Bethany Balcer

Bethany Catherine Balcer (born March 7, 1997) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a forward for OL Reign in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL).

Bethany Balcer
Personal information
Full name Bethany Catherine Balcer[1]
Date of birth (1997-03-07) March 7, 1997
Place of birth Hudsonville, Michigan, United States
Height 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Position(s) Forward
Team information
Current team
 OL Reign
Number 8
Youth career
Michigan Fire Juniors
College career
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2015–2018 Spring Arbor Cougars 98 (129)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2017 Grand Rapids FC 12 (19)
2018 Seattle Sounders Women
2019– OL Reign 53 (17)
International career‡
2019 United States U23 2
2021– United States 1 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of March 28, 2021
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of November 26, 2021

Balcer played collegiate soccer at Spring Arbor University, where she was a two-time NAIA national champion, three-time NAIA National Player of the Year, four-time First-Team All-American, and the school's leading scorer.[2] After her collegiate career, she joined Reign FC on a supplemental contract in 2019.[3]

Early life

Balcer grew up in Hudsonville, Michigan and attended Unity Christian High School, where she played varsity soccer and basketball.[4] She is the fourth of five children.

Collegiate career

Balcer attended Spring Arbor University from 2015 to 2019, where she was a four-year starter on its varsity soccer team.[5] The Cougars advanced to the NAIA Final Four every year and won two national titles with Balcer on the team.

While in college, Balcer played as an amateur with senior teams over the summer. She led Grand Rapids FC to a United Women's Soccer championship in 2017 – scoring hat-tricks in five straight matches – and played with Seattle Sounders Women in the Women's Premier Soccer League the following year winning the WPSL championship.[6]

Club career

OL Reign, 2019–

Balcer was invited to the Reign FC preseason training camp prior to the 2019 NWSL season[2] and subsequently earned a contract on the club's supplemental roster.[3] She is the first NAIA player to sign with an NWSL club[7] and only the third NWSL player to previously play collegiately in the United States and finish their collegiate career with a non-NCAA D-I institution.[8] Balcer made her NWSL debut coming on as an 86th minute substitute at the Houston Dash on April 14, 2019.[9] A week later, she made her first start in Reign's home-opener at Cheney Stadium. Curling a shot from the edge of the penalty area into the far corner of the goal, she scored her first-ever pro goal in the 21st minute against Orlando Pride in a 1–1 tie. It was also the first home goal scored in the Reign's first season in Tacoma, Washington.[10] She scored her second goal in her second home start, sixth appearance on May 27, 2019 in a 2–1 win against the defending champions North Carolina Courage. Her 13th minute header from the edge of the box crashed off the underside of the bar to give her side an early lead. Her third goal occurred in the next game in her third home start against the Houston Dash. On a breakaway she picked up a deflected through ball from Darian Jenkins and slotted right-footed past the keeper for the first goal of the game in the 32nd minute, Houston tied in the 90th to split the points. At the end of the season, she was awarded the 2019 Rookie of the Year Award.

International career

Balcer received her first call-up to the United States women's national soccer team in December 2019.[11] She made her international debut on November 26, 2021 against Australia.[12][13] She was previously a member of the United States women's national under-23 soccer team.[14]

Personal life

Balcer is a Christian.[15] She is the sister of Nick Balcer, a National Assistant Referee with PRO and younger brother Grant, who plays Division 1 soccer at Bowling Green University.

Career statistics

Club
As of September 29, 2021.
Club Season League Cup Playoffs Total
Apps Goals Apps GoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
OL Reign 2019 24 6 – – 1 0 25 6
2020 – – 8 3 – – 8 3
2021 19 9 3 0 – – 21 9
Career total 43 15 11 3 1 0 55 18

International
As of match played November 26, 2021
National TeamYearAppsGoals
United States 202110
Total10

Honors

OL Reign

Individual

References
  1. "National team roster – 2022 Concacaf W Championship: USA" (PDF). CONCACAF. June 8, 2022. p. 15. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 8, 2022. Retrieved June 8, 2022.
  2. "Balcer Joins Reign FC for Preseason Camp". Spring Arbor Cougars. March 7, 2019. Archived from the original on April 13, 2019. Retrieved April 13, 2019.
  3. "Reign FC Announce Signing of Forward Bethany Balcer". Reign FC. April 13, 2019. Retrieved April 13, 2019.
  4. "Balcer to Bring Attacking Skills to Lady Cougars in 2015". Spring Arbor Cougars. January 24, 2014. Archived from the original on April 13, 2019. Retrieved April 13, 2019.
  5. "Bethany Balcer". Spring Arbor Cougars. Archived from the original on April 13, 2019. Retrieved April 13, 2019.
  6. "Balcer seizing opportunity with Seattle Sounders Women". Spring Arbor Cougars. June 12, 2018. Archived from the original on April 13, 2019. Retrieved April 13, 2019.
  7. "Balcer signs professional contract with NWSL's Reign FC". Spring Arbor Cougars. April 14, 2019. Archived from the original on April 14, 2019. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
  8. Henderson, Chris. "Pretty sure Francis Marion was still DI when Salem was there. Didn't even consider figuring in Canadian colleges (Robinson). Forgot all about Cordner and Pires". Twitter. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
  9. Cristobal, Jacob (April 14, 2019). "Reign FC open season with a draw at Houston Dash". Sounder at Heart. Archived from the original on July 5, 2022. Retrieved April 22, 2019.
  10. VanDyke, Josh (April 22, 2019). "Bethany Balcer steps in for Olympian and scores first goal with Reign FC". MLive.com. Retrieved April 22, 2019.
  11. "ANDONOVSKI NAMES 24-PLAYER ROSTER FOR U.S. WOMEN'S NATIONAL TEAM DECEMBER IDENTIFICATION TRAINING CAMP IN FLORIDA". US Soccer. November 27, 2019. Retrieved November 28, 2019.
  12. "Australia vs United States". US Soccer. November 26, 2021. Retrieved November 27, 2021.
  13. "Australia vs USWNT Match Report". US Soccer. November 27, 2021. Retrieved November 27, 2021.
  14. VanDyke, Josh (August 21, 2019). "Bethany Balcer named to U.S. U-23 Women's National Team". MLive.com. Retrieved April 16, 2023.
  15. Pentz, Matt (June 30, 2020). "Bethany Balcer's NWSL journey of faith, acceptance and seizing opportunities". The Athletic. Retrieved November 10, 2021.
  16. Azzi, Alex (October 2, 2022). "OL Reign wins 2022 NWSL Shield, Gotham denies Thorns". NBC Sports. Retrieved October 7, 2022.
  17. "OL Reign Claim 2022 Women's Cup Title with 2-1 Win over Louisville". King 5. August 20, 2022. Retrieved October 7, 2022.
  18. Yoesting, Travis (September 22, 2021). "Bethany's Burritos: Balcer Details Her Insulting Reward For Winning 2019 NWSL Rookie Of The Year". The 18. Retrieved November 10, 2021.
  19. "Balcer, Barnes, and Rapinoe Named to NWSL Second XI". OL Reign. Retrieved November 10, 2021.
  20. "Budweiser Player of the Week | Bethany Balcer, OL Reign, Week 12". National Women's Soccer League. August 12, 2021. Retrieved November 10, 2021 – via YouTube.
  21. "Bethany Balcer Named NWSL Player of the Week". Just Women's Sports. August 13, 2021. Retrieved November 10, 2021.
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