Anna Dunn stares out the window of a quaint micro roastery in Quebec City. The view is of a relatively quiet Rue Saint Jean on a late Wednesday afternoon.
In less than 24 hours, Dunn will step onto the field at TELUS–Université Laval Stadium
(WATCH LIVE) for her last weekend of university soccer.
As the evening settles in, she reflects on what has been an up and down final season.
"There were times when I just wanted to quit."
Dunn was forced to overcome three different injuries this season, battling back to get to the point where she could be ready enough to once again represent Trinity Western University at this year's national championship tournament.
"There were definitely moments where I really wanted to go home," Dunn says, who hails from Edmonton. "But I kept thinking about how much my team has given me and how much (TWU coach) Graham (Roxburgh) has given me and that made it so much easier to give back to the team in different ways."
Almost exactly a year ago, Dunn looked around the Spartans locker room at Cape Breton University and saw many tears. A chance to win a national title had been snatched away by the cold and cruel hand that resides on one half of the beast that is penalty kicks. The Spartans took silver that day. Yet, in that moment, Dunn didn't cry.
"I didn't cry because I just rewound everything and thought about the journey it took me to get there. I didn't know if I ever would have found my love for soccer if I hadn't come here. Even though it sucked to lose, I was so happy because I got to be part of an amazing team."
After launching her post-secondary career at the University of Alberta, the self-proclaimed "homebody" changed course midway way through her time as a Panda. After playing for three years with Albert, Dunn sat out the 2019 fall season before taking a chance and crossing the mountains to reset her career and join the Spartans in the fall of 2020.
"At first, I wasn't sure enough if I was good enough to come to the team because Trinity has always been so good," Dunn says.
"But I went for my visit and it was crazy. Being in that competitive environment was so good. I've always thrived in those environments."
Upon meeting a few of TWU's then star players – a few who had been notable on-the-pitch adversaries when she was with Alberta – Dunn was convinced TWU was the place where she could re-ignite her passion to play.
"I was welcomed by players who I really didn't like…like (now alums) KSAK (Kristen Sakaki) and Liz (Hicks)."
She smiles now when recalling those early days.
"I did not like them when I had previously played them," says Dunn, who admittedly plays with an edge. "But then I started to get to know them as teammates and I was suddenly like, 'Oh my gosh, I love these girls.'"
She was now part of a program she had long considered "the team to beat."
"It was also so well known on our team that if you can beat (TWU), you can beat anyone. I was amazed by the program. I had a ton of respect for the program and you could see it on the field how much support the team had for each other."
Following the 2020-21 year, which was cancelled due to COVID-19, Dunn made her Spartans debut in the fall of 2021. And what a debut it was. Dunn had scored nine goals and added eight assists in TWU's first nine game of the Canada West season. Her offensive explosion was instrumental in helping the Spartans go undefeated in both the regular season (11-0-1) and the conference playoffs (3-0).
Playing with a torn meniscus, as she had for a few years already, Dunn battled through pain yet she found joy in soccer again.
Wearing the Spartans No. 16 – made particularly famous by star midfielder
Jenaya Robertson, who was the U SPORTS Player of the Year in 2019 – Dunn, who was named a First Team All-Canadian in 2021, served the shirt well.
"I thought about (Jenaya) when I put on the jersey and I thought about the privilege I have to be on this team. It felt surreal.
"After so many games I would be crying because I was just so happy to be here and so grateful that Graham took me on and the team welcomed me in. It's hard to describe how lucky I feel to be part of this program."
Then came the 2022 season.
Having already graduated with a degree in education, Dunn decided to return for one last go-round on the field. However, it didn't play out how she imagined.
A surgery on her knee in the spring helped improve her meniscus and Dunn entered training camp healthy and ready to help lead a young Spartans squad.
"My focus coming into this season was to make others better," Dunn says. "Having that love for soccer back, I was able to focus less on that and focus on other people."
She has done exactly that. What she didn't know would be precisely how that would manifest itself throughout the season.
On the first day of training camp, she tweaked her hamstring. So it began.
She recovered in time for the season-opening weekend and played every minute of TWU's first two matches, only to take on an injury to her quadricep that took her out of game action for the Spartans second weekend of the year. She got back on the pitch in late September, playing in six games and scoring twice, before an ankle sprain sent her back to the sidelines again – this time for a month.
"It's been difficult," Dunn admits from that Quebec City café.
Then she pauses.
"I think it was good for me – even though it was ridiculously hard, especially mentally and emotionally. I think it was good for me to see that side of the players who don't play. I came to appreciate a lot more of what they do behind the scenes and I wanted to give back to the program any way I could."
Dunn became a cheerleader. She baked cookies for the team. She was also the one hobbling around at practice but still trying to shag balls on crutches.
"It's such a special program and I just wanted to do anything I could do to make others better."
On Nov. 4, Dunn got a text from her dad, John Dunn, who is a long-time sports psychology professor at the University of Alberta. There was a chance Anna would return to the pitch that night in the Spartans Canada West semfiinal game against Thompson Rivers University.
Assume that you will play. Be ready to play. Want to play. Be excited to play. Full commitment on everything. You'll get hurt if you try to protect yourself. This could be your last game of highly competitive soccer. Think about the legacy you want to leave behind. Want the ball. Dance with the ball. Play with confidence. Love every second of the opportunity that you've been presented with and ENJOY it. Love you.
Then, as is their long-standing tradition on game days, a second text came in.
Rock their world.
In the 32nd minute, Dunn entered the fray and did just that.
"I had a lot of self-doubt coming back, but when I got back against TRU I just heard all my teammates in the stands cheering.
"That's when I was like, 'Okay, I'm supposed to be here."
She played 88 minutes that night as the Spartans earned an overtime win that sent them to the Canada West final and secured a berth in the U SPORTS Championship tournament.
"I was screaming and yelling and shouting," Dunn says, recalling the moments after the final whistle. "Ill never forget the look on my teammates faces because we had fought through a lot. That night, we showed our character."
That weekend, there were happy tears.
At the end of the weekend, which saw TWU ultimately fall to UBC 2-1 in a hard-fought championship bout, Dunn couldn't help but be grateful.
"I made everyone do a huge group hug (in the locker room). I was so thankful for everyone.
"This was thje returning home feeling that made it all worth it."
