Bethany Catherine Balcer (born March 7, 1997) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a striker for Racing Louisville FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL).
Balcer played collegiate soccer at Spring Arbor University, where she was a two-time NAIA national champion, three-time NAIA national player of the year, four-time first-team All-American, and the school's leading scorer.[2] She went undrafted after college before signing with Reign FC (later Seattle Reign FC) on a supplemental contract, becoming the first NAIA player in the NWSL. During six seasons with the Reign, she was named the NWSL Rookie of the Year in 2019 and won the NWSL Shield in 2022.
Balcer grew up in Hudsonville, Michigan and attended Unity Christian High School, where she played varsity soccer and basketball.[3] She is the fourth of five children.[citation needed]
Balcer attended Spring Arbor University from 2015 to 2019, where she was a four-year starter on its varsity soccer team.[4] The Cougars advanced to the NAIA Final Four every year and won two national titles with Balcer on the team.[5]
While in college, Balcer played as an amateur with senior teams over the summer. She led Grand Rapids FC to a United Women's Soccer championship in 2017 – scoring hat-tricks in five straight matches – and played with Seattle Sounders Women in the Women's Premier Soccer League the following year winning the WPSL championship.[6]
Balcer was invited to the Reign FC preseason training camp prior to the 2019 NWSL season[2] and subsequently earned a contract on the club's supplemental roster.[7] She is the first NAIA player to sign with an NWSL club[8] and only the third NWSL player to previously play collegiately in the United States and finish their collegiate career with a non-NCAA D-I institution.[9] Balcer made her NWSL debut coming on as an 86th-minute substitute at the Houston Dash on April 14, 2019.[10] A week later, she made her first start in Reign's home-opener at Cheney Stadium. Curling a shot from the edge of the penalty area into the far corner of the goal, she scored her first-ever pro goal in the 21st minute against Orlando Pride in a 1–1 tie. It was also the first home goal scored in the Reign's first season in Tacoma, Washington.[11] She scored her second goal in her second home start, sixth appearance on May 27, 2019, in a 2–1 win against the defending champions North Carolina Courage. Her 13th-minute header from the edge of the box crashed off the underside of the bar to give her side an early lead. Her third goal occurred in the next game in her third home start against the Houston Dash. On a breakaway she picked up a deflected through ball from Darian Jenkins and slotted right-footed past the keeper for the first goal of the game in the 32nd minute, Houston tied in the 90th to split the points.[12] At the end of the season, she was awarded the 2019 Rookie of the Year Award.[13]
Balcer established herself as one of the Reign's leading players and was the club's top scorer every season she spent there.[14][15] She helped lead the Reign to top of the standings for the 2022 season, winning the NWSL Shield.[14] She scored 33 goals during her tenure with the Reign, the third-highest total in the NWSL from 2019 to mid-2024.[16]
On August 19, 2024, Balcer was traded to Racing Louisville FC in exchange for Jaelin Howell and $50,000 in allocation money.[17] She made her Louisville debut five days later, starting in a match against the Chicago Red Stars.[18] She scored her first goal with the club in a comeback victory against Angel City FC on September 14, 2024.[19]
Balcer received her first call-up to the United States women's national soccer team in December 2019.[20] She made her international debut on November 26, 2021, against Australia.[21][22] She was previously a member of the United States women's national under-23 soccer team.[23]
Balcer is a Christian.[24] Her brother Nicholas is a soccer referee[25] working for PRO,[26] NCAA.[27] and MLS. Her sister Shannon is the head woman's soccer coach at Spring Arbor University (2024).[28]
| Club | Season | League | Cup[a] | Playoffs[b] | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Seattle Reign FC[c] | 2019 | NWSL | 25 | 6 | — | 1 | 0 | — | 25 | 6 | ||
| 2020 | — | 5 | 1 | — | 4[d] | 2 | 9 | 3 | ||||
| 2021 | 24 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 27 | 9 | |||
| 2022 | 20 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 0 | — | 27 | 9 | |||
| 2023 | 25 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | — | 29 | 7 | |||
| 2024 | 15 | 5 | — | — | 3[e] | 0 | 18 | 5 | ||||
| Total | 109 | 33 | 19 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 135 | 39 | ||
| Racing Louisville FC | 2024 | NWSL | 10 | 3 | — | — | — | 10 | 3 | |||
| Career total | 119 | 36 | 19 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 145 | 42 | ||
| National Team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 2021 | 1 | 0 |
| Total | 1 | 0 | |
OL Reign
Individual
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