BERKELEY – Midfielder Emma Fletcher joined the growing ranks of former California Golden Bears playing professional soccer when she signed a contract to play with Arna-Bjørnar in the Toppserien, the top women's league in Norway.
 
"I'm super excited," the 22-year-old Canadian said. "Norway seems like a really cool place. My teammate Guro Bergsvand is from Norway. She's told me lots of great things about the place, and it seems like a cool team."
 
Located in the borough of Arna in the Norwegian city of Bergen, Arna-Bjørnar finished in eighth place in the 12-team Toppserien in 2016. Fletcher looks to join her new club for preseason training in late March in Spain, with the league starting its 2017 season in April. 
  Fletcher is one of three Bears from the 2016 Cal team who is now a pro player, including Ifeoma Onumonu (Boston Breakers, NWSL) and Arielle Ship (Washington Spirit, NWSL). Several other erstwhile Bears also play overseas, with that list including Alex Morgan (Olympique Lyonnais, France), Betsy Hassett (Ajax, the Netherlands), Genessee Daughetee (Montpellier Hérault, France) and Rachel Mercik (Vittsjö GIK, Sweden).
 
"Playing at Cal has helped me grow so much as a player," Fletcher said. "It's helped me to become more disciplined and helped me highlight the areas I need to improve on in order to play professionally and be successful at the next level."
 
In her final college season this past fall, Fletcher was named to the All-Pac-12 Second Team after starting all 21 games as a senior for the Golden Bears. She scored the first goal of her Cal career in a 4-0 win over Texas Tech on Sept. 2, ranked second on the squad in assists with four and finished with six points.
 
The interdisciplinary studies major also earned Pac-12 All-Academic Honorable Mention and claimed a berth on the NSCAA's Scholar All-West Region Second Team in 2016.
 
As a junior in 2015, the transfer from LSU started 20 of 22 games and compiled three assists for the Bears en route to All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention.
 
Born in Victoria, British Columbia, Fletcher competed for Canada in the 2014 Under-20 Women's World Cup, with her team reaching the quarterfinal round, and in the 2015 Pan Pacific Games, in which Canada reached the semifinals.