The University of Texas at Austin Athletics

Pair of former Longhorns to participate in 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup
07.19.2023 | Soccer
Former Texas standouts Chelsea Surpris, Julia Grosso set to honor heritages during upcoming global event
AUSTIN, TX – The University of Texas women's soccer program will have two former student-athletes participating in the upcoming 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup as Chelsea Surpris and Julia Grosso will represent Haiti and Canada, respectively, when the tournament begins on Thursday, July 20.
Texas' two representatives — Surpris and Grosso — are tied with West Virginia's two selections — Kadeisha Buchanan and Ashley Lawrence — who will both join Grosso to represent Canada. Fellow Big 12 Conference women's soccer programs Oklahoma State (Coumba Sow, Switzerland), Texas Tech (Victoria Esson, New Zealand), UCF (Genesis Perez-Watson, Coasta Rica; Konya Plummer, Brazil; Kathellen Sousa, Brazil) and Cincinnati (Vanessa Gilles, Canada) all have at least one active or former student-athlete selected to participate in the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup.
Surpris, who was born in Crowley, Texas, was a four-year letterwinner for the Longhorn program from 2015 to 2018 and logged over 4,500 minutes of playing time as a defender throughout 60 career matches that included 42 starts. During Texas' run to the Sweet 16 in 2017, Surpris played 2,004 of a possible 2,005 minutes on the defensive backline.
Surpris was included as part of the United States Women's U-20 National Team player pool and made a cap for the Haiti Women's National Team (HAIWNT) in the 2020 CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Championship match against the United States in January 2020. She has appeared in 12 career matches for the HAIWNT and has been credited with two goals.
Grosso will be representing Canada for the second consecutive FIFA Women's World Cup after being selected to the Canadian Women's National Team for the 2019 competition. During her time as a Longhorn, Grosso was selected as a Big 12 Conference Co-Freshman of the Year in 2018 and then a United Soccer Coaches All-American the following season.
Grosso, a Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada native, has made 50 career caps for the CANWNT, including 20 starts, to go along with three goals and three assists from the midfield position.
This year's tournament will mark the first time a women's national team from Haiti has ever participated in the FIFA Women's World Cup since the tournament's inception in 1991. The CANWNT, which is coming off a gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, will look for its best finish in a FIFA Women's World Cup tournament since finishing fourth in 2003.
The CANWNT will begin its Group B action against Nigeria at 9:30 PM CT on Thursday, July 20. HAIWNT will start its Group D slate at 4:30 AM CT on Saturday, July 22 against England.
Fox Sports and its family networks will broadcast all 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup matches.
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