Lisa De Vanna

Personal Details Date of Birth: 14 November 1984 Place of Birth: Perth, Western Australia Height: 157cm (5' 2") Position: Striker Club Summary Club Games Goals Spearwood Dalmatinac Cockburn United Murdoch University Adelaide Sensation (2001-2004) 29 23 Stirling Reds / Northern Redbacks Western Waves (2004) 3 2 Doncaster Rovers Belles (2006/07) AIK (2008) 19 15 Perth Glory (2008-2010) 15 5 Washington Freedom (2009/10) 20 6 Brisbane Roar (2010/11) 10 4 magicJack (2011) 8 3 Newcastle Jets (2011/12) 9 5 Linkoping (2012) 16 6 Perth Glory (2012/13) Total International Summary Games Goals Australia 'A' (2004-) 78 29 Australia 'B' (2004-2005) 7 0 Australia Under-19 (2002)

Career Brief

Lisa De Vanna is one of the most dangerous goal scorers in the world of women's football, combining clinical finishing, lightning speed and sublime dribbling ability. De Vanna shot to prominence at the National Schools Championships in 1999 when voted the tournaments' Most Valuable Player and gained Australian Schoolgirls selection. Those achievements were repeated twelve months later and soon after the livewire striker won her first Premier League Golden Boot with Murdoch University.

De Vanna made her Women's National Soccer League debut with Adelaide Sensation as a second half substitute against Canberra Eclipse in November 2001, just days shy of her 17th birthday. Her potential was acknowledged at seasons' end with the competition's Rising Star award. In April De vanna was part of the Young Matildas side that qualified for the inaugural Under-19 Women's World Championship but was omitted from the squad that travelled to Canada in August.

After hitting the net nine times in ten games during her second season with Adelaide De Vanna was named joint recipient of the Julie Dolan Medal (Player of the Year) with Heather Garriock of Queensland Sting. Her goal scoring continued into the winter with Murdoch and a second Premier League Golden Boot. De Vanna put a slow start to 2002/03 behind her to finish the national league season with Adelaide on ten goals.

De Vanna's first outings in the green and gold of Australia were against New Zealand and China in February 2004. Just over a week later she put away two goals as Australia trounced Papua New Guinea in an Olympic Games qualifier. She featured throughout Australia's month-long pre-tournament tour before making a quartet of substitute appearances in Greece against Brazil, the host nation, the United States of America and Sweden, scoring against the latter.

With her international committments over De Vanna linked up with Northern Redbacks and, despite playing only half a season, collected a third Premier League Golden Boot. Towards the end of 2004 she returned to the national league with Western Waves, scoring twice in three appearances. A trip to China at the start of 2005 saw De Vanna find the net against Germany and Russia in a four-nation tournament with further outings with Japan, China and South Korea following.

In July 2006 De Vanna bagged three goals in six outings at the Asian Cup where Australia went all the way through to the final before going down to China in a heart-breaking penalty shoot-out. In November she wore the green and gold against the Netherlands, the United States of America and Denmark at the Peace Cup in South Korea, then joined English side Doncaster Rovers Belles for a season.

Goals against New Zealand and China in mid-2007 paved the way for De Vanna to star at August 2007's Women's World Cup. The striker scored twice against Ghana, bagged a 23-metre stunner against Norway then netted again in the quarter-final loss to Brazil with De Vanna dedicating all four goals to her father, who died three months prior to the tournament. She was selected in FIFA's Women's World Cup All-Star Team, nominated for the 2007 FIFA World Player of the Year award and, in November, won the Western Australian Sportswoman of the Year.

De Vanna joined Swedish club AIK in March 2008 and was a key figure in the clubs' most successful season, scoring 15 goals from 19 appearances to be the league's fifth highest goal scorer. She marked her 50th 'A' cap with a goal against Taiwan at June's Women's Asian Cup before turning out in all three games at the Peace Cup that same month.

A starring role in Perth Glory's 2008 campaign lead De Vanna to being short-listed for the W-League Player of the Year, and selection for the January 2009 series with Italy. Soon after she signed on for a season with Washington Freedom who finished in third in the Women's Professional Soccer league. De Vanna's return to Perth Glory for the 2009/10 summer was soured by a two-game ban for offensive behaviour and intimidation of a match official during October's win over Adelaide United.

After a couple of friendlies against New Zealand, De Vanna was one of four West Australians selected for the Women's Asian Cup in May 2010. De Vanna's tournament was cut short when she fractured her left fibula and suffered an ankle ligament injury after falling awkwardly when challenging the Chinese goalkeeper. Australia went on to win lift the trophy by out-shooting North Korea on penalties.

Having been dropped by Perth Glory, De Vanna bounced back from a six-month absence by scoring in Brisbane Roar's 4-0 win over Newcastle Jets in November 2010. De Vanna signalled she was back in peak form form by coming off the bench to net the deciding goal in Brisbane's 2-1 W-League Grand Final defeat of Sydney FC. She headed back to the United States to join magicJack (formerly Washington Freedom) and, although evicted from a Matildas training camp for behavoural reasons, gained selection in Australia's squad for the 2011 Women's World Cup.

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This page was last updated on the 23rd November, 2012