Maria Charizze Ina Dela Cruz is a Filipino-American international footballer who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

Early life and education

Maria dela Cruz was born on November 13, 1993 in

Cagayan de Oro Cagayan de Oro (abbreviated CDO and officially the City of Cagayan de Oro; ; Bukid language, Binukid: ''Ciudad ta Cagayan de Oro''; ; ) is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Regions of the Philippi ...

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

to Lew Chaney and Evelyn dela Cruz. Dela Cruz move to the United States at age 4 and spent some of her childhood in Roseville,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. Dela Cruz graduated from Granite Bay High School. She played for her high school's basketball and association football team for three years and four years respectively. She later moved to

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

to study at

Idaho State University Idaho State University (ISU) is a Public university, public research university in Pocatello, Idaho, United States. Founded in 1901 as the Academy of Idaho, Idaho State offers more than 250 programs at its main campus in Pocatello and locations ...

International career

In 2013, Dela Cruz was called up by the

for the 2014 AFC Women's Asian Cup qualifiers. She made her first international debut against

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

and kept a clean sheet against her team's opponents. The final scoreline for the match was 6–0.

References

1993 births Living people American sportspeople of Filipino descent Filipino expatriates in the United States Filipino women's footballers 21st-century Filipino sportswomen Philippines women's international footballers Women's association football goalkeepers Sportspeople from Cagayan de Oro {{Philippines-women-footy-bio-stub