Two years after nearly dying in a severe car crash, goalkeeper Rylee Foster has penned an A-League Women contract with Wellington Phoenix.

The Canada youth worldwide, 25, was thrown by the windscreen of a rent car whereas on vacation in Finland in 2021 on account of a malfunctioning seatbelt.

The former Liverpool keeper suffered seven neck fractures and needed to put on a halo round her neck, docs fearing she could by no means play once more.

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Foster now hopes to defy the chances as soon as extra after signing a deal with Wellington on Tuesday.

“Joining the Phoenix is very symbolic,” Foster mentioned. “It’s a new becoming. It’s an arising from something that was literally in ashes.

“I’ve been by loads within the final two years, greater than most individuals undergo of their entire lives.”

Foster will vie with Brianna Edwards to change into the membership’s first-choice goalkeeper, with inaugural membership captain Lily Alfeld sidelined for the campaign after undergoing back surgery.

New Phoenix boss Paul Temple said having Foster and Edwards on the books indicated the New Zealand club had arguably “the most effective goalkeeping pair within the league.”

“We’ve been pushing to have two top quality gamers in each place so the squad is actually aggressive,” Temple said.

“Brianna was our No. 1 goalkeeper within the league final 12 months, and we wished to deliver another person in [who] may be a No. 1 goalkeeper.

“Those two can fight it out and there will be a really good competition for that place. I think that will bring the best out of both of them like it has everywhere else on the pitch.”

Wellington, who’ve picked up the picket spoon of their first two A-League Women seasons, start the 2023-24 marketing campaign at house to Melbourne City on Oct. 15.