Michele Vasconcelos | |
Fullname: | Jennifer Michele Vasconcelos[1] |
Birth Name: | Jennifer Michele Murphy |
Birth Date: | 11 May 1994 |
Birth Place: | Sandy, Utah, United States |
Position: | Forward |
Currentclub: | Utah Royals |
Clubnumber: | 7 |
Youthclubs1: | Olympique Montreaux |
Youthclubs2: | Alta High School |
Collegeyears1: | 2012–2016 |
College1: | BYU Cougars |
Collegecaps1: | 86 |
Collegegoals1: | 30 |
Clubs1: | Real Salt Lake Women |
Years1: | 2016 |
Caps1: | 7 |
Goals1: | 3 |
Clubs2: | Chicago Red Stars |
Years2: | 2018–2020 |
Caps2: | 31 |
Goals2: | 3 |
Clubs3: | Utah Royals |
Years3: | 2020 |
Caps3: | 1 |
Goals3: | 0 |
Years4: | 2021 |
Clubs4: | Kansas City |
Caps4: | 10 |
Goals4: | 0 |
Clubs5: | → Sevilla (loan) |
Years5: | 2021–2022 |
Caps5: | 22 |
Goals5: | 2 |
Clubs6: | Portland Thorns |
Years6: | 2022–2023 |
Caps6: | 5 |
Goals6: | 1 |
Clubs7: | Utah Royals |
Years7: | 2024– |
Caps7: | 0 |
Goals7: | 0 |
Nationalteam1: | United States U23 |
Nationalyears1: | 2017 |
Club-Update: | April 2, 2023 |
Jennifer Michele Vasconcelos (; born May 11, 1994) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a forward for the Utah Royals of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). She played college soccer for the BYU Cougars and was drafted 11th overall by the Chicago Red Stars in the 2017 NWSL College Draft. She has also played for Kansas City NWSL, Portland Thorns FC, and Spanish club Sevilla.
Vasconcelos played high school soccer at Alta High School in Sandy, Utah, which won three state championships during her career.[2] [3] She scored a total of 37 goals and 22 assists at Alta High.[4]
She also played youth soccer for Olympique Montreux, a club based in Sandy, Utah.[5] [6]
Vasconcelos played NCAA Division I soccer at Brigham Young University, where she scored 30 goals and 27 assists in her career as an attacking midfielder and was named West Coast Conference player of the year in 2016.[3] [4]
Vasconcelos played for Real Salt Lake Women in the United Women's Soccer league during the 2016 season.[7]
National Women's Soccer League team Chicago Red Stars selected Vasconcelos with the 11th pick in the 2017 NWSL College Draft.[8] She missed the entire 2017 NWSL season as she was pregnant with her first child.[2] [9] [10]
On March 25, 2018, Vasconcelos debuted for Chicago Red Stars in a 1–1 draw against Houston Dash.[11] She appeared in 20 games for the Red Stars in 2018.[12]
In 2019, Vasconcelos appeared in 11 games and scored two goals before tearing her left anterior cruciate ligament in a match on July 6, 2019, against Sky Blue FC. She missed the remainder of the 2019 season.[3] [2] [13] [14]
Vasconcelos appeared in six matches as a substitute for the Red Stars at the 2020 NWSL Challenge Cup.[15] [2] [4]
On September 10, 2020, Utah Royals acquired Vasconcelos from the Red Stars in exchange for $55,000 in allocation money.[16] Vasconcelos requested the trade to be closer to her family.[2]
On December 7, 2020, ownership of Utah Royals FC was transferred to a group in Kansas City, Kansas. The team was subsequently relaunched as an expansion team and temporarily renamed Kansas City NWSL, and the league transferred all of Royals FC's roster rights to the new club, including Vasconcelos's contract.[3]
On April 26, 2021, Vasconcelos scored the expansion Kansas City team's first home goal at Children's Mercy Park in the 77th minute of a 1-3 loss to Houston Dash in a 2021 NWSL Challenge Cup match.[17] [18]
On September 1, 2021, Kansas City loaned Vasconcelos to Sevilla FC of the Spanish Primera División Femenina for one season.[19]
On July 1, 2022, following Vasconcelos's loan to Sevilla FC, Kansas City waived her NWSL playing rights.[3] [17] On July 14, 2022, Portland Thorns FC announced that it had signed Vasconcelos as a national team replacement player.[3] [20] She debuted for Portland on July 16, 2022, as a 78th-minute substitute in a 5–0 win against NJ/NY Gotham FC.[21]
On July 29, 2022, Thorns FC extended her contract to the end of the 2022 season,[22] in which Vasconcelos made three appearances for Portland.[23]
On January 27, 2023, Thorns FC announced that it had re-signed Vasconcelos to a one-year contract with an option for an additional year.[23] On March 26, 2023, she scored her first goal for Thorns FC in the 76th minute of a 4–0 win against Orlando Pride.[24]
On November 21, 2023, Utah Royals announced that they had signed Vasconcelos.[25]
Vasconcelos received a call-up to the United States Under-23 Women's National Team for a training camp in November 2017.[26]
Vasconcelos is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.[27] She married Pedro Vasconcelos in 2014.[28] He was a member of the BYU Cougars men's soccer team. She gave birth to their daughter, Scarlett, in 2017.[27] [2] [3]