Heather O’Reilly, an American soccer player, was born on January 2, 1985 in East Brunswick, New Jersey, United States of America. She graduated from two schools, Saint Bartholomew’s School and East Brunswick High School.
Heather O’Reilly majored in education at the University of North Carolina (UNC) where she was a striker in the women’s soccer team. She was a striker in the New Jersey Wildcats, a W-League team too, which gave her the experience to play as a three-year starter at forward for UNC. Among her three brothers, one brother is an athlete who ran track and cross country at the Air Force Academy. Her father, Andrew O’Reilly also has an athletic background for he is an assistant track coach at St. Joseph High School in Metuchen, New Jersey. Charlie Naimo, her former soccer coach was a major influence in her career.
In her maiden appearance, on March 1, 2002, Heather O’Reilly played for the US Women’s National Team against Sweden. In the United States’ 2002 Under-19 World Championship, Heather O’Reilly scored four goals with seven assists which helped the United States claim the first-ever world championship for youth women.
Heather O’Reilly ranked 14th with her 47 goals and has been the 15th leading scorer in the history of UNC with her hard-earned 127 points. She has been ranked 27th for assisting 33 goals for UNC. Playing for the National Team, she scored seven goals earning 46 caps and was named the U.S. Soccer Young Female Athlete of the Year 2004. It was the brilliant performance by Heather O’Reilly at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Tournament that helped UNC to lead in the national championship.
The game-winning goal scored by Heather O’Reilly at the Olympics quarterfinal match against Germany on August 23, 2004, at Athens, paved the way for the United States to reach the final in which they won the gold against Brazil.
At the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2007, Heather O’Reilly tied the game at 2-2 against North Korea by scoring a goal in the 69th minute. She scored another goal which helped the United States of America to win the bronze medal against Norway with a lead of 4-1.
By scoring the opening goal for the United States in a group G match against New Zealand in the Beijing Olympics 2008, she proved her mettle. Midfielder Heather O’Reilly played well at the final match against Brazil to give the United States the gold medal. This win was very similar to their Athens victory in 2004.
Apart from soccer, Heather O’Reilly also plays basketball; she played point guard on her high school basketball team for four years. Computer, music, and reading books are some of her hobbies. Her favorite movie is The Shawshank Redemption and her favorite TV show is Friends. Her favorite athlete is Lance Armstrong, American professional road racing cyclist who was the only individual to win the Tour de France seven times in consecutive years.
Heather O’Reilly has volunteered in community service projects like Get Kids in Action, Carolina Dreams, Adopt a Classroom, and the Katrina Relief Fund. She has also served as the soccer team’s representative with the Carolina Outreach program.
With 15 career international goals to her credit, Heather O’Reilly was nominated for Sports Illustrated 2007 Sportsman of the Year.
Heather O’Reilly had her jersey, # 20, retired from UNC’s women’s soccer team on February 24, 2008.
