Lisa Topping, 18, left her home in Lowther Drive in July to take up a scholarship at the Lamar University in Texas.

The former Liverpool Ladies winger believes it is another step towards living out her dream of playing the sport professionally.
However, when she arrived in July she admits it was a bit of a culture shock raising her game to play the sport at university.

She said: "We were given a fitness and training regime before we arrived so that we could be ready for the new season.

"But our training sessions with the coach were far harder than any work we did before.

"In England, you train and learn about the technical side of the game whereas at the university we are also in the gym working on our
fitness."

It was a successful season for Topping as she was picked in the 2009 Women's Soccer All-Southland Conference Roll of Honour – which is a dream squad of the university players from all 12 teams.

Topping scored three goals and five assists during her season while she was ranked 10th in her league for the most shots on target with 43.

She said: "I really enjoyed it and despite being only in my freshman year I am happy about how it has gone.

"It is now about trying to get my name known and earn a professional contract with one of the teams over here.

"Unfortunately we missed out on the Southland Conference tournament which would have put us up against the top sides such as UCLA and
Stanford University."