Emma Greco Set to Join QU Women’s Soccer for 2017 Season
7/12/2017 10:07:00 AM | Women's Soccer
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Former QU Women's Ice Hockey Standout Joins Soccer Program While Pursuing MBA
By: QU Athletic Communications
HAMDEN, Connecticut – Former Quinnipiac women's ice hockey defender Emma Greco (Burlington, Ontario) will join the Quinnipiac women's soccer team as a graduate student for the 2017 season.
Greco graduated with a bachelor's degree in marketing this past May and will join the women's soccer program this fall while pursuing an MBA at Quinnipiac in 2017-18. Greco is expected to contribute and add depth along the back line and defensive midfield positions with the soccer team.
"Emma reached out to me over a year ago and discussed the possibility of playing soccer after her senior year," said Quinnipiac head coach Dave Clarke. "I spoke to her and the hockey staff at the time and said we would discuss again when the 2016-17 hockey season was over. She played soccer at a decent level until she had to choose hockey as her pathway, so I knew she had a background in the game.
"Emma remained in constant contact and sent me information about her experience playing in Canada and I reached out to her former soccer coaches for additional insight. Her club coach was very helpful and gave me some good feedback as to Emma's level when she played soccer."
She finished a four-year career as a defender for the nationally-ranked women's ice hockey program in 2017. Greco played in 144 career games (10th-most all-time in program history) and totaled 25 points (two goals, 23 assists).
Greco Thrived as a Multi-Sport Athlete at Aldershot High School in Canada
"During my four years with hockey the expectations were very high which taught me to never be satisfied and to continue to strive for excellence," Greco said. "Coach B [Brijesh Patel] taught me to get out of my comfort zone and to be detail oriented while my coaching staff created the environment of hard work and the important of being a '24-hour athlete.' These tools are essential and I believe that if I bring these to the soccer field, I will be successful."
She posted a career high 10 points (all assists) in 2016-17 while helping lead Quinnipiac to the program's first ECAC Hockey Championship (both regular season and tournament titles) as well as the first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance in 2015-16. Named to the 2016 ECAC Hockey All-Tournament Team, Greco chipped in one goal and one assist across four postseason games while holding a +3 rating in helping lead the way to the title. A distinguished student-athlete, Greco was a four-time ECAC Hockey All-Academic Team honoree.
"She did well in the sessions during the spring and her understanding of the game and adjustment to the speed of play was evident," Coach Clarke said. "She is older, has experience as a D1 athlete at Quinnipiac and now has a chance at a second career which not many players can claim. She has size, strength, and is very competitive so if she brings that last quality and some leadership to the team it will be a bonus for us."
Greco is equipped with an impressive soccer background dating back to her time at Aldershot High School in Canada where she played an assortment of sports including ice hockey, soccer, field hockey, badminton, basketball, volleyball and softball. With the soccer team, she helped lead Aldershot to the U17 Ontario Cup finals in her junior season in 2011 while also taking home the OSYL U17 League Championship in that same season.
"I was debating both sports when I was being recruited in high school," Greco said. "Hockey was a bigger sport in Canada and there was more of an opportunity to get a scholarship to the states. I knew that I would have to choose a sport at some point. I heard about the Quinnipiac hockey program though one of my old coaches so when they started recruiting me, my decision was pretty clear. Now that I get to play the two sports that I love at my dream school is surreal."
Quinnipiac opens the 2017 campaign with a slate of three scrimmages beginning on Sunday, August 6 at home against Lafayette. The regular season opens on Friday, August 18 at Holy Cross.
