Melissa Suzanne Keeling (; born August 23, 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 ...

retired

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 ...

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

who last played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

with the

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 ...

Early life

Born in

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

to Kelly and Kathy Henderson, Melissa grew up in

Garland, Texas Garland is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is located northeast of Dallas and is a part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is located within Dallas County except for small portions located in Collin and Rockwall Counties. At the ...

, and attended and played for

Berkner High School Lloyd V. Berkner High School is a high school in Richardson, in the U.S. state of Texas, with a 2008 enrollment of 2,755 and a student/teacher ratio of 16.7. It is one of four high schools in the Richardson Independent School District. Histor ...

Richardson, Texas Richardson is a city in Dallas and Collin counties in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 United States census, the city had a total population of 119,469. Richardson is an inner suburb of the city of Dallas. It is home to the University of ...

, where she received several honors and awards during her time. Henderson played three seasons for the varsity soccer squad and set school records with 66 goals and was second overall in assists with 45 (overall 177 points) in 47 career matches. Henderson did not play her senior season due to national-team commitments. She was named a Parade All-American following her sophomore and junior seasons, a two-time all-district performer at Berkner where she was also district MVP and all-area, two-time NSCAA youth All- American in 2006 and 2007, 2007 NSCAA/Adidas Youth Player of the Year, and became the first junior women's soccer player ever named Gatorade National High School Player of the Year (2006–07 season); only six other juniors (from any sport) have ever received the Gatorade national honor at the time. On top of Henderson's dominant high school soccer career she was also a three-year member of the National Honor Society, involved in student council, served as student council senior class secretary, helped coach younger soccer players and was a member of Young Life.

University of Notre Dame

Henderson attended

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...

where she majored in Psychology and was a star attacker for the

Notre Dame Fighting Irish The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are the athletic teams that represent the University of Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish participate in 23 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I intercollegiate sports and in the NCAA's Division ...

. During her junior year, she was nominated for an

ESPY Award An ESPY Award (short for Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Award) is an accolade currently presented by the American broadcast television network ABC, and previously ESPN (as of the 2017 ESPY Awards the latter still airs them in the form ...

(her second nomination after being nominated once in high school). At the time of her graduation, Henderson ranked among the top 10 in school history in eight career categories, including goals (tied for fourth at 70), goals per match (tied for fourth at 0.72), points (ninth at 166), points per match (tenth at 1.71), match-winning goals (first at 24), match-winning points (second at 58), first goals (second at 24) and hat tricks (tied for first at six). She was one of 27 players in school history with at least 20 goals and 20 assists during her career and set single-season school records in 2009 for match-winning goals (nine) and first goals (10). She tied the school's single-season record for hat tricks at three in 2011 and matched the school record with four goals in 2009 during a win over Central Michigan and 2011 Senior Night victory over DePaul. She was one of two players in school history with two four-goal matches in her career. Henderson was one of four Fighting Irish players to ever have multiple eight-point matches in their careers and was the only player in school history to score three goals in the first half of a match. As a junior, she won the

Honda Sports Award The Honda Sports Award is an annual award in the United States, given to the best collegiate female athlete in each of twelve sports. There are four nominees for each sport, and the twelve winners of the Honda Sports Award are automatically in th ...

as the nation's top soccer player.

Club career

Boston Breakers

Henderson was the second overall pick in the 2012 WPS Draft, going 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 ...

, but the league folded before the season ever started. Following the suspension of the WPS, Henderson signed on with the

Boston Breakers The Boston Breakers were an American professional soccer club based in the Boston neighborhood of Allston. The team competed in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). They replaced the original Breakers, who competed in the defunct Women's ...

in the

WPSL Elite The Women's Premier Soccer League Elite (WPSL Elite) was a women's semi-professional soccer league created by the Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL) to support the sport in the United States, both from continued interest by WPSL teams in profess ...

where she played four games.

FC Kansas City

Henderson signed on as a free agent with FC Kansas City prior to the start of the inaugural 2013 season with 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 ...

Houston Dash

Henderson was acquired by the

on July 9, 2014. She announced her retirement in October 2015. Henderson came out of retirement in February 2016 to rejoin the Dash for the 2016 season.

Retirement

Henderson announced her second retirement from professional soccer on June 14, 2017.

International career

Henderson has extensive experience at the youth National Team level having played on the U-16, U-17, U-20 and U-23 teams. She was called into the full national team camp in 2011 as they trained for Olympic qualifiers.

Personal life

Henderson graduated from the

Notre Dame College of Arts and Letters The College of Arts and Letters is the oldest and largest college within the University of Notre Dame. The Dean of the College of Arts and Letters is Sarah Mustillo. History The College of Arts and Letters is the oldest in the university, and i ...

in May 2012 with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

. She now uses the surname Keeling.

Honors

Notre Dame Fighting Irish *

NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship The NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship, sometimes known as the Women's College Cup, is an American college soccer tournament conducted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and determines the Division I women's national ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

Individual * Gatorade High School Soccer Player of the Year Award: 2007 *

: 2010–11

References

External links

US Soccer player profile

University of Notre Dame player profile

Houston Dash player profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Henderson, Melissa 1989 births Living people Soccer players from Dallas Sportspeople from Garland, Texas American women's soccer players Soccer players from Texas National Women's Soccer League players FC Kansas City players Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's soccer players Parade High School All-Americans (girls' soccer) Boston Breakers players Women's Premier Soccer League Elite players Women's association football midfielders Women's association football forwards Houston Dash players Apollon Ladies F.C. players Expatriate women's footballers in Cyprus United States women's under-20 international soccer players United States women's youth international soccer players