No one could ever accuse Melissa Tancredi of being shy. On the field, the starting fullback for the Notre Dame womens soccer team is that special type of player who can take over a game with her passion and swagger. Off the field, the twenty-year old native of Hamilton, Ontario, is a fun-loving, outgoing prankster, always quick with a smile and a joke.

"I really don't see any point in taking everything so seriously all the time," said Tancredi. "I'm very sarcastic. It's just so much easier to face life that way. If anyone saw me on the field, I might look like a mean person, but I'm a really big joker inside."

When asked to describe Tancredi's personality, teammate and fellow Canadian Candace Chapman responded with a laugh, "You mean cleanly? No, Melissa is great. She's one of my best friends here. She likes to have fun and joke around on and off the field. Before the games, she loves to do these one-on-one dances in the locker room that make everyone laugh."

While Tancredi's teammates might laugh at her humorous antics, Notre Dame's opponents don't find her rough, physical style of play so funny. Just ask the Purdue Boilermakers.

One month ago, the Boilermakers easily defeated the Irish 3-1, but Notre Dame's toughest player was missing from the lineup while serving a suspension for having accumulated four yellow cards. In last Sunday's rematch in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, Tancredi returned to the lineup to lead the Irish to victory.

On the defense, she completely shut down Purdue's leading scorers Annette Kent and Jennie Moppert. The former forward did not forget how to contribute on offense either. With just under seven minutes left in the game, Tancredi's flying header off a corner kick from teammate Amanda Guertin put the finishing touches on a 3-1 victory for the Irish. After the incredible score, `Canada', as she is affectionately called by her teammates and friends, strutted `Shane Walton-style' in front of the fans and promptly put her hands on her hips before her teammates mobbed her. The raucous crowd roared with approval in appreciation of `Canada's' gesture.

"We're usually not the team to celebrate," said Tancredi. "I guess I'm a little different in that way. I'm just spontaneous because it gets the team going. I just love to have fun out there."

Tancredi's soccer career at Notre Dame has not always been all fun and games. Before her freshman year, she suffered a devastating knee injury that put her Irish career in serious jeopardy before it ever started. Even worse, tearing her ACL took a real toll on Tancredi mentally as she struggled to find her niche at Notre Dame.

"I tore my ACL a month before reporting into the preseason for Notre Dame. I'd never been hurt before. That was my first major injury," said Tancredi. "Coming into a new country, new team, and new school made it really tough. No one ever saw me because I was depressed. I just stayed in my room the whole time. I didn't want to talk to anyone. I wasn't doing to well in school. I didn't want to have anything to do with soccer, but the strength coaches really helped me a lot. Getting into rehab really got me excited about soccer again. I started making friends and going out. I started to be myself again."

Tancredi is quick to give credit to assistant coach Amy Edwards for helping her recover from the injury and redevelop her soccer skills.

"I remember going out to practice early and having Amy Edwards re-teach me how to strike a ball. Not fun, nor easy. The coaches did their best to keep me incorporated, but being so hard on myself I was not going to be happy until I could prove to them what I could do on the field."

After a year of arduous rehab, it still took Tancredi some time to establish herself alongside fellow forwards Amy Warner and Amanda Guertin. Throughout her sophomore year, she suffered from a variety of nagging injuries that limited her ability on the field.

"It took me a while to get used to their styles of play and our system on offense, but they really helped me become a better soccer player. As the season went along, I grew more confident."

Coming into this season fully healthy for the first time in her career, Tancredi expected to have a breakout season on offense, but she has experienced a breakout season on defense instead. With a modest record of 7-6 and injuries to starters Gudrun Gunnarsdottir and Vanessa Pruzinsky, Notre Dame coach Randy Waldrum desperately needed someone with the right mentality to solidify his struggling defense.

"Last year the coaches hinted at it, but I was terrified of being a defender. This year when Gunna and Vannesa went down, the coaches turned to me," said Tancredi. "I was kind of disappointed at first that I had to change positions because I'd been a forward all of my life. But I will do anything to help the team win. This is a team thing not a personal thing. As much as I hate to admit it, I kind of like playing defense now."

For Tancredi, the most difficult aspect of the adjustment from offense to defense was changing her mental approach to the game.

"At forward, you are always in more of a rush to score right away. It's kind of a panic. On defense, it's a totally different mentality," said Tancredi. "You have to be smarter. You have to calm yourself down. You can't jump into things right away. There's more pressure. A lot more depends on you because you're the last line before the keeper."

"I think the position change has really been good for her," added Waldrum. "At forward, she was so hard herself. Now that swagger and confidence in her abilities is really starting to show. With her superior size, speed, and skills, she can match up with anyone in the country. She gives us that intimidating, physical presence we need back there."

Since Tancredi's switch to defense, the Irish have won six of their last seven games and now find themselves in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. While Coach Waldrum has been extremely impressed with the way his new defender has performed, he is even more pleased with Tancredi's demeanor and attitude.

"She has that charisma that all the players look up to," said Waldrum. "She has a great sense of humor and a great wit about her. She's a real practical joker. I'd like to see her to continue to develop her leadership qualities. I don't think she realizes how much the other players look up to her."

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• Tancredi shows a tough face on the field