Cali O’Neill, a sophomore at Seaforth High School, added another achievement to her already impressive 2024 resume.
O’Neill became the youngest player in the NC Courage program ever to play for the NC Courage U-23 pre-professional team on May 19. The U-23 team tied with South Georgia Tormenta FC, 1-1, to open its season that evening, and O’Neill played for eight minutes.
Prior to O’Neill, a member of the NC Courage 08 youth team, Aven Alvarez of the 06 youth team held the title of the program’s youngest player to play for the pre-professional squad. The U-23 team is made up of the program’s alumni, youth and college players, and it competes in the USL W League.
The young defender also made her first start for the U-23 squad and played all 90 minutes in the second regular season game, a rematch against South Georgia Tormenta FC Sunday in which NC Courage won, 4-1.
Even from before her latest venture into pre-professional soccer, O’Neill is a familiar face in the North Carolina FC Youth program. She has played club with NCFC for eight years, spending four of them with NC Courage Academy, and she does not play for the Seaforth girls soccer team.
O’Neill’s career continues to rise as she recently played for the U-16 U.S. Women’s Youth National Team at the UEFA Friendship Tournament in Riva, Turkey last month. The U.S. won the tournament after beating Paraguay, 4-2, in penalty kicks.
After making the U-16 WYNT training camp roster in February, O’Neill told the Chatham News & Record that her ability to play in the U-17 Women’s World Cup, which happens every two years, depends on her performance and whether she’ll keep getting called back to the national team until the World Cup roster is announced.
Before that, O’Neill participated in the U-16 team’s domestic training camp held in Chula Vista, California in February. She was also called up to the U-15 squad for its training camp at the Nike World Headquarters in Portland, Oregon in 2022. A month prior, O’Neill competed alongside 59 other players from across the country in the U-15 WYNT Talent ID Camp also held in Chula Vista.
In 2023, the NC Courage U-23 team went undefeated during the regular season and finished as a USL W League runner-up after losing to Indy Eleven in the title game. NC Courage entered the 2024 season ranked as the No. 2 team in the country.
As of Monday, NC Courage sits at fourth in the South Atlantic division which includes other teams from North Carolina such as NC Fusion (Triad), Carolina Ascent FC (Charlotte), Charlotte Eagles (Charlotte), Wake FC (Triangle) and Fayetteville Fury (Fayetteville).
NC Courage is based in Cary and plays the majority of its home games at WakeMed Soccer Park. Its next home game will be Saturday at 6 p.m. at WRAL Soccer Park against Wake FC.
