Bethany Balcer

Bethany Balcer
Balcer with the Seattle Reign in 2024
Personal information
Full name Bethany Catherine Balcer[1]
Date of birth (1997-03-07) March 7, 1997 (age 27)
Place of birth Hudsonville, Michigan, United States
Height 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Position(s) Striker
Team information
Current team
 Racing Louisville FC
Number 88
Youth career
Michigan Fire Juniors
College career
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2015–2018 Spring Arbor Cougars 98 (129)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2017 Grand Rapids FC 12 (19)
2018 Seattle Sounders Women
2019–2024 Seattle Reign FC 109 (33)
2024– Racing Louisville FC
International career‡
2019 United States U23 2
2021 United States 1 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of August 19, 2024
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of November 26, 2021

Bethany Catherine Balcer (born March 7, 1997) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a striker for Racing Louisville FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL).

Balcer played collegiate soccer at Spring Arbor University, where she was a two-time NAIA national champion, three-time NAIA national player of the year, four-time first-team All-American, and the school's leading scorer.[2] She went undrafted after college before signing with Reign FC (later Seattle Reign FC) on a supplemental contract, becoming the first NAIA player in the NWSL. During six seasons with the Reign, she was named the NWSL Rookie of the Year in 2019 and won the NWSL Shield in 2022.

Early life

Balcer grew up in Hudsonville, Michigan and attended Unity Christian High School, where she played varsity soccer and basketball.[3] She is the fourth of five children.

Collegiate career

Balcer attended Spring Arbor University from 2015 to 2019, where she was a four-year starter on its varsity soccer team.[4] The Cougars advanced to the NAIA Final Four every year and won two national titles with Balcer on the team.

While in college, Balcer played as an amateur with senior teams over the summer. She led Grand Rapids FC to a United Women's Soccer championship in 2017 – scoring hat-tricks in five straight matches – and played with Seattle Sounders Women in the Women's Premier Soccer League the following year winning the WPSL championship.[5]

Club career

Seattle Reign FC, 2019–2024

Balcer was invited to the Reign FC preseason training camp prior to the 2019 NWSL season[2] and subsequently earned a contract on the club's supplemental roster.[6] She is the first NAIA player to sign with an NWSL club[7] and only the third NWSL player to previously play collegiately in the United States and finish their collegiate career with a non-NCAA D-I institution.[8] Balcer made her NWSL debut coming on as an 86th-minute substitute at the Houston Dash on April 14, 2019.[9] A week later, she made her first start in Reign's home-opener at Cheney Stadium. Curling a shot from the edge of the penalty area into the far corner of the goal, she scored her first-ever pro goal in the 21st minute against Orlando Pride in a 1–1 tie. It was also the first home goal scored in the Reign's first season in Tacoma, Washington.[10] She scored her second goal in her second home start, sixth appearance on May 27, 2019, in a 2–1 win against the defending champions North Carolina Courage. Her 13th-minute header from the edge of the box crashed off the underside of the bar to give her side an early lead. Her third goal occurred in the next game in her third home start against the Houston Dash. On a breakaway she picked up a deflected through ball from Darian Jenkins and slotted right-footed past the keeper for the first goal of the game in the 32nd minute, Houston tied in the 90th to split the points. At the end of the season, she was awarded the 2019 Rookie of the Year Award.

Balcer established herself as one of the Reign's leading players and was the club's top scorer every season she spent there.[11][12] She helped lead the Reign to top of the standings for the 2022 season, winning the NWSL Shield.[11] She scored 33 goals during her tenure with the Reign, the third-highest total in the NWSL from 2019 to mid-2024.[13]

Racing Louisville FC, 2024–

On August 19, 2024, Balcer was traded to Racing Louisville FC in exchange for Jaelin Howell and $50,000 in allocation money.[14]

International career

Balcer received her first call-up to the United States women's national soccer team in December 2019.[15] She made her international debut on November 26, 2021, against Australia.[16][17] She was previously a member of the United States women's national under-23 soccer team.[18]

Style of play

Balcer plays as a striker. She is known for her scoring ability off headers.[11]

Personal life

Balcer is a Christian.[19] Her brother Nicholas is a soccer referee[20] working for PRO[21] and NCAA.[22] Her sister Shannon is the head woman's soccer coach at Spring Arbor University (2024). [23]

Career statistics

Club

As of August 19, 2024
Club Season League Cup[a] Playoffs[b] Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Seattle Reign FC[c] 2019 NWSL 25 6 — 1 0 — 25 6
2020 — 5 1 — 4[d] 2 9 3
2021 24 9 3 0 1 0 — 27 9
2022 20 7 7 2 1 0 — 27 9
2023 25 6 4 1 3 0 — 29 7
2024 15 5 — — — 15 5
Career total 109 33 19 4 6 0 4 2 132 39
  1. ^ Includes the NWSL Challenge Cup
  2. ^ Includes NWSL Playoffs
  3. ^ Seattle Reign FC was named Reign FC in 2019 and OL Reign from 2020–2023
  4. ^ NWSL Fall Series

International

As of match played November 26, 2021
National Team Year Apps Goals
United States 2021 1 0
Total 1 0

Honors

OL Reign

Individual

References

  1. ^ "National team roster – 2022 Concacaf W Championship: USA" (PDF). CONCACAF. June 8, 2022. p. 15. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 8, 2022. Retrieved June 8, 2022.
  2. ^ a b "Balcer Joins Reign FC for Preseason Camp". Spring Arbor Cougars. March 7, 2019. Archived from the original on April 13, 2019. Retrieved April 13, 2019.
  3. ^ "Balcer to Bring Attacking Skills to Lady Cougars in 2015". Spring Arbor Cougars. January 24, 2014. Archived from the original on April 13, 2019. Retrieved April 13, 2019.
  4. ^ "Bethany Balcer". Spring Arbor Cougars. Archived from the original on April 13, 2019. Retrieved April 13, 2019.
  5. ^ "Balcer seizing opportunity with Seattle Sounders Women". Spring Arbor Cougars. June 12, 2018. Archived from the original on April 13, 2019. Retrieved April 13, 2019.
  6. ^ "Reign FC Announce Signing of Forward Bethany Balcer". Reign FC. April 13, 2019. Retrieved April 13, 2019.
  7. ^ "Balcer signs professional contract with NWSL's Reign FC". Spring Arbor Cougars. April 14, 2019. Archived from the original on April 14, 2019. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
  8. ^ Henderson, Chris. "Pretty sure Francis Marion was still DI when Salem was there. Didn't even consider figuring in Canadian colleges (Robinson). Forgot all about Cordner and Pires". Twitter. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
  9. ^ Cristobal, Jacob (April 14, 2019). "Reign FC open season with a draw at Houston Dash". Sounder at Heart. Archived from the original on July 5, 2022. Retrieved April 22, 2019.
  10. ^ VanDyke, Josh (April 22, 2019). "Bethany Balcer steps in for Olympian and scores first goal with Reign FC". MLive.com. Retrieved April 22, 2019.
  11. ^ a b c Watkins, Claire (June 28, 2023). "How Bethany Balcer became the NWSL's most unorthodox star". Just Women's Sports. Retrieved August 19, 2024.
  12. ^ "Seattle Reign FC Stats and History". FBref. Sports Reference. Archived from the original on January 26, 2024. Retrieved June 5, 2024.
  13. ^ Greever, Tyler (August 20, 2024). "Racing Louisville FC pays a captain's price in an attempt to make a needed playoff push". WDRB. Retrieved August 20, 2024.
  14. ^ "Seattle Reign FC Acquires Midfielder Jaelin Howell and Allocation Money in Trade with Racing Louisville FC". Seattle Reign FC. Retrieved August 19, 2024.
  15. ^ "ANDONOVSKI NAMES 24-PLAYER ROSTER FOR U.S. WOMEN'S NATIONAL TEAM DECEMBER IDENTIFICATION TRAINING CAMP IN FLORIDA". US Soccer. November 27, 2019. Retrieved November 28, 2019.
  16. ^ "Australia vs United States". US Soccer. November 26, 2021. Retrieved November 27, 2021.
  17. ^ "Australia vs USWNT Match Report". US Soccer. November 27, 2021. Retrieved November 27, 2021.
  18. ^ VanDyke, Josh (August 21, 2019). "Bethany Balcer named to U.S. U-23 Women's National Team". MLive.com. Retrieved April 16, 2023.
  19. ^ Pentz, Matt (June 30, 2020). "Bethany Balcer's NWSL journey of faith, acceptance and seizing opportunities". The Athletic. Retrieved November 10, 2021.
  20. ^ Padilla, Lenny (December 6, 2017). "Bethany Balcer earns National Soccer Player of the Year for second time". mLive. Archived from the original on November 9, 2020. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  21. ^ "PRO2 Assistant Referees". PRO Referees. Archived from the original on November 10, 2023. Retrieved December 1, 2023.
  22. ^ "Soccer Box Score (Final) 2023 NCAA Women's College Cup Clemson vs. Florida St" (PDF). Clemson Tigers. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 2, 2023. Retrieved December 1, 2023.
  23. ^ "Andringa takes full reins of SAU women's soccer program". January 22, 2024.
  24. ^ Azzi, Alex (October 2, 2022). "OL Reign wins 2022 NWSL Shield, Gotham denies Thorns". NBC Sports. Retrieved October 7, 2022.
  25. ^ "OL Reign Claim 2022 Women's Cup Title with 2–1 Win over Louisville". King 5. August 20, 2022. Retrieved October 7, 2022.
  26. ^ a b Yoesting, Travis (September 22, 2021). "Bethany's Burritos: Balcer Details Her Insulting Reward For Winning 2019 NWSL Rookie Of The Year". The 18. Retrieved November 10, 2021.
  27. ^ "Balcer, Barnes, and Rapinoe Named to NWSL Second XI". OL Reign. Retrieved November 10, 2021.
  28. ^ "Budweiser Player of the Week | Bethany Balcer, OL Reign, Week 12". National Women's Soccer League. August 12, 2021. Retrieved November 10, 2021 – via YouTube.
  29. ^ "Bethany Balcer Named NWSL Player of the Week". Just Women's Sports. August 13, 2021. Retrieved November 10, 2021.