Emma Sears is Taking Her Shot
By early 2023, Emma Sears had quit soccer. Now in 2024, the Racing Louisville rookie is taking the NWSL by storm.
After four years of playing for the Ohio State University, Emma Sears hung up her cleats. She was done with soccer and ready to fully commit to a career as a nutritionist. For six months she didn’t so much as touch a ball. But then, after attending an Ohio State preseason match in July of 2023, she agreed to grab coffee with a former coach who told her the door was always open for a fifth year, if she was interested. She decided to reach out to the head coach who, ultimately, offered Sears a spot back on the team, and the rest, as they say, is history.
“I feel crazy now that I thought soccer was over based on how things have turned out,” Sears told Butchertown Rundown in an exclusive sitdown. “But I’m just super grateful that this is how it all turned out.”
For a player with no aspirations of going professional, Sears has made an undeniable splash in her rookie season in the National Women’s Soccer League. Since being selected 28th overall in the second round of the 2024 College Draft by Racing Louisville, the 23-year-old right winger has scored three goals and notched one assist in four starts and 540 minutes. Her most recent two goals against the Kansas City Current and the Chicago Red Stars earned her consecutive league Goal of the Week accolades due to their exceptionally tight angles and difficulty in execution. Together they had an expected goal value of only 0.05 xG combined.
“The first goal [against Kansas City], I scored a goal like that in college before,” explained Sears, “but then the second goal [against Chicago] I would say that's probably one of the best goals I've scored in my career.”
The goal against Chicago was spectacular — or in the words of Racing’s keeper Katie Lund “pretty sick” — and not just because it secured Racing’s much-needed second win of the season. After juggling to settle a poorly cleared header, Sears stepped forward just enough to lure the defender directly in front of her into committing to the near post. As soon as the defender stepped past her, Sears blasted a scorcher behind her and into the side netting. The amount of work it took from settling the ball to creating the opening to finishing at such a difficult angle is what makes this goal stand out. From Sears’ perspective in the moment, however, it all just unfolded naturally.
“I was thinking about it when I was rewatching the goal after the game,” she recalled. “I was like, ‘I don't remember that moment’. Obviously, the ball was coming to me in the air, so I had to get it on the ground and then get a shot off. I remember seeing a window of opportunity to take this shot, but everything else, it must have just been instinct.”
With the full attention of the league now on her after these two consecutive bangers, does she feel pressure to keep producing these odds-defying goals? Yes and no, said Sears.
“The coaching staff, they always remind me before the game starts to take shots early so we have the freedom to take chances as they come. And I think that as games progress, I'll just continue to trust myself and my abilities in those situations and also continue to create opportunities for my teammates.”
Understanding when to take those chances and having the peace of mind to execute them comes with experience, said Sears, and the young forward is grateful for the trust head coach Bev Yanez has shown in her. Giving her more minutes has allowed her to settle into the game and build the relationships she needs to be successful.
“I feel like at the beginning of this season maybe I was a little bit frantic on the field. The pressure and the speed of play are a lot faster coming from college, so those are things that I had to adjust to. But having these accolades now and how things have progressed over the past few weeks, it definitely helps me feel more comfortable. And not only that, but my teammates have been super supportive.”
Another aspect of Sears’ game that’s garnered attention is her speedy dribbling ability. This skill was immediately apparent to her teammates and coaches when the rookie showed up and broke the club’s speed record formerly held by Thembi Kgatlana during fitness tests on the very first day of preseason. It was immediately apparent to the rest of the world when she was subbed in during Racing’s match against the Utah Royals, received the ball in midfield from teammate Marisa DiGrande, flew past multiple defenders into the box, and blasted it into the back of the net. It was her first professional goal and it left match commentator Mike Watts bellowing, “Sears has everything!”
Unsurprisingly, teammates have been impressed with what they’ve seen from the rookie ever since she arrived.
“Emma’s been such a great addition from the first day she showed up and smashed the fitness test,” said Lund after the game in Chicago. “She’s put everything into it and credit to her for coming in and making such a difference. Sometimes rookies come in and get a little scared in the beginning but she’s never had any fear. For her to perform this way for us is huge and we’re really lucky to have her.”
Head coach Yanez also has nothing but good things to say about her young winger. As with Lund, it’s safe to say Sears made an immediate impression on her coach as well.
“When she first came in, there was something about just seeing her in person in the environment that I'm like, ‘Dang!’” exclaimed Yanez. “I've told several people this — she doesn't run, she glides and, on top of that, she's very technically good.”
Yanez also praised Sears’ coachability and willingness to learn. On the flip side, Sears praised Yanez and her staff for maintaining an open dialogue with players and their focus on development.
“The drive that the coaches have and their desire to make us better as players, that's all I could ever ask for,” Sears said. “Getting one-percent better every day is at the forefront of my mind and they have a vision for us and a common goal. I think that the players are behind that and it's just an energy that I want to continue to be around.”
Sears will have plenty of time to be around that energy because she just signed a new three-year contract keeping her in Louisville through the 2026 season. Getting the new deal was a “pleasant surprise” for the rookie winger who said she’s “super excited that I get to call Louisville home for longer.”
It doesn’t hurt that her family in Dublin, Ohio are only three hours away either. Having friendly faces in the crowd for most home games is a nice plus for a young player who wanted to go to college on the West Coast but decided to stay nearby at Ohio State after getting homesick during a high school soccer camp in Oregon. Sears said she wouldn’t trade her five years as a Buckeye for anything and she credits her strong final year — the 2023 season she almost didn’t play — for giving her the confidence to enter the draft. Taking the next step in her career wasn’t a decision she made lightly, but it was one that came with the unique perspective of having left and lived life without soccer for a while.
“Maybe some girls decide long before the opportunity to play professionally, but for me, I had the opportunity to miss playing, which is maybe an uncommon thing. I definitely think that realization helped me and, because of that, maybe I didn't feel as pressured with the decision.”
And now that college senior who almost walked away from the sport for good hasn’t just made it onto a professional team, she’s well on her way to locking down the starting right wing spot and becoming one of Racing Louisville’s top players. And with 16 games left in the 2024 season, who knows how far she might still go?
I forward these articles to my wife and daughter and we enjoy them very much. I’ll encourage them to join SS but they never listen….
Racing information is hard to find but Emma Sears’s story exemplifies how interesting (friendly, talented, unusual) they are. Thank you Bekki.
Nice work. I enjoyed it. Keep up the good work