Heather O’Reilly recently played her first soccer game in her native New Jersey since returning to the NWSL after a year and a half at fabled English club Arsenal.
You’d think that would be a big deal, but it didn’t feel that way. The announced crowd at Rutgers’ Yurcak Field on July 14 for the visit of O’Reilly’s North Carolina Courage to Sky Blue FC was just 2,376, and the nearby parking lots were mostly empty until just before kickoff.
Granted, the 33-year-old O’Reilly has made her home in North Carolina for many years, save for her time in London.