Women’s History Month Spotlight: Steph Verdoia
OL Reign is celebrating Women's History Month by honoring the women that teach, inspire, make history and push us to greatness. The next woman we will be honoring this month is former professional soccer player, OL Reign Academy coach and lawyer, Steph Verdoia.
Verdoia started playing soccer at a young age and developed a passion for the game quickly. She attended Seattle University and broke the school’s all-time scoring record for the women’s soccer team. Verdoia was named Academic All-American twice, and NSCAA All-American for her contribution on the field her senior year.
She played for Seattle University for four years before being drafted by the Boston Breakers in the 2015 NWSL College Draft, becoming the first woman from Seattle U to go pro in any sport.
Verdoia made eight appearances for the Breakers in 2015 and 10 in 2016. She then made the decision to play professionally in Norway. She played in the Toppserien, which is Norway’s top women’s league. Following her time in Norway, Verdoia trained with the Reign in 2018, but did not appear in any matches.
Verdoia’s playing career also included time with the United States U-23 National Team. She was called up in 2015 for the Six Nations Tournament and made her United States debut.
Following her professional career, Verdoia took on two new challenges – coaching for OL Reign Academy and becoming a lawyer. It seems the common reaction when people learn that Verdoia balances coaching and being lawyer, is the same across the board.
Verdoia laughed and said, “Most people are pretty surprised at first, but to be honest, it’s the perfect balance for me. Coaching is really a breath of fresh air for me. I love being out on the field.”
She has now been with OL Reign Academy for three seasons. When asked about her favorite memories while coaching, she chose an off the field memory, highlighting the meaningful relationships within the team.
“My favorite memory with the team didn’t even happen on the field. We all went to the OL Reign and Sounders doubleheader last August and the team surprised me with a message on the big screen congratulating my fiancé and I on our engagement. It’s situations like that that really show how strong our relationships are and how much we care about each other not only as players and coaches, but also as people.”
Verdoia is now an Associate at Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, where she focuses primarily on sports litigation. When asked about advice she has for young women pursuing their own dreams, whether those dreams are the on or off the field, Verdoia made it clear that hard work is important, but it is equally important to remember that challenges are going to come up along the way and it shouldn’t diminish your fight.
“No one’s path is directly linear. It’s easy to look at someone else and think that their life is fully together, so they must have gotten there easily, or they didn’t have bumps or challenges, but that’s not the case.”
