My name is Reilly Parker and I am a freshman on the UNC Women’s Soccer team.  We’re heading to the Final Four in beautiful San Diego, California this evening. I am a California native, so to get to go back to my home state to play in the College Cup is a dream come true. The team and I just finished practice and cannot wait to get on the plane. The road to getting to where we are today has been unbelievable, and the feelings our team is experiencing mostly consist of being so blessed to be able to continue our journey together. This was our goal since the beginning of the season, to make it to the Final Four, for one another, our community, our program, and — most importantly — for our seniors.
 
We are playing the number one team in the nation, Stanford University on Friday in the Semifinals of the College Cup.   We know they are going to give us a run for our money. After showing our resilience in the game against BYU last Friday (where we won in overtime), every team in the nation now knows what we are capable of and that we will fight until the very last second to protect one another. The Stanford women’s soccer team is an extremely talented group of girls.  One of their standout players is Chioma Ubogagu, a striker from Coppell, Texas.   Along with my UNC teammates Kealia Ohai and Crystal Dunn, Ubogagu is a member of the USA U20 Women’s National Team that won the World Cup gold in Japan back in September. Another player I am excited to play against is actually my best friend, Kate Bettinger from Tiburon, California. I have grown up playing with her and it was always our dream to end up in the Final Four together, whether it was on the same team or opposing.  It’s going to be the experience of a life time for me and for Kate.
 
We have so much respect for the opponents we are going to face and we know that a win will not come easy.  But we are ready to grind and work for 90 minutes and more if necessary in order to walk away with a win, headed to the finals.  We are ridiculously fit, technically sharp, and one hundred percent ready to take it to the Cardinal on Friday. I have to sign off because I have a plane to catch, but stay tuned for more posts about this week’s endeavors and experiences in San Diego, California! Go Heels!

You can follow Reilly on Twitter @RParkerr13
Related Stories
‹
What To Know About Redistricting Fights as Texas Democrats Return and California Starts Work
Efforts to thwart President Donald Trump’s push to tilt the political map for next year’s midterm elections in his favor shifted to California.
Families Upended by School Shootings Share Trauma in Push for Gun Law Changes, but Get Mixed Results
Written by KIMBERLEE KRUESI and JONATHAN MATTISE For nearly a week, families whose lives were upended by a Nashville elementary school shooting took turns sharing dark details to Tennessee lawmakers. Their children thought they were going to die. A teacher told students to race each other, knowing they needed to get some place safe quickly […]
Residents Clear Trees, Assess Damage From Southern Storms
Written by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Southerners were clearing trees from roads and buildings as weather forecasters planned to survey damage from several possible tornadoes in Georgia and South Carolina, but said that effort could be interrupted by the potential for more storms Wednesday. Tuesday’s storms killed at least two people — one in Texas and […]
Republicans Take to Mask Wars as Virus Surges in Red States
Written by WILL WEISSERT Top Republicans are battling school districts in their own states’ urban, heavily Democratic areas over whether students should be required to mask up as they head back to school — reigniting ideological divides over mandates even as the latest coronavirus surge ravages the reddest, most unvaccinated parts of the nation. Republican Gov. […]
Confirmed Coronavirus Cases Are Rising in 40 of 50 States
Four U.S. states — Arizona, California, Florida and Texas — reported a combined 25,000 new confirmed coronavirus cases Thursday as the infection curve rose in 40 of the 50 states heading into the July Fourth holiday weekend. With the number of daily confirmed coronavirus cases nationwide climbing past 50,000, an alarming 36 states saw an […]
Governors Warming to the Idea of the Return of Pro Sports
Governors around the country are warming to the idea of the return of professional sports to their states, with two caveats: continued progress against the coronavirus and no spectators in the stands. The heads of California, Texas, New York and Pennsylvania spoke Monday of the return of professional sports to their states, possibly as soon […]
Tensions Rise as Texas Governor Readies to Lift More Rules
Two weeks into the reopening of Texas, coronavirus cases are climbing. New outbreaks still crop up. And at Guero’s Taco Bar in Austin, which offers the occasional celebrity sighting, a log of every diner and where they sat is begrudgingly in the works. “It seems like a huge invasion of privacy,” said owner Cathy Lipincott, […]
Nurses Suspended for Refusing COVID-19 Care without N95 Mask
Nurse Mike Gulick was meticulous about not bringing the coronavirus home to his wife and their 2-year-old daughter. He’d stop at a hotel after work just to take a shower. He’d wash his clothes in Lysol disinfectant. They did a tremendous amount of handwashing. But at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California, Gulick and […]
Tornadoes Devastate Tennessee, Killing at Least 22 People
Tornadoes ripped across Tennessee as people slept early Tuesday, shredding at least 140 buildings and killing at least 22 people. Authorities described painstaking efforts to find survivors in piles of rubble and wrecked basements as the death toll climbed. One twister caused severe damage across a 10-mile (16 kilometer) stretch of downtown Nashville, wrecking businesses […]
What It's Like To Be So Close To A NCAA Women's Soccer Title
My name is Reilly Parker and I am a freshman on the UNC Women’s Soccer team.  We’re heading to the Final Four in beautiful San Diego, California this evening. I am a California native, so to get to go back to my home state to play in the College Cup is a dream come true. […]
›