“Everything comes gradually and at it’s appointed hour.” — Ovid

For soccer goalkeeper Olivia de Goede, the patient wait for her reward was more glacially slow than gradual, a six-year journey that was finally, and symbolically, realized at 5 p.m. on Sept. 5.

That day, she started the UBC soccer team’s opening game of the 2015 Canada West regular season. It was her first Canada West start and it came, appropriately enough, in her hometown of Victoria. It was at UVic where she spent four seasons without seeing a single minute of league game action.

After earning a BSc Honors in Biology at UVic, she moved to UBC in 2013 to continue her studies. As a transfer, she sat out that season, then played just 25 minutes as a substitute in 2014 before earning the Thunderbirds’ starting job this summer.

“It was kind of special that that was my first game, kind of poetic,” she said of the 1-0 win in Victoria.

“A bunch (of the Vikes) are people I’ve played with in the past, so it was kind of comfortable, almost like you’re playing with your friend. But at the same time there was definitely a desire to prove myself and send a bit of a message. Then to get a shutout, that felt good.”

Yes, good things do come to those who wait.

The just-turned 24-year-old is the oldest player on the roster of the No. 4-ranked ‘Birds, who completed a 11-1-2 regular-season with a 0-0 draw Saturday against Trinity Wester. It was de Goede’s Canada West-leading seventh shutout. And she has a shot to win a national title on home turf with UBC hosting the CIS championship tournament in mid-November.

“That would be unbelievable,” the engaging de Goede said in a recent interview. “I never would have dreamed the season would go this way, particularly for me as a player. I love this team so much. It would be wonderful if we could pull off a win.”

Her patience is just one intriguing aspect of de Goede’s story.

The well-liked teammate is also a masters’ student at the off-campus Robinson Lab, part of UBC’s department of medical genetics. She is studying, according to the Lab website, “the DNA methylation profiles of immune cells in cord blood and their relationship to neonatal immunity.”

Now that’s a medical mouthful. The field is epigenetics, and, in simple terms, her main project is studying the immune system of newborns and how gene regulation in pre-term babies is either lacking or different.

She hopes to complete her masters by May.

“Once the season is over, then it will be pedal to the metal to sort of wrap up and write a thesis.”

Then it’s on to her PhD. She’s already applied to Stanford and the University of Washington.

“Right now, I’m planning to stay in academia, maybe one day become a professor,” says de Goede, whose tumbling blonde locks fall past her shoulders. “I think that would be really cool. But you never know. Industry is always more appealing because it’s steady money.”

She says she hopes to continue playing soccer at the club level, as she has in school off-seasons. “I can’t see myself leaving it behind any time soon. I have so much fun doing it.”