Merel van Dongen to Join Alabama Soccer
4/12/2012 12:00:00 AM | Soccer
April 12, 2012
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Alabama head soccer coach Todd Bramble announced the signing of Under-19 Dutch national team captain Merel van Dongen. The Dutch international will reunite with former teammate Pia Rijsdijk, starting in the fall 2012 season.
"We are excited to announce the signing of Merel in advance of our 2012 season," Bramble said. "Her exceptional talent and versatility is a welcomed addition to our squad. Her resume speaks for itself but I have personally seen her play in a variety of settings over the past two years and I know the Alabama fans are going to love to watch her play. She is a wonderful young lady who will fit in perfectly to our style of play and I can't wait to get her on campus in July."
The Amsterdam native comes to Tuscaloosa from the same club team (ADO Den Haag) and national team as Rijsdijk. Van Dongen made nine appearances for ADO this past season, scoring two goals in 340 minutes of action. For the national team, she has scored four goals in 15 appearances over the last three years. Since making the under-15 squad at 14-years-old, she has tallied 53 caps for her country.
Van Dongen led her under-15 region squad to two national championships. For the under-19 national team, she helped lead the Netherlands to a semifinals appearance at the European Championships in Macedonia in 2010 and a top-8 finish in 2011 in Italy.
Van Dongen will be following in the path of Rijsdijk who had a stellar freshman campaign, helping lead the Tide to just its second NCAA tournament appearance in school history. Rijsdijk earned NSCAA All-South region honors after recording 14 points on five goals and four assists.
Merel comes from an athletic family as her twin sister Sanne and older sister Tessel are both accomplished basketball players in the Dutch youth national team system. She was also a standout basketball player, getting invited to play with the under-16 national team but chose soccer. She plans to major in psychology upon arrival at the Capstone and studied at Fons Vitae Lyceum Amsterdam.
