Michael Boxall
Personal information
Full name	Michael Boxall
Date of birth	August 18, 1988 (1988-08-18) (age 21)
Place of birth	Auckland, New Zealand
Height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Playing position	Defender
Club information
Current club	UC Santa Barbara
Number	2
Youth career
–2006 2007–	Central United Three Kings Ellerslie Mount Albert Grammar School Auckland City UC Santa Barbara
National team2
	New Zealand U-20 New Zealand U-23	014 0(0) 012 0(1)
2 National team caps and goals correct as of 01:14, 29 August 2008 (PDT). * Appearances (Goals)

Michael Boxall (born 18 August 1988, in Auckland, New Zealand) is a football defender currently playing college soccer for NCAA Division I University of California, Santa Barbara men's soccer team.

[edit] Amateur career

[edit] Pre-UC Santa Barbara

Boxall played for a number of teams in his native New Zealand before making his way to UC Santa Barbara. He played on multiple club teams including Central United, Ellerslie, and Auckland City. With Central United, Boxall led the team to the 2007 Northern Premier League title. In addition, Boxall won the N.Z. Football Championship with Auckland City. He was named the Auckland City Young Player of the Year with Central United in 2006 and then again with Auckland City F.C. in 2007.

For high school, Boxall attended and played for Mount Albert Grammar School. With Boxall anchoring the defense, Mount Albert won the league title in 2004 and 2005 and placed first at the national tournament in 2005. In his senior season in 2006, Boxall was named the team captain. He led the team to a second Knockout Cup title in three years. They also went to the Auckland Secondary School Soccer Association Championship. Mt. Albert went on to finish second at nationals that year.

[edit] At UC Santa Barbara

Boxall was recruited to play college soccer at the University of California, Santa Barbara by head coach Tim Vom Steeg. He followed in the New Zealand tradition at Santa Barbara, following former players Tony Lochhead and Neil Jones, both of whom have received senior international caps after appearing for UCSB. In his first season with the Gauchos, Boxall played in 12 games, starting 10 of them. He scored no points and only had one shot on goal, but proved himself to be a solid defensive rock alongside Gaucho defensive stalwart Andy Iro. Unfortunately, Boxall's season was cut short due to a knee injury which forced him to miss the rest of the year. Interestingly enough, Boxall led all rookies with 10 starts and tied for the team high in both yellow cards and red cards, 6 and 1 respectively, despite missing half the season.

[edit] International career

Boxall has represented New Zealand at various international levels. His debut with the national set up was with the Junior All-Whites (U-20's) in which he made 14 appearances with no goals. During this time, he appeared in the 2007 U-20 World Cup OFC qualifying tournament and ultimately the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup. He played in all 3 U-20 World Cup games before New Zealand were knocked out.

Boxall has also represented the Oly-Whites (U-23's). He played in all 5 2008 OFC Olympic Qualifiers which saw New Zealand advance to their first ever Olympic Games. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Boxall again appeared in all 3 of New Zealand's games before they were eliminated.^[1] In addition to these 8 games, he played four Olympic warm-up matches against Central Coast Mariners, Persikota Tangerang, Indonesia (senior squad), and Persija Jakarta between the Qualifying Tournament and the Beijing Olympic Tournament.

Boxall has made 2 appearances for the New Zealand A Team. In October 2006, he appeared in the Agribank Cup in Vietnam against Thailand^[2] and Bahrain^[3]. Both games were held at the My Dinh National Stadium in Hanoi, Vietnam.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Michael Boxall FIFA competition record
• UC Santa Barbara profile
• NBC Olympics profile
• New Zealand U-20 profile

v • d • e New Zealand squad – 2008 Summer Olympics 1 Spoonley • 2 Scott • 3 Hogg • 4 Peverley • 5 Nelsen • 6 Boxall • 7 Elliott • 8 Henderson • 9 Ellensohn • 10 Killen • 11 Brockie • 12 Old • 13 van Rooyen • 14 Tinkler • 15 Draper • 16 Jenkins • 17 Messam • 18 Little • Coach: Jacobs