Ingrid Kirsten Wells (born March 29, 1989) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

professional

soccer 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 ...

player from

Montclair, New Jersey Montclair () is a township in Essex County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Situated on the cliffs of the Watchung Mountains, Montclair is a wealthy and diverse commuter town and suburb of New York City within the New York metropolitan area. As ...

. Nicknamed "the Little General", Wells was a midfielder for the

Georgetown Hoyas The Georgetown Hoyas are the collegiate athletics teams that officially represent Georgetown University, located in Washington, D.C. Georgetown's athletics department fields 23 men's and women's varsity level teams and competes at the National C ...

women's soccer team as well as various levels of the

USWNT The United States women's national soccer team (USWNT) represents the United States in international women's soccer. The team is the most successful in international women's soccer, winning four Women's World Cup titles (1991, 1999, 2015, a ...

. She previously played in the

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. It is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federatio ...

(NWSL) for the

Western New York Flash The Western New York Flash (WNY Flash) was an American soccer club based in Elma, New York that competed in the United Women's Soccer league. They have won league championships in four different leagues: the USL W-League in 2010, Women's Profess ...

and

Washington Spirit The Washington Spirit is an American professional soccer club based in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area that participates in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). It is a continuation of the D.C. United Women of the W-League and cont ...

, Sweden's

Göteborg FC Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and Capital city, capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated ...

in the

Damallsvenskan The Damallsvenskan, Swedish for ''ladies all-Swedish'' and also known as OBOS Damallsvenskan for sponsorship reasons, is the highest division of women's football in Sweden. It is also referred to as the women's Allsvenskan. The term Allsvenskan ...

1. FFC Turbine Potsdam 1. Frauenfußballclub Turbine Potsdam 71 e. V., commonly known as 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam (or Turbine Potsdam outside of Germany), is a German women's football club located in Potsdam, Brandenburg. They are one of the most successful women's footb ...

in the German

Frauen-Bundesliga The Frauen-Bundesliga (German for ''Women's Federal League''), currently known as the FLYERALARM Frauen-Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of league competition for women's association football in Germany. In 1990 the German Foo ...

, and was captain of the

United States U-23 women's national soccer team The United States U-23 women's national soccer team is a youth soccer team operated under the auspices of U.S. Soccer. Its primary role is the development of players in preparation for the full Women's National Team. The team competes in a va ...

from 2010 to 2012. She retired from her soccer career to pursue a career in public health nutrition at the end of the 2015 season.

Early life

Wells attended Montclair High School for all four years of her high school career. She was captain of the Mounties' varsity squad during her junior and senior years. Wells helped the Montclair Mounties win the Essex County Championships in 2007. She was the New Jersey Gatorade Player of the Year and the Star Ledger Player of the Year in 2007. Wells was regarded as one of the top 50 incoming freshman in the nation by SoccerBuzz. The 2006–07 New Jersey Gatorade Player of the Year is a past member of the U.S. National Pool, a three-time Region One ODP team member and a member of the N.J. ODP Program. An NSCAA All-American, Wells enjoyed an exceptional career at Montclair High School where she was named New Jersey Star Ledger High School Player of the Year and First Team All-State. Wells was also a member of the U18 Parsippany Gazelles, a very successful club team program, and one of the leading teams on the East Coast.

College career

During her first year at Georgetown, in which she started every game, Wells scored six goals and dished out 13 assists, tying Georgetown's single-season record for assists. Wells also earned many accolades such as being the BIG EAST Rookie of the Year, First Team All-BIG EAST, NSCAA/Adidas National All-American, Regional All-American, SoccerBuzz Magazine National All-American, National Freshman All-American, Regional All-American and Regional Rookie of the Year. In 2008, Wells redshirted her sophomore year to play for the

United States U-20 women's national soccer team The United States U-20 women's national soccer team is a youth soccer team operated under the auspices of U.S. Soccer. Its primary role is the development of players in preparation for the senior women's national team. The team most recently ...

in the

2008 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The 2008 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup was the 4th edition of the tournament. It was held in Chile between 19 November and 7 December 2008. Sixteen teams, comprising representatives from all six confederations, took part in the final competition, i ...

. By the end of the 2009 season, Wells was ranked second all-time in assists (24) for the Hoyas. She had also been named to the Preseason M.A.C Hermann Trophy Watch List. During her sophomore year for the Hoyas, Wells started all 20 games and once again earned many accolades such as an All-BIG EAST First Team selection, named an Honorable Mention All-American by TopDrawerSoccer.com, selected to the BIG EAST Academic Honor Roll, and was an ECAC Division I Women's Soccer All-Star. She was ranked first in the BIG EAST with 11 assists and was third in the league with 25 points, and fourth in the league with 1.25 points per game. Her point total matched her output from her freshman campaign in 2007, which was one point shy of the school single-season record. By the end of the season she ranked second all-time in assists (24) and eighth all-time in points (50). In her third year for the Hoyas, Wells once again started in all 24 games. She earned the honors of being the BIG EAST Midfielder of the Year, an All-BIG EAST First Team selection for the third time in her career, an NSCAA All-Northeast Region First Team selection, a First Team All-American by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America, a BIG EAST Academic All-Star, and was named one of 15 finalists for the Missouri Athletic Club's Hermann Trophy, recognizing the top player in college soccer. She trained during the second half of the year with the United States Under-23 National Team. Wells led the Hoyas into the 2010 College Cup; Georgetown was knocked out by

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

in the quarterfinals. Georgetown head coach Dave Nolan remarked, "I thought Ingrid was tremendous tonight, she was the best player on the field, ut to winyou probably need to have eight or nine of your players show up and have great games, and I don't think we got that." Following her red shirt senior season, Wells went directly to train with the

United States women's national soccer team The United States women's national soccer team (USWNT) represents the United States in international women's Association football, soccer. The team is the most successful in international women's soccer, winning four FIFA Women's World Cup, Wom ...

before moving to Sweden to play professionally. During her time at Georgetown, she became the first soccer player (woman or man) at Georgetown to score 100 points during their career.

Professional career

Club

Göteborg FC, 2012

During the 2012 season, Wells played for the Swedish club

in the

. She made 19 appearances with nine starts for the club for a total of 862 minutes. The team won the Svenska Cupen Women and was runner-up at the Super Cup Women.

NWSL: Washington Spirit and Western New York Flash, 2013

In 2013, Wells signed with the

for the inaugural season of the NWSL. Of the signing, Wells said, "It's an honor to get the opportunity to play for the Spirit. I'm excited to be playing in DC again as it is a strong soccer community and am really looking forward to the start of the season!" Wells made eight appearances and starts for the club playing a total of 549 minutes. On June 20, 2013, it was announced that she had been waived by the Spirit, after informing the team of her intention to sign with a Frauen-Bundesliga club for the following season, in accordance with league rules. She later signed with the

who won the regular league title and were runners-up for the inaugural NWSL championship title. Wells made ten appearances for the Flash.

1. FFC Turbine Potsdam, 2013

Wells joined German

club

in August 2013.

International

Wells was a member of the

, which won the

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. She played in five matches, starting in four which included the final match where the United States defeated

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

, 2–1. Wells was also a regular with the

and

. She retired from soccer to pursue a career in nutrition at the end of the 2015 season, enrolling in NYU's College of Global Public Health's Master Public Health nutrition program, and gained her master's degree two years later.

Honors

Individual

*2011 NSCAA/Adidas National All-American - 1st Team *2010 NSCAA/Adidas National All-American - 1st Team *2007 NSCAA/Adidas National All-American - 2nd Team *2011 BIG EAST Midfielder of the Year *2010 BIG EAST Midfielder of the Year *2007, 2009, 2010, 2011 First Team All-BIG EAST *2007 BIG EAST Rookie of the Year *2007 SoccerBuzz Magazine National All-American *2007 National Freshman All-American *2007 Regional All-American and Regional Rookie of the Year *2009 ECAC Division I Women's Soccer All-Star *2009 BIG EAST Academic Honor Roll *2011, 2010 Missouri Athletic Club's Hermann Trophy finalist *2006-07 New Jersey Gatorade Player of the Year

References

External links

*
Washington Spirit player profile

Western New York Flash player profile

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wells, Ingrid American women's soccer players 1989 births Living people Georgetown Hoyas women's soccer players Washington Spirit players Expatriate women's footballers in Sweden American expatriate soccer players in Germany National Women's Soccer League players Western New York Flash players BK Häcken FF players Damallsvenskan players 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam players Frauen-Bundesliga players Soccer players from New Jersey Soccer players from New York City Women's association football midfielders United States women's under-20 international soccer players Montclair High School (New Jersey) alumni People from Montclair, New Jersey Sportspeople from Essex County, New Jersey American expatriate women's soccer players