NWSL debut was a long time coming for Darielle O’Brien
Playing for the Utah Royals on Friday was a dream come true for the Fontana native, who played for UC Riverside and developed further with United City FC
Goals, gotta have ’em.
Personal goals. Team goals. All a matter of creating chances on the pitch.
So when Darielle O’Brien stepped onto Lumen Field in Seattle on Friday in the 88th minute, making her National Women’s Soccer League debut for Utah Royals FC in the inaugural NWSL x LIGA MX Femenil Summer Cup, it was a goal unlocked.
For the 26-year-old former Fontana Summit High School standout: “Honestly,” she said before the match, “I’m just trying to soak everything up and take a second to be proud of what’s been accomplished so far.”
And also for her amateur club team, United City FC.
For the past four years, the Downey-based program has worked year-round to develop and market women who want to play pro soccer but who might otherwise never make it up through the cracks of the United States’ porous soccer system. And doing it at no cost to them.
“When we started, we wanted to get a player signed with an NWSL club in four years,” said Steven Hawthorne, the club’s founder and co-owner. “And we’ve just done that.”
88' | Another change coming in#SEAvUTA | 2-1 pic.twitter.com/abLLfq0XZp
— Utah Royals FC (@UtahRoyalsFC) July 20, 2024
On Wednesday, the NWSL’s Royals – who lost their first Femenil Summer Cup match 2-1 to the Seattle Reign – announced they signed O’Brien, a defender, and two others as National Team Replacement players, to fill in for team members away on national team duty at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
O’Brien said by phone Thursday that she wasn’t expecting anything, but she would be prepared for minutes if she got them: “That’s the time to prove I belong on that field.”
She got them. She and fellow signees Ellie Boren and Shaelan Murison all played in Friday’s match, and O’Brien made her presence felt in nearly 10 minutes of action, earning a corner kick for her side and committing a foul. (“She didn’t look nervous,” Hawthorne said. “And she ain’t gonna shy away, she ain’t gonna back off.”)
When O’Brien checked in, hair braided and wearing No. 23, CBS broadcaster JP Dellacamera told the audience: “Darielle O’Brien will come in out of the University of California, Riverside.”
That’s how we identify athletes in the United States, of course, and her time as a Highlander is certainly part of O’Brien’s story – she played in 71 matches for a blue-collar Highlander team from 2015-19, recording six goals and six assists – but it’s not the whole story.
More relevant is her time since with United City. The multiple commutes every week she’s made to Downey to train and keep improving, the year-round commitment and competition, the camaraderie with other women who are training hard because they also haven’t given up on their soccer dreams.
The way she’s performed with the club, notching 19 goals and 32 assists in helping win multiple UPSL Women, SWPL League and Alianza de Futbol titles.
“That’s something I’m super grateful for,” O’Brien said by phone last week. “In California, after college, there’s not a lot of opportunity in terms of where to play on a consistent basis … and I’ll be real honest, coming from a school that’s not top 20 in the nation, those girls really don’t get looked at (by NWSL teams). But you do have girls who want to continue playing and want to continue the dream, but we don’t have the right resources.
“Now we’ve finally got our foot in the door and got a chance, and hopefully it goes up from there.”
That’s the plan, said Hawthorne, who last year helped 33-year-old Costa Mesa resident Michelle Ruano become a stalwart for the Guatemalan national team, and who this season has been in regular contact with NWSL front offices, as well as teams in Europe, about players he believes are ready to take the step.
“I was literally like, ‘I will cover the costs to get her up and show how good she is,’” Hawthorne said of O’Brien’s successful trial with the Royals early last week. “I put my money where my mouth is … because she shows the hard work that we put in is working, that the model works.”