Mary Angela Long (born January 24, 2007) is an American professional

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 ...

player who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for the

Kansas City Current The Kansas City Current are an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Kansas City, Missouri, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). It was founded as an NWSL expansion, expansion team in 2021 NWSL ...

of 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 ...

(NWSL). She played one season of college soccer for the

Duke Blue Devils The Duke Blue Devils are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Duke University, located in Durham, North Carolina. Duke's athletics department features 27 varsity teams that all compete at the N ...

before joining the Kansas City Current, which is co-owned by her parents, Angie and Chris Long. She won bronze with the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

at the

2024 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup The 2024 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup () was the 8th edition of the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, the biennial international women's youth football championship contested by the under-17 national teams of the member associations of FIFA. It was hos ...

Early life and college career

Long grew up in

Mission Hills, Kansas Mission Hills is a city in Johnson County, Kansas, United States, and part of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 3,594. The east city limits is the Kansas-Missouri state line at State Lin ...

, one of four children born to Angie and Chris Long. She began playing soccer when she was three. At age 12, she traveled with a regional all-star team to an international tournament in France that coincided with the

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's association football, football championship contested by 24 List of women's national association football teams, women's ...

; the trip sparked her parents' interest in buying a women's soccer team, which became the Kansas City Current. Long, playing up an age group, scored the winning goal for

KC Athletics KC Athletics is an American amateur soccer team based in Kansas City, Missouri, United States. Founded in 2001, the team plays in Region II of the United States Adult Soccer Association, a network of amateur leagues at the fifth tier of the Amer ...

in the under-15 ECNL national championship in 2021. She helped California-based club Slammers FC HB Køge reach the ECNL national final in 2023, leading the team with six goals in the playoffs and being named an All-American. She trained as a non-roster invitee with the Kansas City Current in 2023 and 2024. She graduated one year early from

Shawnee Mission East High School Shawnee Mission East High School is a public high school in Prairie Village, Kansas, United States, for grades 9 through 12. It is one of five high schools operated by the Shawnee Mission USD 512 school district. Shawnee Mission East High Sc ...

in Kansas in 2024, for which she took six additional online classes in her final semester.

Duke Blue Devils

At age 17, Long played for the

in the 2024 season. She scored 3 goals in 15 appearances (all as a substitute), helping Duke win the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

regular-season title in Robbie Church's final season as head coach. She missed about a month of action while at the

. In the NCAA tournament, Long assisted on the opening goal in a 2–0 win over

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the ...

in the third round as Duke reached semifinals where they lost to

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

Club career

Kansas City Current

The

announced on January 8, 2025, that they had signed Long to her first professional contract on a one-year deal. She made her professional debut for the club on April 19, coming on as a late substitute for

Debinha Débora Cristiane de Oliveira (born 20 October 1991), known as Debinha Miri or simply Debinha, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder or forward for the Kansas City Current of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) ...

in a 2–0 win against the

Houston Dash The Houston Dash are an American professional soccer team based in Houston, Texas, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). The Dash began play in the 2014 season. The team plays its home games at Shell Energy Stadium. His ...

International career

Long was first called up to the United States youth national team at the under-17 level in July 2024, scoring twice in a friendly against

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. She was selected to the roster for the

, where she helped the team place third, its best result since

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

. She appeared in all 6 games (5 starts) and scored one goal in a 5–0 group stage win over

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

Honors

United States U-17 *

FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup The FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup is an annual (biennial until 2024) international women's association football tournament for female players under the age of 17. It is organized by ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (FIFA) ...

bronze medal:

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Duke Blue Devils *

regular-season champions:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Long, Mary Living people 2007 births Soccer players from Kansas People from Mission Hills, Kansas American women's soccer players 21st-century American sportswomen Women's association football midfielders United States women's youth international soccer players Duke Blue Devils women's soccer players Kansas City Current players National Women's Soccer League players