CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The U.S. women’s national team beat Korea Republic 2-0 in the second to last game of both its victory tour and Jill Ellis’ tenure as head coach. 30,071 fans poured into Bank of America Stadium to watch the World Cup Champions and their esteemed coach in action.
The game’s first goal came from midfielder Allie Long who got on the end of a brilliant free kick from Reign FC teammate forward Megan Rapinoe. The second goal, also assisted by Rapinoe, came from Mallory Pugh who headed home a corner from close range.
With the win, Ellis became the winningest coach in the history of the USWNT with a record of 106-7-18.
“It feels great,” Ellis said. “It is a privilege. It is a privilege to coach this team and to get that many and that many opportunities to be with this team in terms of game and results has been unbelievable.”
Ellis started her career at NC State as an assistant coach with the women’s soccer program between 1988 and 1990. With Ellis, the Pack won the 1988 ACC title and qualified for the NCAA final four.
“I was a graduate assistant at NC State, my first paid coaching position,” Ellis said. “I came to Virginia. I came down to NC State and just love the area, it is a beautiful state. I didn’t realize it was full circle.”
After leaving NC State, Ellis went on to even more success at the college level as an assistant at Maryland and Virginia. Then she moved on to be the head coach at both Illinois and UCLA. The latter of which is where Ellis saw a majority of her success in the NCAA, leading the team to eight NCAA final fours. After UCLA, she moved into the youth levels of the US national team.
During her tenure at the helm of the senior national team, which began in 2014, the USWNT has won back-to-back World Cups in 2015 and 2019.
After she steps down as coach of the USWNT, Ellis will remain with US Soccer as Ambassador. Ellis’ final game at the helm of the national team will be on Oct. 6 in Chicago, also against the Korea Republic.
“I think for the next game it will start to sink in,” Ellis said. “Right now it is an expectation to get results and do the job etcetera, etcetera. But I think the next game, my family will be there, it will start to hit me a little bit.”
