Lake City Secondary School graduate and former Falcons girls’ rugby player has been named the Acadia University Jean Marsh Female Athlete of the Year.
Now in her third year with the Acadia Axewomen’s rugby team, Pfleiderer has played a leading role in the team’s success since arriving in Wolfville, Nova Scotia to join the team in 2016.
In 2017, Pfleiderer was the team’s leading scorer with 56 points coming from six tries and 13 conversions.
During five games played this past regular season, Pfleiderer scored four tries and added a conversion for 22 points on the campaign. She was named the AUS (Atlantic University Sport) Most Valuable Player and was honoured as a first team U Sports All Canadian.
In three seasons with Acadia, Pfleiderer is already 22nd in AUS career all-time scoring and fourth in Acadia school history with 107 points.
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Pfleiderer was honoured with the award Monday night during the Acadia University Department of Athletics Fred G. Kelly Awards Night where major award winners and team award winners were recognized.
“I definitely was not expecting it,” Pfleiderer told the Tribune. “I was a nominee so they put us all up on the screen, and when my name went up I was pretty shocked. It was pretty crazy.”
Asked what receiving the award means to her, Pfleiderer said it’s reassurance all her hard work was worth it.
“Getting up at 6:30 a.m. for three days a week for four months of the year for the last three years has paid off,” she said. “Going to all the practices, and all the rugby in between school, and keeping accountable and making sure I’ve been on top of everything.”
Pfleiderer is in her third year of an environmental and sustainability studies degree at Acadia, however, has two more years of eligibility to play for the school should she choose to.
She said she’d like to thank all her coaches back home in Williams Lake, and her family, for being so supportive over the years.
“Playing in high school, it was basically the foundation that Lake City [secondary] gave me to allow me to do what I’m doing,” she said.
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“My parents have also been driving me countless amounts of hours, like, I even missed my graduation to drive to the Island to play more rugby — times like those, doing things like that. It’s all paid off.”
Her twin sister, Emma Pfleiderer, who also plays for the Axewomen, was right next to Laura when her name was announced as this year’s Jean Marsh Female Athlete of the Year.
“She screamed so loud, and was so pumped,” Laura said.
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