Former LSU soccer player and 2005 St. Scholastica Academy graduate Casey Crawford has journeyed overseas to the town of Hafnarfjordur, Iceland, to make her professional debut. She will be competing with the Haukar Hafnarfjordur football club of Iceland’s First Division for the final month of the team’s regular season. Crawford is replacing a player on the roster, who is currently coaching at a university in North Carolina.

Crawford departed Sunday and joined her team for a Saturday match against Vikingur Olafsvik. Haukar boasts a 7-3-4 overall record and 25 points for the year. The club is seven points behind UMF Selfoss for the division lead.

Crawford will stay in the town of Hafnarfjordur, which is located just outside of Iceland’s capital city of Reykjavik. Her return trip to the United States is scheduled for Sept. 3.

Former LSU team captain Casey Crawford is pictured in action for the Lady Tigers. Crawford is in Iceland making her professional debut competing for the Haukar Hafnarfjordur football club, which participates in Iceland’s First Division. (Photos courtesy of Steve Franz/LSU Sports Information)

“I’m excited about the opportunity to compete for a club like Haukar that is very much in the middle of a championship run as it hopes to qualify for the league finals,” Crawford said prior to her departure. “I am very honored to be invited to such a wonderful country to compete. This is going to be an experience that I will never forget, and I hope to really work hard to make an impact for the team.”

Crawford wrapped up her collegiate career in 2008 as a three-time letter winner for the Tigers and she was a catalyst in the program’s rise to national prominence with back-to-back SEC Western Division titles and consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament in 2007 and 2008.

Crawford started all 20 of the Lady Tigers’ games as a senior and helped lead the club to a 14-4-2 record. Crawford provided LSU with the leadership necessary to take that next step in becoming a championship program while serving as a team captain in each of her last two seasons.

Crawford is still attending LSU majoring in Interior Design. Casey is the daughter of William and Paulette Crawford of Mandeville.