The Starting 11: Heather O'Reilly
Sunday, March 16, 2008
By: WPS
As Women’s Professional Soccer prepares for its April 2009 kickoff, we will be introducing, or in some cases re-acquainting, the league’s prospective players to fans with The Starting 11, which are 11 things you need to know about each woman.
At just 19, Heather O’Reilly came off the bench to score the goal that propelled the U.S. into the 2004 Olympic Final. Now as the Beijing Games approach, O’Reilly is transitioning from forward to flank midfielder, hoping to return home to play in Women’s Professional Soccer and keeping tabs on a youth team that bears her name.
(Brad Smith/isiphotos.com)
The MVP of the 2008 Four Nations Tournament, Heather O'Reilly hopes to win more hardware in the form of a gold medal in China this August at the 2008 Olympics.
On the possibility of returning to her stomping grounds to play for the NJ / NY WPS franchise:
Right now that’s definitely my hope. Obviously, growing up in New Jersey, it would be nice to go back to my roots and so my family and friends can easily watch me play. My boyfriend is in New York City, so I think that that area of the country is where I would love to see myself living in the near future. I hope to be part of Sky Blue. They’ve been doing a lot of work behind the scenes to launch their franchise. I hope that it works out.
On PDA, the youth soccer club she played for growing up, naming its U-9 side Team O’Reilly:
They’re a very cute bunch of little girls. It was flattering to hear that a team was named after me there. I couldn’t believe it. I told the girls that if they ever want to change their name, don’t feel bad about it. Just go ahead and go for it. They’re cute and they all get excited if I’m showing up at the practice field. I pop into PDA a lot just to train there, so sometimes I surprise them and just show up at their practices. It’s a pretty neat deal and PDA has always supported me.
On how PDA shaped her as a player:
I would say there are two parts: One just being the most competitive environment that I could find, which obviously was so helpful to me at a young age. And two, just the support of the coaches there. Some of those coaches are still my mentors. As a player, I can still call them if I’m having trouble or to share my successes. And like I said, sometimes I just show up at PDA and they’re always excited to see me. They’ll say ‘Oh, there’s a U-16 boys’ team for you to jump in with. They’ll be happy to have you.’ Or ‘Oh, do you want to play with our U-18 girls today?’ They’re always happy to have me there and that’s kind of my soccer home. I know that Tobin Heath (a fellow National Teamer who plays collegiately at UNC) also feels the same way about PDA. It’s neat for us to be able to share that connection.
On the best part of growing up in East Brunswick, N.J.:
It has a suburb feel yet is close to some big cities.
On the last weekend of her collegiate career in which she missed out on the MAC Hermann trophy by one vote, but won Offensive MVP honors as she led the Tar Heels to the 2006 NCAA title:
I think that all those personal accolades are just bonuses. They’re definitely nice to earn, but any team title is far more important and meaningful. I was a little bit disappointed in that MAC award in just that it was my senior year. We had lost our first game of the year and we had such a promising team and season. But as soon as I didn’t win it, I just kind of didn’t look back, didn’t think of it and it was just more motivation to get that title. Once we got that title, nothing could take away my pride and happiness in winning that. That’s still one of my proudest soccer accomplishments, that senior season at Carolina.
On what she thinks of when she sees the color Carolina blue.
The best four years of my life. Because I think I grew up a lot in that time. I made some really awesome friends. Soccerwise, I love that environment. I have so many good memories, two national championships at Carolina. I still try to get down there pretty much whenever I can whenever we have time off. This year I made it a few times in the fall and I’m going to try to make it a few times in the spring back to school. I think I’m a Tar Heel for life.
On why she leads off-the-field activities with the National Team such as getting her teammates to go green or to learn a new vocabulary word each day:
I guess it’s just part of my personality in that I always try to get everybody involved. I think part of it is that I get a little bit stir crazy being in hotels all the time. So I’m kind of one of those people who likes little projects for me to do. So those things are just some examples of ways to pass the time, some little things for the team to do together. It’s a long year. It’s a lot of time that we’re kind of cooped up in different places. It’s always exciting to think of new little projects for everybody to do.
On her love of cereal:
I pretty consistently have two bowls a day. Frosted flakes is definitely the king. I’m pretty versatile I guess. Sometimes Honey Nut Cheerios.
On her New York Yankees fandom (From time to time, she’s spotted wearing a Yankees cap):
I try to get to at least one game a season and of course watch a couple of games on TV a year. I try to always rally for the big Red Sox-Yankees rivalry. I really, really enjoy getting out to Yankee Stadium for a nice relaxing day. But I wouldn’t say I’m a massive fan.
On having three older brothers to look up to:
Each one was definitely very different, but they’re all very athletic and very smart. I think that each one of them achieved in academics and athletics, so we kind of had very high standards at the O’Reilly house. Each one has different personalities, but my oldest brother, Michael, was my kind of “Big Bro”. He really took care of me. He went to college when I was about 10 years old, so that was pretty emotional for me with such a big age difference and him going off to school. They’re my big brothers. They’re different in every way, but they’re all definitely proud of me and my accomplishments.
On the expression she sports on her face while playing soccer:
I have a couple of words for it. It’s not the most attractive face. Sometimes photos of me don’t come out so well of me in my action shots like the other girls. I think that it’s just intensity and all heart. It’s funny because I look back at pictures of my brothers running track - We were a pretty big track family. My dad ran in college and my brothers all ran in high school as well - In every single one of their pictures of them running, a lot of them at the finish line, are all that same face. I don’t know if it’s pain or just passion, but it’s kind of an O’Reilly tradition.