Julia Ashley (born November 11, 1996) is an American

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 who plays as a defender for

Houston Dash The Houston Dash is a professional women's soccer team based in Houston, Texas. It joined the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in the 2014 season, and is affiliated with the MLS team Houston Dynamo FC. History Establishment On November ...

of 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). She previously played for

Adelaide United Adelaide United Football Club is a professional Association Football, soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club participates in the A-League Men under North American professional sports league organization#Systems ar ...

and

Linköpings FC Linköpings Fotboll Club is an association football club from Linköping, Sweden. The club was established in 2003 when Kenty DFF women's football club decided to merge with the premier division ice hockey club Linköpings HC under the new name L ...

, as well as collegiately for the

North Carolina Tar Heels The North Carolina Tar Heels are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The name Tar Heel is a nickname used to refer to individuals from the state of North Carolina, the ''Tar Heel ...

Early life

University of North Carolina

In Ashley's freshman season she started all 21 games at right back and was named to the 2015 Freshman All-ACC Team. In her sophomore year, she played in 24 games and ranked second on the team in minutes played. In her junior year, Ashley was one of the nation's most consistent defensive performers, she started all 22 games at right back and was second-team All-ACC and was named to the 2017 All-ACC Academic Women's Soccer Team. In her senior season, Ashley started all 25 games for the Tar Heels as they advanced all the way to the College Cup Final, where they were defeated 1–0 by

Florida State Florida State University (FSU) is a public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher e ...

Club career

Linköpings

On January 20, 2019, Ashley signed a five-month contract with

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 ...

in Sweden. She made her professional debut on February 16, starting in a

Svenska Cupen Svenska Cupen (, ''The Swedish Cup'') is a knockout cup competition in Swedish football and the main Swedish football cup. Svenska Cupen usually refers to the men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also held. Each year 96 teams compe ...

game against

Växjö Växjö ( ) is a city and the seat of Växjö Municipality, Kronoberg County, Sweden. It had 70,489 inhabitants (2019) out of a municipal population of 95,995 (2021). It is the administrative, cultural, and industrial centre of Kronoberg County ...

. She made her league debut against the same opposition on April 17. On May 22, 2019, she was released by the team having struggled for playing time with injury and competition within the squad.

Adelaide United

In November 2019, Ashley signed a deal with Australian club

. She made her debut for the team on November 14, starting in the 2019–20 season opener against

Western Sydney Wanderers Western Sydney Wanderers Football Club (colloquially known as Western Sydney, or simply as Wanderers) is an Australian professional soccer club based in the Western Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier ...

OL Reign

Ashley was originally selected by

Sky Blue FC NJ/NY Gotham FC is a professional women's soccer team based in Harrison, New Jersey. Founded in 2006 as Jersey Sky Blue, the team was known as Sky Blue FC from 2008 until 2020. A founding member of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in 2013 ...

with the 6th overall pick in the 2019 NWSL College Draft, but she never signed for the club. She expressed a hope that Sky Blue would either trade her

NWSL 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 ...

rights to another team or release her. On January 17, 2020, Sky Blue traded her NWSL rights to

Reign FC OL Reign is an American professional women's soccer team based in Seattle, Washington. Founded by Bill and Teresa Predmore in 2012 as Seattle Reign FC, it was one of eight inaugural members of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). In 2020, ...

. Ashley subsequently signed a three-year contract with

on March 4, 2020.

Racing Louisville

On November 12, 2020, Ashley was chosen by

Racing Louisville FC Racing Louisville Football Club is a National Women's Soccer League team based in Louisville, Kentucky. It began playing in 2021 at Lynn Family Stadium. The team is owned by Soccer Holdings LLC, which also owns Louisville City FC of the USL Cham ...

in the

2020 NWSL Expansion Draft The 2020 NWSL Expansion Draft was a special draft held on November 12, 2020, by the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) for Racing Louisville FC, an expansion team, to select players from existing teams in the league. Louisville would be able to ...

Houston Dash

She was traded to Houston Dash in December 2021.

International career

Ashley was part of the United States U–20 player pool and was called up to a U–20 camp in January 2016. In 2018 she was named to the United States U–23 roster for the 2018 Thorns Spring Invitational. She received another U–23 call-up in March 2019 for the La Manga Tournament in Spain.

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

UNC biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashley, Julia 1996 births Living people American women's soccer players North Carolina Tar Heels women's soccer players United States women's under-20 international soccer players People from Verona, New Jersey Soccer players from New Jersey Sportspeople from Essex County, New Jersey Women's association football defenders NJ/NY Gotham FC draft picks Linköpings FC players Adelaide United FC (A-League Women) players American expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Damallsvenskan players American expatriate women's soccer players Expatriate women's footballers in Sweden Expatriate women's soccer players in Australia American expatriate sportspeople in Australia Racing Louisville FC players National Women's Soccer League players Houston Dash players