Hal Hershfelt

Katherine Hailey "Hal" Hershfelt (born October 3, 2001) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for the Washington Spirit of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). She played college soccer for the Clemson Tigers and was selected fifth overall by the Spirit in the 2024 NWSL Draft.

Early life
Hershfelt was born in San Diego, California, in a military family, and has a younger brother. Her family moved often, living in Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Mississippi. During high school, she moved from Florida to Georgia to play club soccer for Concorde Fire Soccer Club of the Elite Clubs National League (ECNL) and attended Lassiter High School in Marietta, Georgia. Around that time, she recovered from tearing her ACL and meniscus, which limited her college prospects. She committed to play for Clemson University in early 2017.

College career
Hershfelt played five seasons as a defensive midfielder for the Clemson Tigers from 2019 to 2023, earning third-team All-ACC honors as a sophomore, second-team All-ACC as a junior and senior, and first-team All-ACC as a graduate student. In her last year at Clemson, she led the Tigers to the semifinals of the 2023 NCAA tournament and was named to the all-tournament team.

USL W League, 2022–2023
During the summer of 2022, Hershfelt joined the amateur club Greenville Liberty in inaugural USL W League season. The Liberty placed first in the South Atlantic Division and qualified for the 2022 USL W League national semifinals.

The following summer, Hershfelt joined Indy Eleven's USL W League team for the 2023 USL W League season. Indy would go on to win the league championship.

Washington Spirit, 2024–
The Washington Spirit selected Hershfelt with the 5th overall pick in the 2024 NWSL Draft; the Spirit traded Ashley Sanchez to the North Carolina Courage for the pick and US$250,000 in allocation money on draft night. She signed a three-year contract with the Spirit in March 2024. She made her debut as a starter in the season opener against Seattle Reign FC on March 17. The next week, she scored her first professional goal to equalize in a 2–1 home win over Bay FC on March 23. She equalized again in a 3–1 comeback win away at the Houston Dash on April 12.

International career
Hershfelt was called into training camp with the United States national team in June 2024, her first national team call-up at any level. Later that month she was named as an alternate to the national team for the 2024 Summer Olympics in France.