On Saturday in front of a sellout crowd of 20,677 at the F.C. Dallas Stadium in Frisco, Texas, a standout future member of the Tennessee Lady Vol soccer family made a solid contribution on the pitch for her home country as recent UT signee Hannah Wilkinson scored a go-ahead goal to grant the Kiwis an early lead in an eventual 2-1 loss to the United States.

Wilkinson’s unassisted goal during the 49th minute of the international friendly, on her squad’s only official shot on frame, pushed New Zealand in front of the Red, White & Blue, 1-0.  Unfortunately for N.Z., Team USA rallied late behind a pair of headed scores from Alex Morgan during the 88th and 90th (+3) minutes to escape with the victory.

The native of Whangarei, New Zealand, represented her country during all three group matches at both the 2011 Women’s World Cup (Mexico, England and Japan) and the 2010 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup (Brazil, North Korea and Sweden) held in Germany.

Wilkinson registered the tying goal at the 90 (+4) mark as the Kiwis tied Mexico (2-2) on July 5, 2011, at the Women’s World Cup.  She also tickled the twine during the 33rd minute as New Zealand dropped a 2-1 decision to Sweden on July 13, 2010, at the Under-20 World Cup.  

She will join the Tennessee soccer program in the fall of 2012 as part of the initial signing class under the direction of new Lady Vol Head Soccer Coach Brian Pensky.