Calgary Wild bring in Forest Lawn students for club's first home game on Sunday

Amir Said · CBC News

· Posted: May 11, 2025 9:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

Students astatine a Forest Lawn schoolhouse volition get immoderate of the champion seats successful the location erstwhile pro women's shot arrives successful Calgary this weekend.

Calgary Wild FC goalkeeper Sarah Keilty-Dilling visited Ian Bazalgette School successful the city's southeast this week to motorboat the Keepers Corner campaign. Now a goalkeeper herself for Alberta's archetypal pro women's shot team, a founding nine successful the Northern Super League, Keilty-Dilling antecedently taught carnal acquisition astatine Ian Bazalgette.

Keepers Corner is an inaugural done which Wild goalies volition donate 20 tickets to the schoolhouse for each of the club's 13 games astatine McMahon Stadium, wherever the nine volition marque its location debut connected Sunday against Ottawa Rapid FC.

WATCH | Former teacher returns to schoolhouse arsenic pro goalkeeper

"The kids astatine the schoolhouse and the kids successful this country are historically underprivileged and undervalued, and I spot truthful overmuch imaginable and worth successful these kids," said Keilty-Dilling, who visited the schoolhouse alongside Wild midfielder Sonia O'Neill and goalkeeper Stephanie Bukovec.

The inaugural volition spot students from the programme successful a Keepers Corner conception of the stadium by the location team's net. Following the game, students will get to conscionable the goalies.

Bazalgette main Steven Pike considers Keilty-Dilling, who has committed to regularly visiting the school, an inspiration to students.

"I deliberation nonrecreational sports is simply a bully level to springiness radical an thought that determination are opportunities successful life," helium said. "Especially successful Canada, arsenic agelong arsenic you enactment hard and you prosecute things, you tin summation a batch of those opportunities."

Record-breaking assemblage vocation goes pro

After Keilty-Dilling, 31, got her commencement with the Calgary South West United and Chinook FC younker clubs, she joined the NCAA Division I shot squad astatine the University of Texas astatine El Paso Miners. Her last play successful 2014 netted her MVP and Female Athlete of the Year awards, portion her 82 games started and 41 wins successful her assemblage career made her the program's all-time person successful some categories.

After 1 twelvemonth on the Women's Premier Soccer League's FC Tuscon successful Arizona, she returned to Calgary and played with Calgary Foothills in the professional-amateur Women's United Soccer league, wherever she served arsenic squad skipper and was named the Goalkeeper of the Year successful 2022.

Now, she's playing a pivotal relation for the Wild in the Northern Super League's archetypal year.

"It's a imagination travel true," Keilty-Dilling said. "It's unreal, and to beryllium capable to bash it successful my hometown arsenic well, it's truly special."

WATCH | Calgarians lace up for Wild

The Wild made their debut connected April 16 astatine B.C. Place against the Vancouver Rise, wherever they fell 1-0. They rebounded astatine their adjacent game, hosted by the Halifax Tides connected April 26, with a commanding 4-1 win. Calgary fell abbreviated successful their 3rd contest, losing 2-1 to AFC Toronto, but they anticipation to ascent backmost to .500 during their location opener connected Sunday.

Knowing they've got those students cheering them connected could beryllium the boost they need. 

"I'd anticipation that they could beryllium inspired by conscionable a small spot of my travel and conscionable the connection of not giving up, not quitting and chasing your dreams," said Keilty-Dilling.