Courtney Rashelle Wetzel (born February 25, 1989) is an American

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 ...

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

who last played professionally in 2014. She played for the

Western New York Flash The Western New York Flash (WNY Flash) was an American women's soccer club based in Elma, New York, that most recently competed in the United Women's Soccer league in 2018. They won league championships in four different leagues: the USL W-Leag ...

and

Portland Thorns FC Portland Thorns FC is an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Portland, Oregon, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Established in 2012, the team began play in 2013 in the then-eight-team NWSL ...

of the

NWSL 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 ...

, and the

Ottawa Fury Women Ottawa Fury Women was a Canadian women's soccer team based in Ottawa, Ontario. Founded in 2000, the team was a member of the United Soccer Leagues USL W-League, the second tier of women's soccer in the United States and Canada. The team competed ...

and

Seattle Sounders Women Sound Football Club is an American women's soccer team in the Women's Premier Soccer League. Sound FC play its home games at Starfire Sports Stadium in Tukwila, Washington, six miles south of downtown Seattle. The team was founded in 2000 as ...

in the W-League.

Early life

Wetzel was born in

Puyallup, Washington Puyallup ( ) is a city in Pierce County, Washington, United States. It is on the Puyallup River about southeast of Tacoma and south of Seattle. The city had a population of 42,973 at the 2020 census. The city's name comes from the Puyallu ...

and began playing soccer as a young girl. Starting at age eight, she played for club soccer team, FC Royals, a team she won five state championships with. She attended

Puyallup High School Puyallup High School, commonly referred to as PHS, is a high school in the Puyallup School District in Pierce County, Washington, Pierce County, Washington (state), Washington. History Founded in 1890 as Central High School, the first nine studen ...

where she played on the varsity soccer team for three years. She finished her high school career with 47 goals and 17 assists. As a senior, she was named to the all-state second team after scoring 19 goals. Wetzel also played for the Washington state and Region IV Olympic Development Program (ODP) teams. She won the 2004 national championship title with the Washington state ODP team and was a finalist in 2005.

Oregon State Beavers

Wetzel attended

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs and a variety of graduate and doctor ...

from 2007 to 2010. She ended her collegiate career with 81 caps for the

Beavers Beavers (genus ''Castor'') are large, semiaquatic rodents of the Northern Hemisphere. There are two existing species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers are the second-large ...

and seven goals. She also appeared in two games for the women's basketball team.

Club career

Wetzel played for the

in 2007 and

in the W-League in 2008 and played for the Fury for four seasons. She was named to the W-League Team of the Week in 2012 after scoring a goal and serving an assist during a shutout win against Hamilton. On April 5, 2013 she joined the

for the

2013 NWSL season The 2013 National Women's Soccer League season was the inaugural season of the National Women's Soccer League, the top division of women's soccer in the United States. Including the NWSL's two professional predecessors, Women's Professional Socc ...

as a discovery player. She scored her first goal for the Thorns during a home match on June 7 against

FC Kansas City FC Kansas City was an American professional women's soccer club based in Kansas City, Missouri. The team was one of the eight founding clubs of the National Women's Soccer League in 2012, and began play in 2013. They were two-time NWSL champio ...

. Wetzel made 18 appearances for the Thorns during the 2013 season and helped the team win the league's championship title. On April 5, 2014, Wetzel was traded with Kathryn Williamson and Portland's first-round pick in the 2015 NWSL College Draft to the

for Sarah Huffman and a player to be named later. April 7, 2014, Portland Thorns revealed that the player to be named later was Verónica Boquete. The draft pick became Jaelene Hinkle. She was waived by the Western New York Flash in September 2014.

International career

Wetzel was called up to the

United States women's national under-23 soccer team The U-23 Women’s Youth National Team, operated under the auspices of U.S. Soccer, plays a pivotal role in bridging the significant gap between college soccer and the development of players for the full Women’s National Team. It functions as ...

in 2010.

Honors

Portland Thorns FC *

NWSL Championship The NWSL Championship is the annual championship game of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), the top-flight women's soccer league in the United States. It is the culmination of the NWSL playoffs, which is contested by the teams with the ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

References

External links

Portland Thorns player profile

Ottawa Fury player profile

Connect World Football profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wetzel, Courtney 1989 births Living people American women's soccer players 21st-century American sportswomen Seattle Sounders Women players Portland Thorns FC players National Women's Soccer League players Sportspeople from Puyallup, Washington Soccer players from Pierce County, Washington Oregon State Beavers women's basketball players Oregon State Beavers women's soccer players Women's association football midfielders Western New York Flash players Ottawa Fury (women) players USL W-League (1995–2015) players American expatriate sportspeople in Canada Expatriate women's soccer players in Canada Puyallup High School alumni American expatriate women's soccer players in Germany