Jessica McDonald

Jessica McDonald is an American professional soccer forward who currently plays for the North Carolina Courage of the National Women's Soccer League and is a member of the United States women's national soccer team. She previously played for the Australian W-League team Melbourne Victory as well as the Western New York Flash, Chicago Red Stars, Seattle Reign FC, Portland Thorns FC and Houston Dash.

McDonald has represented the United States on several youth national teams including the under-16, under-17, under-20, under-23, and the senior national team squads. In 2007, Jill Ellis named her to the U-20 roster for the 2007 Pan American Games in Brazil. The team won silver after being defeated by Brazil's senior national team 5–0 during the final. She earned her first call up to the senior national team on November 2, 2016, and made her international debut on November 10 against Romania.

In May 2019, McDonald was named to the final roster of the United States 23-player squad for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, which went on to win the tournament. She is the only mother on the Women's National team.

McDonald attended Phoenix College during her freshman and sophomore year of college where she played soccer, basketball and track and was a member of the honors program. She was named a first-team junior college All-America in soccer and National Junior College Player of the Year. After transferring to the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill during her sophomore year, McDonald joined the North Carolina Tar Heels soccer team during the first half of the 2008 season and helped the squad ultimately win the national championship as a starting striker.

In 2010, McDonald was the second pick (fifteenth overall) by the Chicago Red Stars in the 2010 WPS Draft. She was the NWSL Champoinship game MVP in 2018, when she scored two goals in a 3-0 win.