Mary Therese McDonnell (born 26 August 1986), is an

Irish American , image = Irish ancestry in the USA 2018; Where Irish eyes are Smiling.png , image_caption = Irish Americans, % of population by state , caption = Notable Irish Americans , population = 36,115,472 (10.9%) alone ...

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 ...

defender. She is a

Republic of Ireland women's national football team ) , Association = Women's Football Association of Ireland , Confederation = UEFA (Europe) , Coach = Vera Pauw , Captain = Katie McCabe , Most caps = Emma Byrne (134) , Top scorer = Olivia ...

player. After being released from St. Louis Athletica's preseason training camp in March 2010, she rejoined the

Chicago Red Stars The Chicago Red Stars are a professional women's soccer club based in Bridgeview, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. A founding member of the Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) league, they have played in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) sin ...

for 2011.

College career

McDonnell attended

Carl Sandburg High School Carl Sandburg High School, Sandburg, or CSHS, is a public four-year high school located at the intersection of La Grange Road and Southmoor Drive in Orland Park, Illinois, a southwest suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is part ...

then spent four years at the

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Universit ...

studying speech and hearing sciences. In 2012, she played for the University of Illinois College of Law Club team, Learned Foot, in the Chamapign County Soccer League helping the Learned Foot win the title.

Club career

After graduating McDonnell played for

Boston Renegades Boston Renegades was an American women’s soccer team, founded in 2003. The team was a member of the United Soccer Leagues USL W-League, the second tier of women’s soccer in the United States and Canada. The team plays in the Northeast Divisi ...

in the 2008 W-League season, scoring four goals in five games. McDonnell was assigned to

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 ...

in the

2009 WPS Draft The 2009 WPS Draft took place on January 16, 2009. It was the first draft held by Women's Professional Soccer to assign the WPS rights of college players to the American-based teams, though other players not previously assigned could be drafted as ...

. However, she was released the week before the squads were finalised and instead joined

as a developmental player. In July 2009 McDonnell played for the Irish national team against her Chicago Red Stars club side in an exhibition game at the Sports Complex at Benedictine University. The Red Stars released McDonnell in September 2009. She then attended St. Louis Athletica's preseason training camp,

International career

McDonnell first appeared for the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

in three friendly games against the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in September 2008. She said, "After college I played in Boston for a summer and it turned out my coach was Irish. He literally walked up to us on the practice field and asked if any of us were Irish, and one thing led to another. It’s been great." Mary Therese and elder sister Shannon featured in Ireland's qualifying campaigns for Euro 2009 and World Cup 2011. Daughters of Ian and Jean McDonnell, their eligibility for the Irish team derived from their grandfather; who was from

Foxford Foxford () is a village 16 km south of Ballina in County Mayo, Ireland. It stands on the N26 national primary route from Swinford to Ballina and has a railway station served by trains between Manulla Junction and Ballina. Foxford lies o ...

. Both sisters were called up to the national squad in August 2011, ahead of the

Euro 2013 The 2013 UEFA Women's Championship, commonly referred to as Women's Euro 2013, was the 11th European Championship for women's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament, held in Sweden from 10 to 28 July 2013, became the most ...

qualifying series.

References

External links

Mary Therese McDonnell
at

Illinois Fighting Illini The Illinois Fighting Illini () are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The university offers 10 men's and 11 women's varsity sports. The University operates a number of athletic faci ...

Mary Therese McDonnell
at

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

Mary Therese McDonnell
at FAI Republic of Ireland women's association footballers Republic of Ireland women's international footballers 1986 births Living people People from Orland Park, Illinois Sportspeople from Cook County, Illinois American women's soccer players Illinois Fighting Illini women's soccer players Women's association football defenders USL W-League (1995–2015) players Boston Renegades players Women's Premier Soccer League Elite players {{Ireland-women-footy-bio-stub