Lois Kathleen Joel (born 2 June 1999) is an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a defender for London City Lionesses. Joel has represented England internationally at under-17 and under-19 level.

Early life

Joel grew up in the London suburb of

North Finchley North Finchley is a suburb of London in the London Borough of Barnet, situated 7 miles (11 km) north-west of Charing Cross. North Finchley is centred on Tally Ho Corner, the junction of the roads to East Finchley, Church End, Friern Ba ...

and attended St Michael's Catholic Grammar School. She played football in the youth systems of

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...

and Arsenal before joining the

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

academy and was a member of the team that won the 2016–17 FA WSL Academy League Southern Division title. She was involved in one senior matchday squad, an unused substitute on 2 July 2016 as Chelsea were eliminated by second-tier

London Bees London Bees is an English women's football club affiliated with Barnet F.C. They play in the FA Women's National League South. The club has been in existence under several names since 1975, originally being called District Line Ladies F.C.. The ...

on penalties in the first round of the 2016 WSL Cup.

College career

In August 2017, Joel enrolled at

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State Coll ...

. She 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 K ...

for two seasons with the

West Virginia Mountaineers The West Virginia Mountaineers are the athletic teams that represent West Virginia University, an American university located in Morgantown, West Virginia. The school is a member of National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I. The Mou ...

, making 33 appearances all as a substitute and scoring one goal and one assist. The Mountaineers won the 2018 Big 12 Conference Women's Soccer Tournament and earned berths to the NCAA College Cup both years. In May 2019, Joel transferred to

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

to play for the Tar Heels. She was signed on the recommendation of England youth national team teammates

Lotte Wubben-Moy Carlotte Mae Wubben-Moy, known as Lotte Wubben-Moy, (; born 11 January 1999) is an English professional footballer who plays as a defender for Arsenal in the FA Women's Super League and the English national team. She previously played college ...

and

Alessia Russo Alessia Mia Teresa Russo (; born 8 February 1999) is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for Manchester United in the Women's Super League and the England national team. She has previously played for Chelsea, Brighton ...

who had been with the Tar Heels since 2017. Having played multiple positions with West Virginia, Joel was noted by head coach

Anson Dorrance Albert Anson Dorrance IV (born April 9, 1951) is an American soccer coach. He is currently the head coach of the women's soccer program at the University of North Carolina. He has one of the most successful coaching records in the history of ath ...

for her pace, fitness and versatility. In her first season with the team, Joel made 25 appearances including eight starts and registered eight assists. The Tar Heels won both the 2019 ACC regular season and 2019 ACC Tournament, and finished runners-up in the 2019 NCAA College Cup final.

Club career

West Ham United

On 2 October 2020, Joel returned to England amid uncertainty around the US college season due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

and signed a short-term contract with FA WSL team

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

. She signed on non-contract terms in order to preserve her final year of college eligibility. She made her debut on 18 October as a 73rd-minute substitute for Laura Vetterlein in a 4–2 WSL loss to Manchester United. Ahead of the 2021–22 season, Joel signed a one-year contract extension.

International career

Youth

Joel has represented England at under-17 and under-19 level. She competed at the

2016 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship The 2016 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship was the ninth edition of the UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship, the annual European international youth football championship contested by the women's under-17 national teams of UEFA member associations. ...

as England topped the group by winning all three of their group stage games before losing to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

in the semi-finals. They beat Norway in the third-place playoff, qualifying the team for the

2016 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup The 2016 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup was the fifth edition of the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, the biennial international women's youth football championship contested by the under-17 national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tourna ...

in Jordan. Joel made one appearance at the World Cup in a 3–0 quarter-final defeat to eventual winners Japan. On 18 October 2017, Joel scored her first international goal at under-19 level during a 9–0 win over Kazakhstan in

2018 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship qualification The 2018 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship qualifying competition was a women's under-19 association football, football competition that determined the seven teams joining the automatically qualified hosts Switzerland women's national under-19 fo ...

Career statistics

Honors

College

West Virginia Mountaineers * Big 12 Conference Women's Soccer Tournament:

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

North Carolina Tar Heels * Atlantic Coast Conference regular season:

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

* ACC Women's Soccer Tournament:

* NCAA Division I College Cup runners-up:

References

External links

* *
Lois Joel
at West Ham United {{DEFAULTSORT:Joel, Lois 1999 births Living people Footballers from Finchley English women's footballers Women's association football defenders West Virginia Mountaineers women's soccer players North Carolina Tar Heels women's soccer players West Ham United F.C. Women players Women's Super League players England women's youth international footballers London City Lionesses players