The NC Courage celebrated the career of long-standing USWNT player Heather O’Reilly who will be hanging up her cleats at the end of the season, following its win over the Orlando Pride, where O’Reilly grabbed a goal and an assist.
“What a night for Heather and what a great night for the club too,” NC Courage head coach Paul Riley said. “I don’t think that you could write a better script for a finishing conclusion. When she walked in today they were all singing for her in the locker room two hours before kickoff. I had a feeling tonight was gonna be a good night and I think they did it for Heather too.”
O’Reilly is ending her career in the area where it started as she played for the UNC-Chapel Hill Tar Heels between 2003 and 2006. During her time in college, O’Reilly played forward scoring 59 and assisting 49 more. With O’Reilly on the team, the Tar Heels won a pair of national championships in 2003 and 2006.
O’Reilly also grabbed her first goal for the USWNT back in 2002 on the field where she was honored tonight.
“It was really important for me,” O’Reilly said. “For a year and a half I was over in London and I had a blast playing for Arsenal, but I knew that I had a little bit left in my tank and I wanted to do it at home. It took a little bit of time to orchestrate the trade to get me here but I knew that this was where I wanted to be… It is definitely full circle and sort of complete my journey which I feel very fortunate about. Not everyone gets that kind of closure and the closure is really important to me.”
A majority of her club career has been spent in the US playing for five different clubs in the US including her current club, The NC Courage. O’Reilly’s single stint abroad came between 2017 and 2018 where she played for Arsenal in the FAWSL.
Across here illustrious club career O’Reilly won five team trophies and a host of individual ones as well. Earning 231 caps for the USWNT before retiring in 2016, O’Reilly’s international career is one of the few things that can eclipse her accomplishments at club level.
A World Cup winner in 2015 and a three-time Olympic gold-medalist O’Reilly has won everything there is to win at the International level.
But O’Reilly has made an immeasurable impact off the field as well both on here teammates and people around the world who look up to her, even some of her teammates now, like Lynn Williams looked up to O’Reilly before they were teammates.
“It is unreal honestly,” Williams said. “I grew up watching her. She was one of my idols. It is surreal to play with her and be apart of this. I never thought this was gonna happen in my career, my lifetime. For me to take part in it, and a lot of us to take part in it, it is a testament to who she is as a human and who she is as a player. You can’t help but smile when you think about her.”
NC Courage defender Heather O’Reilly celebrates in the stands after the win over the Orlando Pride on Saturday, Sept. 14 at WakeMed Soccer Park. Since O’Reilly will retire after this season, she was honored after the game and took a victory lap around the field. The Courage won 6-1.
