Kelley O'Hara

Kelley O'Hara
Personal information
Full name Kelley Maureen O'Hara
Date of birth (1988-08-04) August 4, 1988
Place of birth Fayetteville, Georgia, United States[1]
Height 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m)
Playing position Winger/Wingback/Forward
Club information
Current team
 Utah Royals FC
Number 5
Youth career
1997–1999 Peachtree City Lazers
2000–2001 Lightning Soccer Club
2002–2006 Starr's Mill High School
College career
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2006–2009 Stanford Cardinal 87[2] (57)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2009 Pali Blues 6 (4)
2010 FC Gold Pride 18 (6)
2011 Boston Breakers 13 (4)
2013–2017 Sky Blue FC 75 (15)
2018– Utah Royals FC 6 (1)
National team‡
2004 United States U-16
2005 United States U-17 (10)
2006–2008 United States U-20 35 (24)
2007 United States U-21 1 (1)
2009 United States U-23 1
2010– United States 110 (2)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of May 5, 2018
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of October 10, 2018

Kelley Maureen O'Hara (born August 4, 1988) is an American soccer player who is a FIFA Women's World Cup champion and Olympic soccer gold medalist. She plays as a wingback and midfielder for the United States women's national soccer team, and a forward and right defender for the National Women's Soccer League club Utah Royals FC. As a forward for the Stanford women's soccer team, she was the recipient of the 2009 Hermann Trophy. She majored in science, technology and society with a focus in environmental engineering.[3]

In the history of the United States under-20 team, she is tied as the all-time third leading scorer and is sixth in number of caps played. At the senior level, she competed in the 2011 and 2015 FIFA Women's World Cups, and was one of three players for the U.S. that played every minute in the 2012 Olympics women's football tournament.

Early life

Kelley O'Hara was born in Fayetteville, Georgia[1] to parents, Dan and Karen O'Hara.[4] She has a brother named Jerry and a sister named Erin. O'Hara has Irish heritage.[5] O'Hara grew up in Peachtree City, Georgia and graduated from Starr's Mill High School in Fayette County where she played four years on the varsity soccer team and captained the team during her junior and senior years. O'Hara helped lead the Panthers to the 5A state title in 2006 with 20 goals and 16 assists. The team finished second in the state championships during her sophomore year. O'Hara was named Parade All-American as a junior and a senior and All-League, All-County and All-State all four years. In 2006, she was named the 2006 Atlanta Journal Constitution (AJC) Player of the Year and Gatorade Georgia State Player of the Year. She was also named NSCAA All-American.[6]

O'Hara played for club teams, the Peachtree City Lazers and AFC Lightning before playing for the U.S. U-16s in 2004 and then joining the U-17 youth women's national team of that same year.[7][8]

Stanford Cardinal (2006–2009)

A two-time Parade All-American coming into her freshman year at Stanford University, O'Hara led the Cardinal in scoring in 2006 with nine goals. She repeated that feat during her somophore year, helping the Cardinal to the third round of the NCAA Tournament.

During O'Hara's junior year, Stanford advanced to the College Cup for the first time since 1993, defeating 2005 national champion Portland, 1–0.[9] The Cardinal would fall in the semi-final, 0–1, to Notre Dame.[10]

As a senior, she had one of the best seasons in Division I history, scoring 26 goals with 13 assists.[11] O'Hara's senior year ended in the 2009 College Cup, where the Cardinal lost to North Carolina. O'Hara received two yellow cards in the second half, ejecting her from the game, forcing the Cardinal to finish the game a woman down. The game ended with a score of 1–0, thus marking North Carolina's twentieth National Championship.[12] She finished her stellar college career at Stanford with 57 goals and 32 assists, both school records at the time.[11]

O'Hara was awarded the 2009 Hermann Trophy as collegiate soccer's top player. She had been on the MAC Hermann Trophy watch list for three consecutive seasons.[13]

Club Career

Prior to graduating from Stanford, O'Hara played for the Pali Blues of the USL W-League (semi-pro) in the summer of 2009, scoring four goals during her tenure with the club.

WPS: FC Gold Pride, Boston Breakers (2010–2011)

FC Gold Pride won the 2010 WPS Championship Trophy

O'Hara was drafted third overall by FC Gold Pride at the 2010 WPS Draft. In addition to the close proximity of home stadium Pioneer Stadium to O'Hara's alma mater Stanford University, O'Hara had previously worked with FC Gold Pride head coach Albertin Montoya when he served as an assistant coach at Stanford University in 2008.[14]

The team dominated the season[15] finishing first during the regular season after defeating the Philadelphia Independence 4–1 with goals from O'Hara, Christine Sinclair and Marta.[16] As the regular season champion, the team earned a direct route to the championship playoff game where they faced the Philadelphia Independence.[17][18] During the final, FC Gold Pride defeated the Independence 4–0 to clinch the WPS Championship.[19] Despite their successful season, the club ceased operations on November 16, 2010, due to not meeting the league's financial reserve requirement.[15]

After FC Gold Pride folded in November 2010, O'Hara was signed by the Boston Breakers. She scored 10 goals during her two seasons in the WPS playing primarily as an outside midfielder.[11] On January 5, 2012, it was announced O'Hara would be going back to her hometown because she had signed with the Atlanta Beat. However, the league folded just before the 2012 season began.

NWSL: Sky Blue FC, 2013–2017

On January 11, 2013, O'Hara joined Sky Blue FC in the new National Women's Soccer League. Because the club's head coach, Jim Gabarra, intends to play O'Hara as a forward, the converted U.S. WNT outside back reverts to a role she filled with success in college (26 goals and 65 points in her senior season at Stanford, earning her the MAC Hermann Trophy).[20][21]

Over her career at Sky Blue, O'Hara has been played in several roles including forward, winger, right-back, and central midfielder.

Utah Royals FC, 2017-present

On December 29, 2017, O'Hara was traded to Utah Royals FC.[22] Due to a hamstring injury, O'Hara only appeared in 8 games for Utah in 2018. [23]

International Career

Youth national teams (2005–2010)

O'Hara represented the United States in various youth national teams from 2005 through 2010.[6] She scored 24 goals in her 35 under-20 caps, the third-most ever for a U.S. player in the U-20 age group.[11] She was a member of the fourth-place United States U-20 women's national soccer team that competed in the 2006 FIFA U-20 Women's World Championship in Russia. O'Hara scored two goals in the tournament: one against the Congo (for which game she was named FIFA's player of the match) and one against Germany. She was also the first player in the tournament to be ejected from a game, having picked up two yellow cards in the game against Argentina.[24]

O'Hara rejoined the U-20 national team at the 2007 Pan American Games. She scored four goals in the women's football tournament, against Paraguay, Panama, and Mexico.[25] The United States, which only sent their U-20 women to the tournament, would fall in the final game, 0–5, to a full-strength Brazilian senior team featuring Brazilian powerhouse, Marta.

In February 2008, O'Hara returned to the U-20 women's national team to play in the U-20 Four Nations Tournament in Chile. Her last appearance for the U-20 team occurred in July 2008, at the 2008 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship in Puebla, Mexico.[26] O'Hara helped the U-20 team qualify for the 2008 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup in Chile. She did not play in the U-20 World Cup, instead remaining with her college team in its NCAA postseason campaign.

Senior national team (2008–present)

She was called into the senior national team's training camp in December 2009 and attended the January 2010 training camp in the lead-up to the 2010 Algarve Cup. O'Hara earned her first senior national team cap in March 2010, coming in as a substitute during a friendly match against Mexico.

2011 FIFA Women's World Cup

After falling short of making the 21 player World Cup roster, O'Hara was called up to replace Lindsay Tarpley who tore her ACL in a send-off match against Japan on May 14, 2011.[27] O'Hara earned just one cap at right midfield in the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup in the final group stage game against Sweden. The United States went on to win the silver medal in that tournament.

2012 Olympics

Throughout her national U-20s, collegiate, and club career, O'Hara has been one of the top young offensive players in the United States, but under head coach Pia Sundhage, O'Hara was converted to play outside back in 2012 after teammate Ali Krieger went down with an ACL injury in the 2012 CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament. Against Guatemala on January 22, 2012, in the Olympic Qualifiers, she made her first start at left back and registered three assists.[11] O'Hara made her first start at right back against Costa Rica in the match that qualified the United States for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

She is one of three players on the national team that played every minute for the United States in the Olympic Games. Coincidentally, the other two team members, goalkeeper Hope Solo, and captain Christie Rampone have almost exactly the same statistics; playing all 570 minutes in all six matches and O'Hara and Solo each served one assist.

2015 FIFA Women's World Cup

In the United States' first four games of the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, O'Hara did not see any playing time. O'Hara made her first start of the tournament in the quarter-final game against China PR. She was replaced by Christen Press in the 61st minute.[28] O'Hara scored her first career international goal in the United States' 2–0 victory over Germany in the semi-final.[29] In the final against Japan, O'Hara entered the game in the 61st minute to replace Megan Rapinoe.[30] The United States went on to defeat Japan 5–2, winning the first World Cup title since 1999 and the third overall World Cup title for the United States since the inaugural Women's World Cup in 1991.

International goals


Goal		 Date Location Opponent Lineup # Min Assist/pass Score Result Competition
1 2015-06-30[m 1] Montreal  Germany

on 75' (off Heath)

 1.1 84 Carli Lloyd

5250.02005 2–0

5250.02005 2–0

World Cup: semifinal
2 2016-02-15[m 2] Frisco  Puerto Rico Start 1.1 45 Stephanie McCaffrey

5450.04005 4–0

6050.10005 10–0

Olympic qualifier: Group A

Honors

Club

FC Gold Pride

International

Individual

Endorsements

O'Hara has appeared in multiple commercials and advertisements for Under Armour.[32] In 2015, she appeared in television commercials and promotional materials promoting chocolate milk on behalf of the National Fluid Milk Processor Promotion Board.[33]

Television and film

In June 2015, O'Hara appeared with national teammates Alex Morgan and Sydney Leroux on an episode of Garbage Time with Katie Nolan on Fox Sports.[34] In July 2015, O'Hara appeared with national teammates Carli Lloyd and Abby Wambach on Good Morning America following the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup semi-final against Germany.[35] In October 2014, she was featured on an episode of Sports Illustrated Now.[36]

Magazines

O'Hara has been featured in Howler,[37] Shape[38] and Sports Illustrated.[39]

Video Games

O'Hara was featured along with her national teammates in the EA Sports' FIFA video game series starting in FIFA 16, the first time women players were included in the game.[40]

Ticker Tape Parade and White House Honor

Following the United States' win at the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, O'Hara and her teammates became the first women's sports team to be honored with a Ticker tape parade in New York City.[41] Each player received a key to the city from Mayor Bill de Blasio.[42] In October of the same year, the team was honored by President Barack Obama at the White House.[43]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "US Soccer :: Kelley O'Hara". Archived from the original on January 10, 2015. Retrieved 2017-05-31.
  2. ↑ "Former Stanford star Kelley O'Hara goes from scorer to defender". mercurynews. June 8, 2012. Retrieved December 27, 2017.
  3. ↑ "Kelley O'hara". USSoccer.
  4. ↑ "Olympic ties to North Hills". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. August 5, 2012. Retrieved December 13, 2012.
  5. ↑ "Kelley O'Hara player profile". Stanford University. Archived from the original on August 6, 2012. Retrieved December 13, 2012.
  6. 1 2 "Kelley O'hara". U.S.Soccer. Archived from the original on August 18, 2012.
  7. ↑ "Sky Blue FC Player". Sky Blue FC. Retrieved January 1, 2016.
  8. ↑ "Fayetteville's O'Hara in town for all-star game". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved November 30, 2012.
  9. ↑ Stanford Reaches The 2008 College Cup With 1–0 Victory Over Portland In NCAA Quarterfinal Archived January 23, 2009, at the Wayback Machine., Stanford University Official Athletics Site.
  10. ↑ Stanford Falls To Notre Dame 1–0 In College Cup Semifinal Archived January 22, 2009, at the Wayback Machine., Stanford University Official Athletics Site.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 "Kelley O'Hara Goes Back to Attack". U.S. Soccer. February 28, 2012.
  12. ↑ North Carolina Claims Second Straight Title With Win Over Undefeated Stanford, NCAA Championship Website.
  13. ↑ O'Hara, Bunbury win Hermann as top soccer players, USA Today.
  14. ↑ O'Hara is Pride's top selection at WPS Draft, FC Gold Pride Official Website.
  15. 1 2 Eskenazi, Joe (November 16, 2010). "F.C. Gold Pride, Women's Soccer Champs, Abruptly Disband". San Francisco Weekly. Retrieved June 5, 2015.
  16. ↑ "FC Gold Pride end regular season with 4–1 win over Philadelphia". Center Line Soccer. September 11, 2010. Retrieved June 5, 2015.
  17. ↑ Narducci, Marc (September 26, 2010). "Well-traveled Independence have one final test in well-rested FC Gold Pride". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved June 5, 2015.
  18. ↑ "Independence defeat Boston to advance to WPS final vs. FC Gold Pride". The Philadelphia Inquirer. September 24, 2010. Retrieved June 5, 2015.
  19. ↑ "FC Gold Pride wins WPS championship". ESPN. September 26, 2010. Retrieved June 5, 2015.
  20. ↑ Caitlin Murray (April 9, 2013). "Q&A Time with Sky Blue FC's Head Coach Jim Gabarra". NWSLNews.com. Retrieved April 13, 2013.
  21. ↑ Jeff Kassouf (April 12, 2013). "2013 NWSL team preview Sky Blue FC". NBC ProSoccerTalk. Retrieved April 13, 2013.
  22. ↑ Kevin McCauley (December 29, 2017). "UWSNT star Kelley O'Hara traded to Utah Royals". SBNation.com. Retrieved December 29, 2017.
  23. ↑ "Kelley O'Hara". Retrieved September 26, 2018.
  24. ↑ New record for Germany as USA and France advance, FIFA.com.
  25. ↑ Kelley O'Hara and the U.S. U-20 National Team Falls to Brazil 5–0 in Pan Am Games Championship Archived July 15, 2012, at Archive.is, Stanford University Athletics Site.
  26. ↑ Noyola and O'Hara Head To Park City For CONCACAF Qualifying, Stanford University Athletics Site.
  27. ↑ http://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2014/03/17/13/34/tarplely-injury
  28. ↑ http://m.fifa.com/womensworldcup/matches/round=268018/match=300269488/index.html
  29. ↑ http://m.fifa.com/womensworldcup/matches/round=268016/match=300269503/index.html
  30. ↑ http://m.fifa.com/womensworldcup/matches/round=268012/match=300269506/index.html
  31. ↑ "WNT WINS 2018 SHEBELIEVES CUP WITH 1–0 VICTORY VS. ENGLAND". March 7, 2018. Retrieved March 8, 2018.
  32. ↑ "I Will What I Want". Under Armour. Retrieved July 3, 2015.
  33. ↑ "Pro Soccer Star Kelley O'Hara Takes Leading Role In 'BUILT WITH CHOCOLATE MILK™' Campaign". PR Newswire. May 20, 2015. Retrieved July 3, 2015.
  34. ↑ "'Trash Talk' with Alex Morgan, Sydney Leroux & Kelley O'Hara". Fox Sports. June 1, 2015. Retrieved July 3, 2015.
  35. ↑ "2015 FIFA Women's World Cup Final: Everything You Need to Know About US-Japan". ABC. Retrieved July 3, 2015.
  36. ↑ "SI Now Tuesday October 28, 2014". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved July 3, 2015.
  37. ↑ "On to the Semis with Kelley O'Hara". Howler Magazine. June 30, 2015. Retrieved July 3, 2015.
  38. ↑ Shortsleeve, Cassie (June 22, 2015). "How USWNT's Kelley O'Hara Stays Fueled on the Field". Shape Magazine. Retrieved July 3, 2015.
  39. ↑ "Meet the U.S. Women's World Cup team: Defender Kelley O'Hara". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved July 3, 2015.
  40. ↑ Barnes, Katie (September 28, 2015). "Why 'FIFA 16' is a Landmark for Women". ESPN. Retrieved January 3, 2016.
  41. ↑ "U.S. women celebrate World Cup with ticker-tape parade in New York City". USA Today. July 11, 2015. Retrieved January 3, 2016.
  42. ↑ "Team USA parades NYC's "Canyon of Heroes"". CBS News. Retrieved January 3, 2016.
  43. ↑ Wagner, Laura (October 27, 2015). "Obama To U.S. Women's Soccer Team: 'Playing Like A Girl Means You're A Badass'". NPR. Retrieved January 3, 2016.
Match report
  1. ↑ "WNT Downs World No. 1 Germany 2–0 to Advance to 2015 World Cup Final". U.S.Soccer. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
  2. ↑ "U.S.WNT vs. Pureto Rico 10–0 W". U.S.Soccer. Retrieved March 12, 2016.

Further reading

  • Grainey, Timothy (2012), Beyond Bend It Like Beckham: The Global Phenomenon of Women's Soccer, University of Nebraska Press, ISBN 0803240368
  • Lisi, Clemente A. (2010), The U.S. Women's Soccer Team: An American Success Story, Scarecrow Press, ISBN 0810874164
  • Stevens, Dakota (2011), A Look at the Women's Professional Soccer Including the Soccer Associations, Teams, Players, Awards, and More, BiblioBazaar, ISBN 1241047464
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