fastest player on the field, but very sound tactically, would have a huge second half of the 2013 campaign. Over the last 12 games of the season, Stephanie would get all of her points. Six Goals and 4 assists in those final 12. That included a 5 goal in 4 games stretch that included an OT Game Winner against Cincinnati and 2 goal effort against Louisville. It didn't hurt a fellow New Englander, in New Hampshire's Rachel Hill was an offensive force....Ribeiro becoming a solid, second option....For her efforts, Stephanie was named First Team All AAC and Third Team All New England while getting an invite to the National U-20 camp.
While Hill had another solid year in 2014, Stephanie Ribeiro sat on the sidelines...injured in preseason and redshirted with two years of eligibility remaining. But in her words via email, she shares this story..."Most memorable time at UConn has to be the year I redshirted and the reserves along with other redshirts surprised the team by traveling down to Florida for the American Conference Tournament . We painted our faces, dressed up, made signs and were cheering the entire game. We were underdogs and ended up winning the entire tournament . It was so awesome to be apart of the win in that way. Unforgettable experience for sure."
She was ready in 2015...Leading the team in shots from midfield with 96, 7 goals and 8 assists for 22 points..The game winner at Georgetown, Syracuse, CCSU and Brown. A pair of assists at UCF as the Huskies went 19-4, losing in the AAC Semi's to Cincinnati in overtime....before a trip to round three in the NCAA's. Ribeiro two goals and an assist in a 5-0 win over Siena..after a 2-0 win over Notre Dame, Rutgers got the better of the Huskies in thr round of 16. Ribeiro was named AAC Midfielder of the Year, A first Team All Conference selection and a third team NSCAA All American Selection...
Now a fifth year senior at UConn with Hill, the duo would key a great 2016 campaign where the Huskies would go 19-3-1. Where Hill was again consistent, Ribeiro would put up career numbers. Leading the team in Goals (21), assists (14) and points (56)...a six game goal streak from October 13th thru November 4th....an 8 game stretch where Ribeiro had 8 goals and 22 points from September 11th thru October 2nd....The Huskies not only won the AAC Regular Season Title, UConn Women's Soccer defeated USF and SMU to win the Tournament Title...Ribeiro would score her final goal of her career in a 4-2 win over Albany in round one of the NCAA's....her last point where she joined the 100 point club with an assist in the loss to Auburn in round two...38 goals, 29 assists and 104 points for her career. Ribeiro's 21 goals tied the UConn Team Record for goals by a senior and third most overall....21 game winning goals and the 11th member of the 100 point club.
Ribeiro earned AAC Offensive Player of the Year Honors in addition to First Team All AAC. First Team All American, a MAC/Herman Award Semi-Finalist and a NSCAA First Team All American....Not bad for one season. After being drafted by FC Kansas City of the NWSL as the 17th overall pick. But an ACL injury playing an intra squad scrimmage at UConn sidelined her for 2017. After the team folded, Ribeiro played the preseason with Seattle, but didn;t make the team...Next stop was Norway...where she joined Toppserien mid year and battled thru a stress reaction in her lower back that shelved her for six weeks...Last year she joined Avaldsnes Idrettslag, but the lower back issues popped up again...This year, she's in Iceland playing for Trottur.
Stephanie Ribeiro, an tactical expert in her days as a Husky....a spectacular senior year and two time All American and a UConn Legend...