Sherrill Kester Dempsey (born Sherrill Lyles Kester; March 7, 1978) is an American former

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...

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. 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 ...

, she represented the

San Diego Spirit The San Diego Spirit was a professional soccer team that played in the Women's United Soccer Association. The team played at Torero Stadium on the campus of the University of San Diego in San Diego, California. The team began play in 2001. The l ...

Women's United Soccer Association The Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) was the world's first Women's association football, women's soccer league in which all the players were paid as professionals. Founded in February 2000 in sports, 2000, the league began its first se ...

(WUSA) and won three

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for the United States national team.

Club career

Kester played for

USL W-League The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, pl ...

team

Raleigh Wings Raleigh Wings was a USL W-League, W-League women's Association football, soccer club based out of Raleigh, North Carolina. The team began play in 1998 and folded after the 2000 season. History The club was founded in 1998 by the owners of the Pr ...

in 2000. She was the

's second round

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pick, ahead of the inaugural 2001 season of the

(WUSA). In the league's first two seasons, Kester featured in 40 of the Spirit's 42 regular season games, contributing one goal and two assists. She was sent to the

New York Power The New York Power was an American professional soccer team that played in the Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA), the first professional soccer league for women in the United States. The team played at Mitchel Athletic Complex in Uniondal ...

in September 2002, as part of a five-player trade. Having got married in the off-season, Kester refused to go to New York. She informed team management that she would only play in WUSA if it was for the

Carolina Courage Carolina Courage was a professional soccer team that played in the Women's United Soccer Association. The team played at Fetzer Field on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus in 2001, and then at the soccer-specific SAS Stadium in Cary, North Carolina i ...

, near her North Carolina-based husband. Another trade saw her rights revert to San Diego, before she was waived. Kester trained with the Courage in

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

pre-season, but was released from the reduced 16-player roster before the season started.

International career

In January 2000 Kester was part of an understrength United States national team selected for the Australia Cup, while the team's regular players were in a contract dispute with the

United States Soccer Federation The United States Soccer Federation (USSF), commonly referred to as U.S. Soccer, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the official governing body of the sport of soccer in the United States. Headquartered in Chicago, the federation is ...

(USSF). She scored twice in the first match, an 8–1 win over the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

, becoming the second player (after

Cindy Parlow Cone Cynthia Marie Parlow Cone (; born May 8, 1978) is an American soccer executive and president of the United States Soccer Federation. A former professional soccer player, she is a two-time Olympic Gold medalist and 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup ch ...

in 1996) to score two goals on debut for the USWNT. She featured in the other tournament matches versus

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

and hosts

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, finishing with three goals in her three

References

External links

Profile
at Duke University Athletics
Profile
at

Profile
at

Living people 1978 births American women's soccer players United States women's international soccer players Duke Blue Devils women's soccer players Soccer players from North Carolina Women's association football midfielders San Diego Spirit players Women's United Soccer Association players USL W-League (1995–2015) players Raleigh Wings players {{US-women-footy-bio-stub