Carson Leighann Pickett (born September 15, 1993) is an American
soccer player who plays as a
defender for
Racing Louisville FC
Racing Louisville Football Club is a National Women's Soccer League team based in Louisville, Kentucky. It began playing in 2021 at Lynn Family Stadium. The team is owned by Soccer Holdings LLC, which also owns Louisville City FC of the USL Cham ...
of the
NWSL
The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. It is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federatio ...
and the
United States national team
The United States national team or Team USA may refer to any of a number of sports team representing the United States in international competitions.
Olympic teams
Additionally, these teams may compete in other international competitions such as ...
.
Early life
Raised in
Fleming Island on the northeastern coast of
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...
near
Jacksonville
Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the c ...
, Pickett attended
St. Johns Country Day School
St. Johns Country Day School is an independent, coeducational private college preparatory school founded in 1953 in Orange Park, Florida, U.S.. It offers a PK–12 education, including a preschool, an elementary school, a middle school, and a high ...
and won 3 state championships with the soccer team.
In 2012, she was named
Gatorade Girls Soccer Player of the Year for the state of Florida and 2012 Florida Times-Union First Coast Player of the Year.
Pickett was born without a left forearm and hand, a fact many reporters have highlighted throughout her career. Her condition was the subject of a viral
Instagram
Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...
photo during the
2019 season. The photo showed her "fist-bumping" a 2-year-old boy who was also born without a left forearm and hand, with both using their left arms to do so.
Florida State Seminoles, 2012–2015
Pickett attended
Florida State University from 2012 to 2015, where she played soccer for the
Florida State Seminoles
The Florida State Seminoles are the athletic teams representing Florida State University located in Tallahassee, Florida. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level ( Football Bowl Subdiv ...
and was a four-year starting defender.
In 2014, she led the Seminoles to their first
NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship
The NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship, sometimes known as the Women's College Cup, is an American college soccer tournament conducted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and determines the Division I women's national ...
anchoring a defense that allowed no goals throughout the tournament.
Professional career
Seattle Reign FC, 2016–2017
Pickett was selected by Seattle Reign FC (now known as
OL Reign
OL Reign is an American professional women's soccer team based in Seattle, Washington. Founded by Bill and Teresa Predmore in 2012 as Seattle Reign FC, it was one of eight inaugural members of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). In 2020, ...
) as the fourth overall pick of the
2016 NWSL College Draft
Sixteen or 16 may refer to:
* 16 (number), the natural number following 15 and preceding 17
*one of the years 16 BC, AD 16, 1916, 2016
Films
* ''Pathinaaru'' or ''Sixteen'', a 2010 Tamil film
* ''Sixteen'' (1943 film), a 1943 Argentine film d ...
. Of the selection, Reign FC head coach
Laura Harvey
Laura Harvey (born 15 May 1980) is an English football manager and former player who currently manages OL Reign of the American National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). She holds USSF "A" and UEFA "A" coaching licenses.
Harvey previously managed ...
said, "Pickett is a player that we have been tracking closely for a long time. We were hoping she would still be available with our pick in the first round, so the choice to select her was an easy one. We think she will be a valuable addition to our squad during the upcoming season." She made her debut for the club during its season opener against
Sky Blue FC
NJ/NY Gotham FC is a professional women's soccer team based in Harrison, New Jersey. Founded in 2006 as Jersey Sky Blue, the team was known as Sky Blue FC from 2008 until 2020. A founding member of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in 201 ...
on April 17.
Loans to Brisbane Roar
In October 2017, Pickett was loaned to
Brisbane Roar
Brisbane Roar Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Brisbane, Queensland and has won the domestic title on three occasions, as well as holding the longest unbeaten record of 36 league matches without defeat.
Brisb ...
for the
2017–18 W-League
The 2017–18 W-League season was the tenth season of the W-League, the Australian national women's association football competition.
Clubs
Stadia and locations
Personnel and kits
Managerial changes
Transfers
Foreign players
The ...
. She scored her first professional goal on November 10, 2017, in the Roar's 1–0 win over
Western Sydney Wanderers
Western Sydney Wanderers Football Club (colloquially known as Western Sydney, or simply as Wanderers) is an Australian professional soccer club based in the Western Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premie ...
.
She returned for second and third loan spells during the
2018–19 W-League
The 2018–19 W-League season was the eleventh season of the W-League, the Australian national women's association football competition.
Clubs
Stadia and locations
Personnel and kits
Managerial changes
Transfers
Foreign players
T ...
and
2019–20 W-League
The 2019–20 W-League season was the twelfth season of the W-League, the Australian national women's association football competition. Nine teams competed in the league, with most of the players from Australia but 33 of them from 11 other co ...
seasons. On February 23, 2020, Pickett had her first career multi-goal game when she scored twice in a 5–0 win over
Canberra United. Pickett was named as the team's player of the year for the 2019–20 season.
Orlando Pride, 2018–2020
In January 2018, Pickett and
Christine Nairn
Christine Marie Nairn (born September 25, 1990) is an American retired soccer player from Annapolis, Maryland. She previously played for the Houston Dash, Orlando Pride, Washington Spirit and Seattle Reign FC in the NWSL and has had regular ...
were acquired by the
Orlando Pride
The Orlando Pride is a professional women's soccer team based in Orlando, Florida. The team joined the National Women's Soccer League, the top level of women's soccer in the US, for the 2016 season. It became the tenth team to be added to the ...
in a trade that sent
Steph Catley
Stephanie-Elise Catley (born 26 January 1994) is an Australian professional soccer player who plays as a defender for Arsenal and the Australia national team. She can play in many positions in defence, such as left-back, centre-back or sweepe ...
to Seattle. Pickett played in nineteen of twenty-four matches (including sixteen starts) for an Orlando side that finished seventh in the league.
In March 2020, the impending NWSL season was postponed due to the
coronavirus pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identifie ...
. An eventual restart was made through a smaller schedule
2020 NWSL Challenge Cup
The 2020 NWSL Challenge Cup was a tournament during the 2020 National Women's Soccer League season to mark the league's return to action from the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, COVID-19 pandemic. It was the first professional team sports e ...
tournament. However, on 22 June, Orlando withdrew from the tournament following positive COVID-19 tests among both players and staff.
Loan to Apollon Ladies, 2020
In August, having been unable to feature for Orlando Pride in 2020, Pickett moved to
Cypriot First Division
The Cypriot First Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Α΄ Κατηγορίας) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Since February 2016, it is sponsored by Cyta and is thus official ...
club
Apollon Ladies on loan until November. She never made an appearance for the team.
North Carolina Courage, 2021–2022
On February 4, 2021,
North Carolina Courage
The North Carolina Courage is a professional women's soccer team based in Cary, North Carolina. It was founded on January 9, 2017, after Stephen Malik acquired National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) franchise rights from the Western New Yor ...
acquired Pickett in a trade with Orlando in exchange for the playing rights to
Jodie Taylor
Jodie Lee Taylor (born 17 May 1986) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for San Diego Wave of NWSL. She began her club career with local team Tranmere Rovers and had brief spells in her home country with Birmingham City, ...
.
International
Pickett has represented the United States on the under-17 and under-23 national teams.
On June 28, 2022, she made her debut for the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...
national team against Colombia, becoming the first player with a limb difference to play for the USWNT.
Advocacy
In recent years, Pickett has become a significant advocate for limb difference awareness. In a 2020 interview for ''CBSSports.com'', Pickett said,
She worked with
Nike
Nike often refers to:
* Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory
* Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment
Nike may also refer to:
People
* Nike (name), a surname and feminine given ...
to develop the Phantom GT Academy FlyEase boots, designed with a fold-down heel and a wraparound strap closure in place of laces. In the aforementioned interview, she added,
Career statistics
Club
International
Honours
Individual
*
NWSL Best XI
The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) presents six annual awards to individual players. The Golden Boot award is presented to the top scorer at the end of the regular season, while the Most Valuable Player, Defender of the Year, Goalkeeper of ...
:
2021
File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...
,
2022
File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeyp ...
See also
*
List of Florida State University alumni
References
External links
Seattle Reign FC player profileUS Soccer player profileFlorida State Seminoles player profile*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pickett, Carson
Living people
1993 births
American amputees
American women's soccer players
United States women's international soccer players
Association footballers with limb difference
OL Reign players
Brisbane Roar FC (A-League Women) players
National Women's Soccer League players
Women's association football defenders
Soccer players from Florida
Florida State Seminoles women's soccer players
OL Reign draft picks
People from Clay County, Florida
Orlando Pride players
Expatriate women's soccer players in Australia
American expatriate women's soccer players
American expatriate sportspeople in Australia
American expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus
Apollon Ladies F.C. players
North Carolina Courage players
Expatriate women's footballers in Cyprus