Debbie Keller

Debbie Keller
Personal information
Full name Deborah Kim Keller
Date of birth (1975-03-24) March 24, 1975
Place of birth Winfield, Illinois, United States
Height 5 ft 4 in (1.63 m)
College career
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1993–96 North Carolina Tar Heels
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1997 Rockford Dactyls
1999 Fortuna Hjørring
2000 Rockford Dactyls
National team‡
1995–99 United States 47 (19)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of November 9, 2013.
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of November 9, 2013

Deborah "Debbie" Kim Keller (born March 24, 1975) is an American retired soccer forward and former member of the United States women's national soccer team.

Early life

Born in Winfield, Illinois, Keller was raised in Naperville where she attended Waubonsie Valley High School and played for the women's soccer team where her mother was the head coach. Throughout her high school career, Keller scored 144 goals and served 92 assists. She was named a Parade All-American twice and was named to the Chicago Tribune Top 20 Scholar-Athlete Team.[1]

North Carolina Tar Heels

Keller attended University of North Carolina from 1993 to 1996 where she played for the Tar Heels led by national team coach, Anson Dorrance.[2] During her junior season, she scored 23 goals and served 14 assists in the 26 games she played.[1] Five of her goals came during Tar Heels' 8–0 defeat of North Carolina State University.[3] The following year, she scored 18 goals and served 16 assists in 22 games.[1]

In 1998, Keller and her Tar Heel teammate Melissa Jennings filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Dorrance that ended ten years later in a settlement.[4][5]

Playing career

Club

In March 1999 Keller signed for Danish Elitedivisionen team Fortuna Hjørring, scoring on her debut on 1 April 1999.[6] She received a letter of intent from Women's United Soccer Association, but did not join the new league because of Dorrance's involvement in it.[7]

International

Keller played for the United States women's national soccer team from 1995 to 1999. In 1998, her 14 goals ranked third on the team behind Mia Hamm and Tiffeny Milbrett.[8] She was cut from the team before the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup and unsuccessfully took legal action to be reinstated, suggesting her exclusion by coach Tony DiCicco had been a retaliation for the Dorrance lawsuit.[9]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Debbie Keller". Soccer Times. Retrieved 9 November 2013.
  2. ↑ DeSimone, Bonnie (June 15, 2003). "Outcast with a cause". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
  3. ↑ "Tarpley Scores Four Goals As Carolina Blanks Wake Forest". University of North Carolina. October 14, 2003. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
  4. ↑ "Dorrance, former player settle sexual harassment suit". USA Today. January 14, 2008. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
  5. ↑ "Is different approach needed?". Sports Illustrated. November 23, 1998. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
  6. ↑ Wahl, Grant (April 19, 1999). "Soccer". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 4 January 2014.
  7. ↑ French, Scott (May 8, 2000). "Four players, four views" (PDF). Soccer America. Retrieved 4 January 2014.
  8. ↑ Jones, Grahame L. (March 1, 1999). "Keller Is a Star on the Outside Looking in". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
  9. ↑ Longman, Jere (May 11, 1999). "Keller Loses Bid to Return to U.S. Women's Team". New York Times. Retrieved 10 November 2013.

Further reading

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