Simone Charley
Simone Naomi Charley (born February 4, 1995) is an American professional soccer player and track and field athlete who currently plays for the Portland Thorns FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL),[1] and Canberra United in the Australian W-League.
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Personal information | |||
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Full name | Simone Naomi Charley | ||
Date of birth | February 4, 1995 | ||
Place of birth | Boston, Massachusetts, United States | ||
Height | 173 cm (5 ft 8 in) | ||
Playing position(s) | Forward | ||
Club information | |||
Current team | Portland Thorns | ||
Number | 38 | ||
Youth career | |||
2009–2012 | Spain Park High School | ||
Birmingham Legends | |||
College career | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
2013–2017 | Vanderbilt Commodores | 76 | (25) |
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
2019– | Portland Thorns | 11 | (1) |
2019–2020 | → Canberra United (loan) | 11 | (5) |
National team | |||
2017 | United States U23 | ||
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of December 1, 2019 |
Early years
Charley was born to Sharon and Bobby Charley in Boston, Massachusetts and grew up in Hoover, Alabama. She was born into a sports family, her older sister Nicole having been a triple jumper at Auburn, her older brother Myles a triple jumper and long jumper at Troy and her cousin Damian an American football player at Vanderbilt. Charley is a natural athlete herself, and excelled at the high school and university level in both soccer and track and field.[2] During her high school career she won nine state championships in both sports, was named 2011 Gatorade Player of the Year (soccer) and 2012 Birmingham News Female Athlete of the Year. She also excelled academically.[3][4][5]
College career
Charley attended Vanderbilt University for five years. During that time she was a student-athlete for the Vanderbilt Commodores in soccer, indoor track and outdoor track.[6] Due to her prolific athletic career Charley was named to the 2019 Southeastern Conference Class of Women's Legends.[7] While at Vanderbilt University Charley earned a Bachelor's degree with a double-majored in psychology and sociology and a Master's degree in medicine, health and society.[8][9]
College soccer, 2013–2017
During her soccer career at Vanderbilt,Charley made 76 appearances and finished with 25 goals and 18 assists. Her 2013 freshman year saw her finish the year as the team's leader in points and goals. She was named to the SEC All-Freshman Team and SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll. Charley repeated her team leader in goals her sophomore year and was named to the First Team All-SEC team and Fall SEC Academic Honor Roll. Her 2015 year saw her named to the All-South Region First Team and Second Team All-SEC. Charley redshirted the 2016 season in soccer. She returned to the soccer team for her senior year in 2017. She finished the year as team leader in points. She was named to the Second Team All-SEC and All-Southeast Region and made the Fall SEC Academic Honor Roll.[10]
College Track and Field, 2014–2017
While attending Vanderbilt Charley also competed in both indoor and outdoor seasons of track and field in the triple jump. Her freshman indoor season saw her post the second-best mark on Vanderbilt's all-time performance for the triple jump (41'8.50"). She broke her own school record in the 2014 outdoor season, setting a then lifetime best of (43'2.50"), missing qualification for the IAAF World Championship by one centimetre. She finished her freshman year named to the 2014 Outdoor NCAA Second-Team All-American and 2014 USTFCCCA All-Academic Team. During her sophomore year she again broke both her own indoor and outdoor school record in the triple jump, with jumps of (43'5.25") and (43'8.55") respectively. Indoor she had a fifth best nationally at the time which earned her All-SEC honors. Charley also earned NCAA First-Team All-American honors for both her indoor and outdoor 2015 season. She repeated this double NCAA First Team All-American honors during her junior 2016 seasons. She also again repeated her breaking of her own person and school records with jumps of (44'0") in her indoor season and (45'2.75") during her outdoor season. Her final track season was the 2017 indoor season, where Charley again broke her school and personal record with a triple jump of (44'5.25"). She finished her last season earning a third consecutive indoor NCAA First Team All-American honor.[11][12]
Professional career
Portland Thorns, 2019–
Charley went undrafted in the 2018 NWSL College Draft. She was however picked up by the Portland Thorns FC, making the practice squad for 2018 as a non-roster invitee.[13][14] She was signed by the team in May 2019 as a supplemental player.[15][16] Charley made her first start on May 25, 2019 against Sky Blue FC. She provided two assists during her second start against the Chicago Red Stars.[17]
Career statistics
As of June 2, 2019
League | Club | Season | League | Playoffs | Total | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Apps | Assists | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals! | ||||
NCAA | Vanderbilt Commodores | 2013 | 17 | 5 | 5 | - | 17 | 5 | ||
2014 | 19 | 3 | 9 | - | 19 | 9 | ||||
2015 | 19 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 21 | 7 | |||
2017 | 19 | 6 | 4 | - | 19 | 4 | ||||
total | 74 | 18 | 23 | 2 | 2 | 76 | 25 | |||
NWSL | Portland Thorns FC | |||||||||
2019 | 2 | 2 | 0 | - | 2 | 0 | ||||
total | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | 2 | 2 | ||||
Career total | 76 | 20 | 23 | 2 | 2 | 78 | 27 |
Social Media
References
- Thorns FC Communications (May 8, 2019). "Thorns FC sign three players to supplemental roster". Portland Thorns. Retrieved June 3, 2019.
- "2013 Soccer signees: Simone Charley". Retrieved June 2, 2019.
- "2012 Birmingham News Female Athlete of the Year: Simone Charley, Spain Park". Retrieved June 2, 2019.
- "Spain Park's Simone Charley latest in long string of girls Gatorade soccer winners". May 13, 2011. Retrieved June 2, 2019.
- "Spain Park HS senior is a star on and off the field". March 22, 2013. Retrieved June 2, 2019.
- "Simone Charley". Retrieved June 2, 2019.
- "Charley Named to 2019 Women's Legends Class". Retrieved June 2, 2019.
- "Simone Charley". Retrieved June 2, 2019.
- "Under the radar: Simone Charley and the NWSL's little-known training players". June 1, 2019. Retrieved June 2, 2019.
- "Simone Charley". Retrieved June 2, 2019.
- "Simone Charley". Retrieved June 2, 2019.
- "Simone Charley". Retrieved June 2, 2019.
- "Thorns FC re-sign seven players ahead of 2018 NWSL season". February 18, 2018. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
- "Under the radar: Simone Charley and the NWSL's little-known training players". June 1, 2019. Retrieved June 2, 2019.
- "Thorns FC sign three players to supplemental roster". Thorns FC. May 9, 2019. Retrieved June 2, 2019.
- "Simone Charley". NWSL. Retrieved June 2, 2019.
- "Thorns dominate Red Stars in home opener". SBNation. Retrieved June 2, 2019.