While the start of the season is a few months away, midfielder Sadie Waite can’t wait to kick off her professional career with Ottawa Rapid FC after four years with the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers.
Born in St. Thomas, Ont., Waite played youth soccer with Whitecaps London and Canada Soccer’s Regional EXCEL (REX) centre in Toronto.
Eventually, she caught the eye of John Walker, head coach of the Nebraska women’s soccer team.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Waite was unable to visit the campus or meet Walker in person. Instead, she had several Zoom calls with him during the recruitment process.
“The Zoom calls were interesting,” said Walker. “Sadie would get on with her family and she had a ton of questions about Lincoln, about the university, about the soccer program – player development was a big one for her.”
“I remember my coach was actually walking me around the campus (over Zoom),” said Waite. “He was really doing the most for me to try to see the campus and everything.”
Despite this, Waite felt like she got off to a rough start with the Cornhuskers.
“In my first game, I got subbed in and I was like, ‘What is going on?’ I felt like I had never touched a ball before,” she said. “Everyone was so much bigger, faster and stronger than me. I remember walking over to my dad after just being like, ‘I don’t know if I’m cut out for this’.”
But Waite’s confidence returned after her first goal, and she went on to play 19 matches in her first season.
Waite continued to grow in confidence as she started every game en route to a Big Ten regular season title and a trip to the Elite Eight of the 2023 NCAA Tournament.
Following her impressive sophomore season, Waite earned a place on Canada’s Under-20 Women’s National Team ahead of the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Colombia.
“I got that email and just started crying,” said Waite. “I remember running into my roommate’s room and freaking out. I couldn’t even tell her what happened. I just showed her my phone and I was shaking.”
Waite made an appearance in Canada’s second match of the tournament, a dominant 9-0 win against Fiji.
“ I was just in awe of seeing my name on a (Canadian national team) jersey.”
After securing four points from their three group stage matches, Canada advanced to the Round of 16, where they were eliminated following a 2-1 loss to Spain.
“I think her ceiling is really high because she’s got a great lens for the game,” said Cindy Tye, head coach of Canada Soccer’s Women’s U-20 National Team. “She’s developing of course, but she’s still a young player.”
John Walker agrees.
“The word I would use is improvement,” he said.
In Walker’s view, Waite arrived in Nebraska as a “finesse player” who was skillful in attack, but lacking on the defensive and physical side of the game.
“I think her defensive play really improved and her running power improved. Then, her leadership skills developed as she grew in confidence,” said Walker.
Once her time in Nebraska had come to an end, Waite felt like “a completely different player” from the one who joined the Huskers in 2022. This marked improvement attracted the interest of Ottawa Rapid FC, who invited Waite to a training session in Ottawa before her senior year in 2025.
“She’s a highly intelligent, technical player who has the ability to consistently split lines,” said Ottawa Rapid FC technical director Kristina Kiss in an Instagram post. “We think her ceiling is very high and we look forward to support her continued development with us this season.”
Waite will reunite with her former Nebraska teammate and current Rapid FC player Florence Belzile. The pair have known each other since they were teenagers, having played together in the Ontario REX program.
“I think they compliment each other well on the field,” said Walker. “Sadie is probably a better passer and Flo is a better dribbler.”
After four years with the Huskers, Belzile played 847 minutes in her first season with Ottawa Rapid FC, registering two goals and two assists.
“I called her when I signed my contract here and we were joking that I keep following her around with Nebraska and then Ottawa,” said Waite. “I’m really excited to get back on the field with her and hopefully she’s not too bothered with me joining her again.”
Thanks to the creation of the Northern Super League (NSL), Waite and Belzile are among the first Canadian women to graduate from college and play professionally in Canada.
The NSL, entering its second season, is Canada’s first professional women’s league. It was founded by former Canadian National Team player Diana Matheson. She recognized that, without a domestic women’s soccer league, Canadian players had to spend their careers abroad to play professionally.
As the driving force behind the NSL’s formation, Matheson sought to provide an opportunity for Canadian women to play professional club soccer on home soil.
To protect these opportunities, NSL clubs can have no more than eight international players on their roster. As a result, 101 of the 148 players signed in the league’s inaugural season were Canadian.
However, when Waite began her collegiate career, returning to Canada to play professional soccer was simply not a possibility.
“I wouldn’t even say I had a direct pro soccer ambition at that point,” said Waite. “Then, seeing that this league was coming together, I wanted to see if I had the opportunity to play back home.”
Cindy Tye says this reflects the NSL’s impact on women’s soccer in Canada.
“The NSL makes a pro opportunity more possible for a kid like (Waite),” she said. “That’s who the league is built for – kids like her to grow and develop.”
Ottawa Rapid FC begin the season on April 25 against Halifax Tides FC in Nova Scotia.
