- Source: Julia Dorsey (soccer)
Julia Carroll Dorsey (born August 8, 2000) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a defender for USL Super League club Dallas Trinity FC. A former two-sport athlete, she played soccer and lacrosse at the University of North Carolina, winning the NCAA championship with the lacrosse team in 2022. She was selected by the North Carolina Courage in the 2024 NWSL Draft.
Early life
Dorsey was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to Van and Jessica Dorsey, and has an older sister. She began playing soccer at age five and lacrosse shortly thereafter. Her father, a former college soccer player for the Middlebury Panthers, coached her first club team when she was six or seven.
Dorsey played high school soccer, basketball, and lacrosse at McDonogh School, a private prep school in Owings Mills, Maryland. Her lacrosse team went undefeated to win IAAM championships in 2016, 2017, and 2019, with Dorsey in midfield; she sat out the 2018 season after suffering an ACL tear. She also won three IAAM titles with the soccer team in 2015, 2017, and 2018, playing as a forward for her first three seasons and right back in her senior year. That year, after captaining both teams to undefeated record, she received All-American honors in both sports and was named The Baltimore Sun's high school female athlete of the year. While in high school, she played club soccer for the Bethesda Soccer Club and club lacrosse for Sky Walkers Lacrosse.
College career
Dorsey chose the University of North Carolina as a school where she could play both soccer and lacrosse (on a lacrosse scholarship). She joined the soccer team's starting lineup during the 2019 season, helping the team to win the ACC tournament and reach the NCAA championship game. She was recognized by TopDrawerSoccer.com with Freshman Best XI and second-team Best XI honors. She became the sixth person in school history to play for both programs after debuting for the lacrosse team in the spring of 2020. As a sophomore, she started for the soccer team throughout the fall of 2020, then helped the lacrosse team go undefeated on the way to the 2021 NCAA semifinals.
Dorsey sat out the start of her junior soccer season due to injury but returned later in the year and recorded her first career goal, a tap-in to force overtime against Boston College in October 2021. In the spring of 2022, as she switched from midfield to defense, she helped the lacrosse team go undefeated to win the NCAA championship. Later that year, she helped the soccer team reach the final of the NCAA tournament, anchoring a conference-best back line and scoring the third goal in a 3–2 win over Florida State in the NCAA semifinals, but they finished runners-up in the title game. She suffered an ACL tear ending her senior lacrosse season in the spring of 2023.
Club career
Dorsey was selected 40th overall by the North Carolina Courage in the third round of the 2024 NWSL Draft. She was signed to a three-year contract. On August 9, 2024, ahead of the inaugural 2024–25 USL Super League season, Dorsey was loaned to Dallas Trinity FC for the rest of the NWSL season. She appeared in the starting lineup of Trinity's first-ever game on August 18, which they drew 1–1 to Tampa Bay Sun FC, and marked Dorsey's first game since her ACL injury in 2023. She was waived by the Courage on December 9, 2024.
International career
Dorsey, who played in the Olympic Development Program in middle school, was called up to the United States national under-20 team for friendlies at the end of 2019.
Career statistics
= Club
=As of 15 December 2024
References
External links
Julia Dorsey at Soccerway.com