Soccer Player Misses Classes Due to Traveling Schedule
By Laisee Rintel

Most students feel behind if they miss just one day of classes, but UNC soccer player Heather O’Reilly missed 49 days already this semester.

You won’t find Heather O’Reilly studying in the Undergrad Library or working out in the Student Recreation Center. And you won’t find her leading a normal college life.

O’Reilly missed seven of the past 11 weeks of school. She’s one of the youngest members of the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team. O’Reilly has lived and trained in Los Angeles for most of this semester.

O’Reilly tries to lead a normal college life when she returns to UNC, but she says there’s nothing normal about her team’s schedule.

“We’re on the road a lot,” says O’Reilly. “We play a lot of international matches, and it gets tough sometimes being a college student. There are only about four other college students on the team, so it’s really tricky for us to balance our academics and our dream of being on the national team.”

O’Reilly takes mostly online classes, so you might not see her in the classroom, but you will see her featured in widely known magazines, such as ESPN magazine. Last year she played in the Olympic Games when the team won the gold medal. She says these experiences make all the traveling worth it.

“I definitely think it’s worth it, otherwise I wouldn’t be doing it still,” says O’Reilly. “It gets tough sometimes, but the way that I see it, it’s an opportunity not many other college players have.”

So while you might not see O’Reilly on campus often, you might see her name go down in UNC history.