Ashleigh Ward (born 18 August 1994) is a New Zealand

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

er, who has represented the national team. At club level, she plays for

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

in the English

FA Women's Championship The Women's Championship (formerly The FA Women's Championship) is the second-highest division of women's football in England. The division was established in 2014 as the FA Women's Super League 2 (WSL 2). WSL 2 replaced the previous level 2 d ...

. She has previously played for Canterbury United Pride in New Zealand,

Boston College Eagles The Boston College Eagles are the athletic teams that represent Boston College, located in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level (Football Bowl Subdivisio ...

in the United States, and Actonians in England.

Early life

Ward studied in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, before moving to

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

, where she attended

Cashmere High School Cashmere High School ( mi, Te iringa o Kahukura) is a state coeducational secondary school, located in southern Christchurch, New Zealand. It was opened in 1956 in response to population growth in southern Christchurch during the 1950s. The sch ...

. She started as a left winger, before changing to a left full back. In 2012, she was part of the Cashmere High School girls' team that won the Canterbury Girls' Premier League, and the 2009 and 2010 editions of the Gary Sowden Cup. She studied at Lincoln University, where she also played

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

. She later moved to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

to work as a

physical education Physical education, often abbreviated to Phys Ed. or P.E., is a subject taught in schools around the world. It is usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor learning by using a play and movement explorati ...

teacher.

Club career

In New Zealand, Ward played football for Canterbury United Pride, and was part of the Pride team that won the 2014 and 2016 New Zealand Women's National Leagues. She also played

college soccer College soccer is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. It is very prominent in United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and as well as in South Africa and the Philippines. The United Kingd ...

for

in the United States. She made one appearance for Boston College Eagles in December 2013. After moving to London, Ward started playing for Actonians in England, and was the team's captain. In June 2021, she was part of the Actonians team that lost the final of the Capital Women's Senior Cup to Queen's Park Rangers. Later in the year, she scored as Actonians beat

Harlow Town Harlow Town Football Club is an English association football, football club based in Harlow, Essex. The club is a former member of the and plays at The Harlow Arena. The club is best known for its exploits in the 1979–80 FA Cup, in which it ...

8–1. In 2022, she had a trial with an English

club, and in August 2022, she signed for Women's Championship side

International career

Ward played for New Zealand under-17s in the buildup to the

2010 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup The 2010 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup Women's association football, women's football tournament is the second such tournament, and was held in Trinidad and Tobago from 5 to 25 September 2010. Sixteen teams, comprising representatives from all six c ...

, but was dropped before the tournament. She played all three of New Zealand under-20s matches at the

2012 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The 2012 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup was the 6th edition of the tournament. The tournament was played in Japan from 19 August to 8 September, with sixteen national football soccer teams and mark the first hosting of a FIFA women's football tourna ...

, and was in their squad for the 2014 tournament. In November 2021, Ward was called up to the senior team. She was the only uncapped player in the squad. She made her debut on 30 November against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. She replaced New Zealand captain Ali Riley, who was injured. In February 2022, she was named in the New Zealand squad for the

2022 SheBelieves Cup The 2022 SheBelieves Cup, named the 2022 SheBelieves Cup Presented by Visa for sponsorship reasons, was the seventh edition of the SheBelieves Cup, an invitational Women's association football, women's football tournament held in the United States ...

. She was ruled out of a 2022 match against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

due to an injury.

References

External links

*
Actonians LFC Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, Ashleigh 1994 births Living people New Zealand women's international footballers FA Women's National League players Women's association football fullbacks People educated at Cashmere High School Boston College Eagles women's soccer players New Zealand women's association footballers Lincoln University (New Zealand) alumni New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in the United States New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States Expatriate women's footballers in England New Zealand expatriate women's association footballers Women's Championship (England) players Southampton F.C. Women players