Caroline Elizabeth Means (; born March 16, 1993) is an American retired

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

. Before announcing her retirement in 2018, Caroline played for

Sky Blue FC Gotham Football Club is an American professional soccer team based in the New York metropolitan area that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Founded in 2006 as Jersey Sky Blue, the team was known as Sky Blue FC from 2008 un ...

Seattle Reign FC Seattle Reign FC is an American professional soccer team based in Seattle, Washington, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Founded in 2012, it is one of eight inaugural members of the NWSL. Since June 2024, the Reign ar ...

and

Orlando Pride The Orlando Pride are an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Orlando, Florida, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). The Pride began play in the 2016 National Women's Soccer League season, 2016 ...

in the

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a women's professional Association football, soccer league and the highest level of the United States soccer league system#Women's leagues, United States soccer league system (alongside the USL Supe ...

. She also represented the United States on the under-20, under-18, under-17, and under-15 national teams.

Early life

Born to parents David and Kelly Stanley, in

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

, Caroline grew up in Missouri and attended

Lee's Summit North High School Lee's Summit North High School is a high school that serves grades 912. It is in Lee's Summit, Missouri, United States and is the second of three high schools opened there. The other two schools are Lee's Summit West High School and Lee's Summit ...

Lee's Summit, Missouri Lee's Summit is a city in the U.S. state of Missouri and a suburb of the Kansas City metropolitan area. It resides in Jackson County (predominantly) as well as Cass County. As of the 2020 census, its population was 101,108, making it the 6th ...

from 2007 to 2011 where she earned two consecutive Goalkeeper of the Year awards from the Missouri State High School Soccer Coaches Association. She also played volleyball, basketball and track for the school. She played club soccer for KCFC Intensity, the Scream and her childhood and first club team, the Pink Panthers. She won five state titles. Appeared in five Regional playoffs. In 2011, she won the

Elite Clubs National League The Elite Clubs National League (ECNL) is a national youth soccer developmental league in the United States. It was founded in 2009 as a girls' league and added a boys' league in 2017. Competition format The ECNL is divided by age groups from U- ...

(ECNL) with KCFC, making three saves during a shootout to win the championship.

USC Trojans, 2012–2014

After playing one season for the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

, she transferred to the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

where she played for the

Trojans Trojan or Trojans may refer to: * Of or from the ancient city of Troy * Trojan language, the language of the historical Trojans Arts and entertainment Music * ''Les Troyens'' ('The Trojans'), an opera by Berlioz, premiered part 1863, part 1890 ...

from 2012 to 2014. During her first season with the Trojans, she started in 17 of the 18 games in which she played. She made 95 saves allowing 32 goals. During her junior year, she started all 20 games and made 78 saves allowing 25 goals. In her senior year, Stanley appeared and started in every game as a team captain and the only starting senior. She set records for most saves per match, and saved a penalty kick against Notre Dame to beat them on the road.

Playing career

Club

Originally training with the

as an amateur player, Stanley signed with the team in July 2015. She made her first appearance for the club on August 1, 2015, during an away match against the

Boston Breakers The Boston Breakers were an American professional women's soccer club based in the Boston neighborhood of Allston. The team competed in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). They replaced the original Breakers, who competed in the defu ...

. She signed with

in March 2016. After signing with the

following an injury to their backup goalkeeper

Aubrey Bledsoe Aubrey Renee Kingsbury (; born November 20, 1991) is an American professional Association football, soccer player who plays as a goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for the Washington Spirit of the National Women's Soccer League and t ...

, she was substituted in for Ashlyn Harris early in the first half after Harris came down with a non-contact injury. This substitution happened one day after joining with her new club for the first time in Seattle, and she recorded several saves that contributed to a hard-fought road point against the Seattle Reign. On August 14, 2017, Orlando cut Means to make roster room for the return of Ashlyn Harris. She officially announced her retirement from soccer on January 7, 2018, at age 24.

International

She has represented the United States on various youth national teams at the under-20, under-18, under-17, and under-15 levels. She played at the CONCACAF U-17 World Cup qualifiers in Florida and saved a penalty kick to beat Costa Rica.

Post-Playing career

On February 27, 2018, Means announced that she had accepted the position as Goalkeeper Coach for the

Tulsa Golden Hurricane women's soccer The Tulsa Golden Hurricane are the college athletics in the United States, athletic teams that represent the University of Tulsa. These teams are referred to as the Tulsa Golden Hurricane (or variously as TU or Tulsa). Before adopting the name ...

becoming the program's first full-time Goalkeeper Coach.

Personal life

She married

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. As one of the America ...

pitcher John Means in November 2019. They welcomed their first child, a son, in 2020. Means is an ambassador for The Young and Brave Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports children with cancer.

References

External links

Orlando Pride player profile

Pro Skills Soccer coach profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Means, Caroline Living people 1993 births American women's soccer players Seattle Reign FC players National Women's Soccer League players Soccer players from Missouri USC Trojans women's soccer players Women's association football goalkeepers Missouri Tigers women's soccer players Gotham FC players Orlando Pride players Tulsa Golden Hurricane women's soccer coaches 21st-century American sportswomen