WOMEN IN SOCCER: DANICA CAREY

Twenty Years a San Diego SeaLion – Danica Carey In The News

Formed in 1988, San Diego WFC SeaLions is one of the oldest female soccer franchises in the nation. Danica Carey first started coming to the SeaLions practices when she was in high school. After College and the WUSA folded, Carey went on to play professional soccer with Energy FC, Russia’s biggest professional women’s soccer club. But that never stopped Carey from being a San Diego SeaLion at heart.

Women’s Soccer News: Stinkers. Everyone hates them. They mark the end of hundreds of soccer practices every week around the world. Danica Carey has been doing them since she first began practicing with the WPSL San Diego SeaLions in 1995. As the name implies, “stinkers” aren’t fun, and every coach has her own version. SeaLions coach Jen Lalor makes her squad do the long ones. The players sprint from the end of the field to the 18-yard-line and return to the start. But they don’t stop there. Instead the players reverse direction again and run out to the midfield stripe, then come back. Then all the way to the other end of the field. And back. Rest for a minute. Repeat.

Carey looks to her left, then her right, at her teammates as she races the last leg of tonight’s first ‘stinker.’ Where she was once the youngest and one of the fastest, now most of the other players are younger and faster. But she is determined not to ease up and not to be the last player to finish. Carey never eases up on a soccer field. Sweat drips into her eyes and down her face as she pumps her arms, lengthens her stride and drives her feet forward.

Each “stinker” is about a quarter mile. A set of “stinkers” is at least a mile, often longer, sprinting and stopping. If the players had a good practice they will run three more ‘stinkers.’ If not, maybe four or five more. Lack of fitness has never been a problem for a Lalor-coached team.

Twenty years, twice a week, for each of the season’s 25 weeks. That totals fifty miles a year and a thousand miles behind her. Carey performs these calculations while she runs. Roughly the distance from San Diego to Lincoln, Nebraska.

“I remember when Danica first visited the University of Nebraska, as a 16-year old potential soccer recruit,” says Jen Benson, Carey’s Cornhusker teammate for three years and best friend since. “Not intimidated. Fit and fast and tough. We knew then that we wanted her to choose us.”

“I began coming to the SeaLions practices when I was in high school,” recalls Carey, who graduated All-CIF and Academic All-CIF in 1998 from San Diego’s University High School. “There I realized that nothing was more satisfying than playing as hard as one can play, working as hard as one can work, towards a common goal with 15 or 20 other girls who are all doing the same thing. I saw that same ethic at Nebraska.”

At Nebraska, Carey and Benham teamed together in one of the country’s toughest, most physical NCAA soccer conferences. “She always had my back,” Benham adds. “Always. I knew I was free to play without worrying about making mistakes. And if somebody fouled me, Danica would make them pay.”

Carey graduated from Nebraska in 2002 as a Big 12 Academic All-American with a degree in marketing, and was on the verge of signing a professional soccer contract with the WUSA’s San Diego Spirit, when the WUSA folded. At the time the SeaLions, then called Auto Trader Select, were the farm team for the Spirit and Carey was a starter and dominant center-midfielder. A dream come true, then crushed.

“When WUSA shut down, we were at the top of our games,” recalls Benson. “Women’s soccer had finally reached a point where there was something beyond college, just like men’s sports. We weren’t ready to abandon our dreams.”

So in the summer of 2004 they went to play professional soccer with Energy FC, Russia’s biggest professional women’s soccer club. “Russia! It was crazy,” Benson says with a smile. “But we also knew that it was an opportunity to experience something we’d never have the chance to do again. Alone, I wouldn’t have done it. But I knew Danica would be there with me, and I knew that together we were unbeatable. We played, we thrived, we learned, we lived.”

Early this Spring, Carey announced that the 2015 season would be her last with the SeaLions. To many people in her position, these few remaining “stinkers” would be a formality. But not Danica. Her cleats dig into the turf as she spins determinedly into the third set of sprints. Most of her teammates run ahead of her. The few behind her are gaining. Her body turns 35 in November, and it won’t miss these. But her heart just might.

“The SeaLions allowed me to play soccer at a high level, in my hometown, my entire life,” she says. “Soccer reflects the kind of life I want – hard work, playing with a team that seeks its strength together, exhibits creativity and open-mindedness, never ever gives up, and trusts each other implicitly. Whether we’re playing in front of four fans or 4000, no matter who cares. We care.”

“Danica never quits,” says Lalor, a former UNWNT and Spirit professional player who now coaches Carey after playing alongside her during the SeaLions’ 2006 WPSL Final Four season. “And she will walk through fire for her teammates. She plays hard for every single ball, whether it’s a playoff game or a pre-season practice. On her teams, every player plays that way. She inspires by her actions.”

Loyalty and relentless hard work are recurring themes when people talk about Danica Carey. “Her unceasing efforts free us, gives us the confidence, to reach deep for our best work, to move forward on the field, or off, without apprehension or fear,” says Rosie Tantillo, Carey’s SeaLion teammate for the past five years.

Before joining the SeaLions in 2011 Tantillo, a USC product, was a midfielder for FC Gold Pride of Women’s Professional Soccer, the US’s next, albeit short-lived, attempt at a women’s professional league following WUSA’s demise. “When D is on the field, we don’t worry about making a mistake because we know she will clean it up for us. And if someone fouls us, watch out. She is our wall. She has our backs.” Tantillo knows. Like Benson knew. And Lalor.

“Danica’s work ethic forces you to work has hard as she does,” agrees former UC Berkeley soccer standout Alea Kerch, Carey’s SeaLion teammate from 2005 – 2009. “We saw from her attitude and effort that she would never let us down. So it was impossible for us to risk letting her down. She refuses to lose, even in the sprints at the end of practice.”

Carey turns into the last 110 yards of the night’s final “stinker.” Her body aches. But she feels strong. The SeaLions, and Carey, have three games to play. Win them and they are into the playoffs, again. Could another WPSL championship be in the cards before Carey’s “#2” is officially retired?

Don’t bet against them, say Danica’s parents Wendy and Mike, who’ve attended most of her 200-plus SeaLions games. Mr. and Mrs. Carey founded Seirus Innovation where Danica works as Marketing Manager. Seirus designs and sells innovative, cutting-edge snowsport products. “Not because she’s our daughter,” Wendy promises, “but because we’ve seen her bring the same level of determination, grit, hard work and loyalty to our business that she’s displayed her entire life on the soccer field.”

Carey says it’s time to give her tired body a rest and focus on some new ventures, such as her business marketing career and rally-car racing. Only a few more miles of sprints lie between.

“We’ve worked hard and built an organization that is known for excellence, on and off the field,” says Carey of the SeaLions. “Our fans, our opponents, our town, our players, now expect us to make the playoffs each year, and do good things in our community. I’m proud to have had a part in building that.”

Forty-five yards to go. Carey stares straight ahead now, unblinking, leaning forward above her legs pumping powerfully beneath her, and wills herself across the endline. Another practice finished. She stops, relaxes and breathes deeply, hands on her hips and head down, eyes momentarily closed. When she opens her eyes she sees seven teammates finishing their own “stinkers.”

Saturday’s match against LA Villa will be Carey’s last home match as a SeaLion.