Avery Patterson (soccer)
Avery Jean Patterson (born June 14, 2002) is an American professional soccer player who plays primarily as a right wingback for the Houston Dash of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Patterson played college soccer for the North Carolina Tar Heels and was selected by the Dash in the 2024 NWSL Draft. She represented the United States at the youth international level. Early life and college careerPatterson was born in Jacksonville, Florida, to Lori and Andrew Patterson.[2] She comes from a football family; her father played sprint football at the US Naval Academy, and one of her great uncles played for the Los Angeles Rams and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.[2] Patterson began playing soccer at age four.[3] Mostly a center midfielder in her youth, she played club soccer for Florida Elite Soccer Academy's youth team and was named the Elite Clubs National League (ECNL) Southeast Player of the Year in 2018.[3][4] She played high school soccer at the Bolles School, winning three straight FHSAA championships as a midfielder from 2018 to 2020.[5] She also ran varsity cross country and track in high school.[2] North Carolina Tar HeelsPatterson played for the North Carolina Tar Heels as variously a defender, midfielder, and forward.[6] After missing her freshman regular season due to injury in fall 2020, she started for North Carolina as they reached the NCAA semifinals in the spring. She scored five goals as a sophomore playing as a fullback in the 2021 season. In her junior year in 2022, she led the team with 13 goals and was named to the All-ACC second team.[2] She opened scoring in the ACC final that year, which ended as a 2–1 loss to Florida State.[7] She made a tournament-high five assists to help North Carolina reach the 2022 national title game, in which she scored twice to take a 2–0 lead before UCLA came back late to win 3–2 in overtime.[8][9] One of the team's captains as a senior, she scored nine goals and was named first-team All-ACC and third-team All-American in 2023.[10] Club careerHouston DashThe Houston Dash selected Patterson with the 19th overall pick in the second round of the 2024 NWSL Draft.[11] She was signed to a three-year contract.[12] She debuted on the opening matchday on March 16, starting in a 5–1 loss to the North Carolina Courage.[13] On November 2, she scored her first professional goal in the last match of the season, a 3–2 loss to Bay FC.[14] She finished her rookie season with two assists and one goal; she played the most minutes of any Dash field player and made 28 appearances (the most for the club) in all competitions.[15] After the season, she signed a new three-year contract to the end of 2027.[16] International careerPatterson trained with the United States under-14 team in 2016.[3][17] On her debut for the under-20 team, she scored four first-half goals against Puerto Rico at the 2022 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship, which the United States won.[18] She played friendlies with the under-23 team against NWSL teams in the 2023 preseason.[19] References
External linksWikimedia Commons has media related to Avery Patterson.
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