University of North Carolina Athletics
Heather O'Reilly
Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati
GoHeels Exclusive: O’Reilly’s Return From A Place She Never Left
October 1, 2019 | Women's Soccer, Featured Writers
Tar Heel great returns to campus in new role
By Cole Barnhill
UNC Athletic Communications Student Assistant
Heather O'Reilly is a three-time Olympic gold medalist, three-time FIFA World Cup competitor – and 2015 champion, two-time NCAA Champion – and national player of the year as a senior, and perhaps most importantly now, she is officially a member of the University of North Carolina women's soccer coaching staff. O'Reilly has played in some of the greatest cities across the country – and the world, but, ultimately, something always drew her back to Chapel Hill.
For some, this move may seem out of the blue. Which is fair. O'Reilly is still playing professionally for the North Carolina Courage, and still scoring goals at that. Even after her international career with the U.S. Women's National Team ended in 2016, O'Reilly has continued playing, even spending 18 months with Arsenal in the United Kingdom in 2017 and 2018, before coming back to the National Women's Soccer League with the Courage where she recently announced her retirement at the end of the current season.
O'Reilly joins the staff to fill the vacancy recently left by the resignation of Tar Heel legend and longtime Anson Dorrance assistant Bill Palladino. The move is part of a long journey over the last few years by O'Reilly back to UNC. Chapel Hill has long been a place Heather O'Reilly loves, dating all the way back to her first time on campus.
O'Reilly recalls her first trip to Chapel Hill, an unofficial visit in high school, and her first meeting with Anson Dorrance. Overlooking the then iconic Fetzer Field and the blue boards listing the multitude of championships in the facility's Southwest corner, a 16-year-old Heather O'Reilly told the legendary coach that he was going to "need some space for more boards." That audacity, from that young a player, at the greatest soccer school, drove what would be a legendary career.
O'Reilly went on to not only win those two national championship, capping her college career with a national player of the year nod as a senior in 2006, she competed for her country in the 2004 Olympic Games. O'Reilly and the U.S. National Team won gold that year, the first of three for O'Reilly. She tallied a goal in the semifinal match against Germany. That accomplishment came nestled in the middle a decorated college career that guided O'Reilly into a tremendously successful professional career.
O'Reilly went on to compete in three World Cups and two more Olympic games and has yet to even officially end her club career, still playing for the NC Courage based in Cary. This past year when members of the US Women's National Team donned uniforms with the names of different influential women on the back, Kelley O'Hara chose to honor Heather O'Reilly. That speaks volumes of the respect held for O'Reilly nationally, as well as internationally.
Despite her massive success, O'Reilly knows that it did not all come easily. She acknowledges that while she is a good athlete, it took hard work to get her to where she wanted to be. She doesn't see hard work and fun as two things that "have to be mutually exclusive." O'Reilly has been a player who demonstrates hard work, intensity, grit; while having fun along the way.
And that's what O'Reilly wants to bring to her coaching. The ability to set the example as a player who has been in the team's shoes before and knows what it takes to be successful. As someone who is still young enough to relate to the players as well as being someone who is still used to going through the grind of training to play top level soccer, O'Reilly will be an additional spark that this team needs.
It's true, the great Carolina women's soccer program has won 22 national titles, but it also hasn't won the whole thing since 2012. That historically long drought will come to an end, says O'Reilly.
"I have no doubts this group will win another national championship. I have no doubts that Anson will win another national championship before he decides to step down."
O'Reilly adds that her experience allows her to talk to the players about doing the right things and believing in the process.
It also cannot be understated the significance, in this moment, of Heather O'Reilly being a role model for this team as a woman in the sport. O'Reilly understands this, that though she respects and admires Bill Palladino and Anson Dorrance as two of her greatest influences, it is important to have a female on staff.
"I admire the guts of anybody that decides to come here," says O'Reilly. "I think that that's a special breed of a person who says like, yeah, let's go, I'll take that on."
But O'Reilly's return to UNC is about more than soccer. It's about coming back to the place she loves.
After playing her 18 months with Arsenal, O'Reilly requested a trade. There was one stipulation. It had to be to the Courage. It had to be to North Carolina – to home. That was in 2018. But, really, she started the journey before that.
O'Reilly always knew that Chapel Hill was where she wanted to end up. Married to a former Tar Heel lacrosse player David Werry, O'Reilly says "we knew that eventually we wanted to come back to Chapel Hill." In 2014 the couple purchased a house and managed the long trip home. It would be another few years before the couple was able to return to North Carolina as O'Reilly joined the NC Courage. In 2017, O'Reilly was part of a group of alumni involved with the purchase of Carolina Coffee Shop, allowing the Franklin Street fixture to stay where it is.
To an outsider it may come as a surprise that in this moment someone who is still playing would choose to come back to Carolina to coach. But to Heather O'Reilly it never was in doubt. As she puts it, "something keeps calling me back to Chapel Hill." And for a team on the brink of something special, less than a year removed from a close loss in the NCAA title game, Heather O'Reilly's return home is just that much more timely.
UNC Athletic Communications Student Assistant
Heather O'Reilly is a three-time Olympic gold medalist, three-time FIFA World Cup competitor – and 2015 champion, two-time NCAA Champion – and national player of the year as a senior, and perhaps most importantly now, she is officially a member of the University of North Carolina women's soccer coaching staff. O'Reilly has played in some of the greatest cities across the country – and the world, but, ultimately, something always drew her back to Chapel Hill.
For some, this move may seem out of the blue. Which is fair. O'Reilly is still playing professionally for the North Carolina Courage, and still scoring goals at that. Even after her international career with the U.S. Women's National Team ended in 2016, O'Reilly has continued playing, even spending 18 months with Arsenal in the United Kingdom in 2017 and 2018, before coming back to the National Women's Soccer League with the Courage where she recently announced her retirement at the end of the current season.
O'Reilly joins the staff to fill the vacancy recently left by the resignation of Tar Heel legend and longtime Anson Dorrance assistant Bill Palladino. The move is part of a long journey over the last few years by O'Reilly back to UNC. Chapel Hill has long been a place Heather O'Reilly loves, dating all the way back to her first time on campus.
O'Reilly recalls her first trip to Chapel Hill, an unofficial visit in high school, and her first meeting with Anson Dorrance. Overlooking the then iconic Fetzer Field and the blue boards listing the multitude of championships in the facility's Southwest corner, a 16-year-old Heather O'Reilly told the legendary coach that he was going to "need some space for more boards." That audacity, from that young a player, at the greatest soccer school, drove what would be a legendary career.
O'Reilly went on to not only win those two national championship, capping her college career with a national player of the year nod as a senior in 2006, she competed for her country in the 2004 Olympic Games. O'Reilly and the U.S. National Team won gold that year, the first of three for O'Reilly. She tallied a goal in the semifinal match against Germany. That accomplishment came nestled in the middle a decorated college career that guided O'Reilly into a tremendously successful professional career.
O'Reilly went on to compete in three World Cups and two more Olympic games and has yet to even officially end her club career, still playing for the NC Courage based in Cary. This past year when members of the US Women's National Team donned uniforms with the names of different influential women on the back, Kelley O'Hara chose to honor Heather O'Reilly. That speaks volumes of the respect held for O'Reilly nationally, as well as internationally.
Despite her massive success, O'Reilly knows that it did not all come easily. She acknowledges that while she is a good athlete, it took hard work to get her to where she wanted to be. She doesn't see hard work and fun as two things that "have to be mutually exclusive." O'Reilly has been a player who demonstrates hard work, intensity, grit; while having fun along the way.
And that's what O'Reilly wants to bring to her coaching. The ability to set the example as a player who has been in the team's shoes before and knows what it takes to be successful. As someone who is still young enough to relate to the players as well as being someone who is still used to going through the grind of training to play top level soccer, O'Reilly will be an additional spark that this team needs.
It's true, the great Carolina women's soccer program has won 22 national titles, but it also hasn't won the whole thing since 2012. That historically long drought will come to an end, says O'Reilly.
"I have no doubts this group will win another national championship. I have no doubts that Anson will win another national championship before he decides to step down."
O'Reilly adds that her experience allows her to talk to the players about doing the right things and believing in the process.
It also cannot be understated the significance, in this moment, of Heather O'Reilly being a role model for this team as a woman in the sport. O'Reilly understands this, that though she respects and admires Bill Palladino and Anson Dorrance as two of her greatest influences, it is important to have a female on staff.
"I admire the guts of anybody that decides to come here," says O'Reilly. "I think that that's a special breed of a person who says like, yeah, let's go, I'll take that on."
But O'Reilly's return to UNC is about more than soccer. It's about coming back to the place she loves.
After playing her 18 months with Arsenal, O'Reilly requested a trade. There was one stipulation. It had to be to the Courage. It had to be to North Carolina – to home. That was in 2018. But, really, she started the journey before that.
O'Reilly always knew that Chapel Hill was where she wanted to end up. Married to a former Tar Heel lacrosse player David Werry, O'Reilly says "we knew that eventually we wanted to come back to Chapel Hill." In 2014 the couple purchased a house and managed the long trip home. It would be another few years before the couple was able to return to North Carolina as O'Reilly joined the NC Courage. In 2017, O'Reilly was part of a group of alumni involved with the purchase of Carolina Coffee Shop, allowing the Franklin Street fixture to stay where it is.
To an outsider it may come as a surprise that in this moment someone who is still playing would choose to come back to Carolina to coach. But to Heather O'Reilly it never was in doubt. As she puts it, "something keeps calling me back to Chapel Hill." And for a team on the brink of something special, less than a year removed from a close loss in the NCAA title game, Heather O'Reilly's return home is just that much more timely.
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