Montverde, Fla.— Montverde Academy will have representation in Costa Rica this summer as one former and one current student-athlete will represent their respective countries when they compete in the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup in Costa Rica from August 10 to August 28.

Former Montverde Academy student-athlete Vivianne Bessette '20 and current MVA student-athlete Genesis Perez '23 have earned roster spots for their respective countries for the event. Bessette will compete for her native country of Canada, while Perez will play for the host country Costa Rica.

Bessette stared with MVA's Montverde International Futbul Club for two years before graduating and continuing her soccer career at the collegiate level at the University of South Florida. While with the Eagles, Bessette was a part of the MVA team that won the FHSAA state championship in 2019, and she was ranked the number one high school girls' soccer player in the United States at the time. In her two seasons with USF she has amassed four goals and three assists for 11 points. As a college soccer player, she has been named to the American Athletic Conference (AAC) Honor Roll three times, an All-AAC first team member twice and was named the conference Rookie of the Year in 2020.

Perez has been a stalwart in the MIFC program, one of the top players in MIFC Director Robbie Aristodemo's program. She is an NCAA Division I caliber player and has represented Costa Rica national teams before as a U-15, U-17 and now a U-20 player.

The FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup features 16 national teams competing against each other for the championship. To compete in the games, each athlete can be born no earlier than 2002. Since its inaugural event in 2002, four different countries have won the event including the United States three times, Germany three times, Korea twice and Japan once.