Former UNC standout Lucy Bronze chases gold in Women’s World Cup

The cognoscenti among soccer fans undoubtedly know there are six former North Carolina Tar Heels playing for the United States in the Women’s World Cup in Canada, which reached the semifinal round Tuesday night with the much-awaited showdown between the U.S. and Germany.

Defender Megan Klingenberg and midfielder Tobin Heath have started for the U.S., while goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris, midfielder Heather O’Reilly and defenders Whitney Engen and Lori Chalupny have been reserves.

They might even realize that if you add players on foreign rosters – defenders Robyn Gayle of Canada, Katie Bowen of New Zealand and Lucy Bronze of England – there are nine Tar Heels in the tournament. Bowen, a rising senior, is the only current UNC player in the field.

But if you want a stumper for Soccer Trivial Pursuit, ask them which Tar Heel is the leading scorer in the tournament. If the answer is Bronze, they’re golden.

Bronze will be the starting right back for England in the World Cup semifinal against reigning champion Japan at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium.

Despite her role as a defender, Bronze has scored two goals for the Lionesses, both big ones. She fired a rocket from distance to beat Norway 2-1 in the round of 16 – giving England its first victory in the knockout round of the Women’s World Cup – and followed up with a header against Canada that stretched the lead to two goals in a match England won 2-1.

England, ranked sixth in the world, comes in as a slight underdog to fourth-ranked Japan, but Bronze isn’t buying it. England defeated Japan 2-0 in group play in the 2011 World Cup in Germany, and in 2013 they tied 1-1 when Bronze had a late goal nullified by an offside call.

“They’re the reigning world champions, and that’s a big deal,” Bronze told the BBC this week. “But for us to play one of the great teams at a World Cup is exciting. We’ve come across Norway, a hard European team, a couple of South American teams, and now the home nation (Canada). Japan will be a different challenge again, but we’re looking forward to it.”

UNC women’s soccer coach Anson Dorrance, who was in Vancouver for the U.S.-Nigeria group match, has been watching his former players perform mostly on TV, and he could not be prouder of their success. He is especially proud of what Bronze has done as England has advanced to an unprecedented semifinal berth.

“There’s no one who has scored as many important goals in the tournament, both game winners, in the round of 16 and the quarterfinals,” Dorrance said. “They’re the two most critical goals in the last two rounds. I have a feeling she’ll make the first 11 all-star team for the World Cup.”

Dorrance’s history with Bronze dates to her days attending his camps in Chapel Hill as a youngster from Berwick-upon-Tweed, England.

“She was one of our campers, 12, 13 years old, a stubby little British kid, nothing special,” Dorrance remembered. Bronze’s parents, he said, would drop her off at camp and use the time to vacation in the U.S.

“She came here for three or four years in a row, then all of a sudden started to fill out and look like a soccer player. I asked her if she had any goals to play for England, and she said it was her dream.”

So Dorrance used his international connections to make England’s youth coaches aware of a rising talent.

“Between her junior and senior year of high school, we made her an offer (to UNC),” Dorrance said, “and the rest is history. She came in for one semester and helped us win a national championship in 2009.

“She was a very good player in our system. She started out playing 15 minutes a half at right back and right midfield, and then we had a catastrophic injury when Nikki Washington tore an ACL. So from midseason on Lucy was our starting right half.”

Bronze scored three goals for UNC that season, and Dorrance recalled one of her biggest moments as if it were yesterday.

“In the (NCAA) semifinal against Notre Dame that year, she absolutely fried the left side of the Notre Dame defense, drove the ball across the 6 (yard line), Casey Nogueira finished it, and we beat Notre Dame 1-0,” he said.

Unfortunately for UNC, that was the only season Bronze would play in Chapel Hill. Despite earning freshman All-America honors, Bronze left school to return to England.

“I thought she was getting some pressure from her England national youth coaches to stay in England and play for the U-20 national team,” Dorrance said.

So Bronze returned home and in 2010 began her professional career with Sunderland before signing with Everton for the following season. She helped Liverpool win back-to-back FA league titles before joining Manchester City late in 2014, where she will play this fall.

“A part of her dream was to play in the women’s First Division (in England),” said Dorrance, who harbors no hard feelings that Bronze cut short her Chapel Hill career. “She was named the most valuable player in the league while playing for Liverpool in 2014. I’m incredibly proud of what Lucy has done, winning the most valuable player, and what she’s done in this World Cup is just spectacular.”

Bronze could get a chance to renew her UNC ties in the medal round. Engen and Heath were her Tar Heel teammates in 2009, and Engen also played with Bronze for Liverpool in 2013.

This story was originally published June 30, 2015 at 5:59 PM with the headline "Former UNC standout Lucy Bronze chases gold in Women’s World Cup."