MCALLEN, USA — While her attacking teammates are giving the opposing defenders and goalkeepers a hard time, Dominique Bond-Flasza is providing a steadying presence in the Reggae Girlz defence.

The 22-year-old, who initially dropped tennis, swimming and tracks to focus on football, started her career as a lethal striker during her time at Aliso Niguel High School in Southern California, but later transitioned to a defender, playing primarily as a right back.

Her introduction to the senior national set-up came in 2014 and she later paraded her skills during the Under-20 World Cup qualifiers in Honduras a year later. She eventually earned her first senior international cap earlier this year during the first-round Concacaf Caribbean qualifiers in Haiti.

Since then Bond-Flasza never missed a beat and along with captain Konya Plummer, Allyson Swaby and Lauren Silver, is currently forming one of the finest defensive lines the Reggae Girlz have ever seen in women’s football.

And she is now relishing her role of assisting in preventing goal-scoring opportunities in Hue Menzies’s side, instead of finishing them.

“It was a little nerve-wracking entering a team dynamic that you are not familiar with, but the coaching staff has been the same since I have been involved and they really care about us learning and they care about the well-being of the players, which I really appreciate.

“Coming in as a player, they really eased me into the process, made me feel comfortable and encouraged me to not only fit in but play well and develop my own skills,” Bond-Flasza told the Jamaica Observer.

“Also, the national team has helped me to step my game up at a higher level, because playing for country you play against some of the best players in the world that you don’t really see in clubs which is pretty cool. Like we competed against Canada, you get to compete against teams like that which teaches you how to stay focused in high pressure situations,” she added.

Given her superior skills and vision, Bond-Flasza brings a certain level of quality and versatility in both attacking and defensive roles, which is very welcoming for the Reggae Girlz set-up.

This is due to the fact that the University of Washington graduate also had the option of representing the United States, Canada or Poland.

Born in New York to Jamaican mother Yvette Bond and Polish father Miro Flasza, Bond-Flasza resided in Canada for 14 years, before eventually moving back to the United States.

“My last name is a combination of both my parents’ last names — my dad obviously wanted us to have his last name and my mom didn’t have any brothers, so we decided to have it hyphenated. So growing up I had four nationalities but ultimately the Jamaican fit works best for the national team,” she explained.

The 5ft 6in defender, who also represents Dutch club PSV Eindhoven, pointed out that the aim is to continue climbing the football ranks, as she paves the way for siblings Christian and Noelle, who are also involved in the sport.

With that said, she is optimistic that the Reggae Girlz team will create history by qualifying for the 2019 Fifa Women’s World Cup via the Concacaf Women’s Championship here.

They edged Costa Rica 1-0 in a crucial Group B contest yesterday, thus keeping alive their hopes of progressing to the semi-final round in Frisco, Texas. The Girlz were seen to be in direct competition with Costa Rica for the runner-up berth behind Canada in the group. Jamaica has lost 0-2 to Canada in their opening game, while Costa Rica defeated Cuba 8-0.

As such, Bond-Flasza, who has great timing in her tackles, can dribble and does not mind putting in the legwork, is committed to doing her part to bring that dream to fruition.

“It is a good squad with really good players and so our chances are looking good and I think this is going to be a tough game against Costa Rica. We played them in Colombia, so we know what we are going into but we have to give it our all and come out strong,” she noted.

“I try to lead by example, so for me going on the pitch, I like to bring my all and going into every tackle hard and to complete every pass. So just bringing that energy on the field I think helps a lot in the sense of kind of motivating other players to work hard,” Bond-Flasza ended.