At the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, Adriana Leon will look for a medal as a member of Team Canada's women's soccer team. Leon won Olympic gold with Canada at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, but it could have been in hockey.
Offered a dual sport scholarship in hockey and soccer from Cornell, Leon chose to stay on the field and accepted a scholarship with Notre Dame. She was highly touted for her on-ice skills at the time however, playing among some of the best in Canada.
“Still to this day it’s a pretty tough decision – I miss hockey a lot,” said Leon. “I wish I were still playing, but I had to make a decision.”
In 2009-2010, her final season of competitive hockey, Adriana Leon won an Ontario provincial title with the Toronto Aeros Junior team. It was a star studded roster including PWHL Defender of the Year Erin Ambrose and PWHL New York's Jill Saulnier who each own gold medals as members of Canada's national hockey team. The leading scorer for the Aeros that season was Kelly Babstock, a three-time PHF all-star and PHF Foundation Award winner who notched 60 points in 33 games that year, and appeared as a reserve with PWHL Boston this season. On the blueline was Ambrose, and Shannon Turner, long time captain of the PHF's Connecticut Whale. There was also future pro hockey player Jenna McParland and several NCAA standouts.
Leon was one of the best on the roster, scoring 20 points in 20 games, in what would be her final season of hockey, as she transitioned to become a full time soccer player. But hockey has remained part of her life, as Leon launched the "Leon Charity Shinny Game" in 2018.
“We lived the Canadian culture growing up,” Leon said in an interview about her hockey career ..“Whenever there was ice we tried to get on it and play hockey.”
From King City, Ontario, Leon now plays for Aston Villa in England's Women's Super League. This year she was the Golden Boot winner at CONCACAF scoring six goals for Canada. She's the type of dual sport athlete who rarely comes around in the game.
Growing up, Leon played 'AA' hockey for Vaughan and Willowdale before joining the Aeros. During her Midget 'AA' season, Leon was named tournament MVP at the Can Am Challenge Cup and famed Stoney Creek Showcase, where she scored the tournament winning goal.
“I remember playing with [Leon] and being, ‘wow, she’s so fast. I can’t keep up,’” said Jill Saulnier. “She was a spitfire out there. She was the fastest one on the ice and just tenacious all the time.”
Warming up for hockey games, Leon and her teammates would often play soccer, an unfair proposition given her exceptional soccer skills.
“We would joke, ‘OK, you against the rest of the team,’ because she was so good,” said Saulnier. “She always had a soccer ball in her hand, even when she was at the hockey rink.”
“She’s achieving on so many levels,” says Ambrose, “and I’m really happy that I got to know her as a person, as a hockey player and now I get to see her succeed as a soccer player.”
Canada opens their women's soccer schedule at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games on July 25 against New Zealand.
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