Julia Dorsey (soccer)

Julia Carroll Dorsey (born August 8, 2000) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a defender for the North Carolina Courage of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). A former two-sport athlete, she played soccer and lacrosse at the University of North Carolina, winning the 2022 NCAA tournament with the lacrosse team. She was selected by the Courage in the 2024 NWSL Draft.

Early life
Dorsey was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to Van and Jessica Dorsey, and has an older sister. She began playing soccer at age five and lacrosse shortly thereafter. Her father, a former college soccer player for the Middlebury Panthers, coached her first club soccer team beginning at age six or seven.

Dorsey played high school soccer, basketball, and lacrosse at McDonogh School, a private prep school in Owings Mills, Maryland. The lacrosse team went undefeated to win IAAM championships in 2016, 2017, and 2019, while she played at midfield; she sat out the 2018 season after suffering an ACL tear in October 2017. She won further IAAM titles with the soccer team in 2015, 2017, and 2018, playing as a forward in her first three seasons and a right back in her senior year. That year, after captaining both teams to undefeated seasons, she received All-American recognition in soccer and lacrosse and was named The Baltimore Sun High School Female Athlete of the Year. While in high school, she also played club soccer for the Bethesda Soccer Club and club lacrosse for Sky Walkers Lacrosse.

College career
Dorsey started going to the University of North Carolina in June 2019, having chosen a school where she could play both soccer and lacrosse (on a lacrosse scholarship). She joined the soccer team's starting lineup in mid-October 2019, helping the team to win the 2019 ACC tournament and reach the NCAA championship game. She was recognized by TopDrawerSoccer.com with Freshman Best XI and second-team Best XI honors. In the spring of 2020, on her debut for the lacrosse team, she became the sixth person in school history to play for both programs. As a sophomore, she started for the soccer team throughout the fall of 2020, then helped the lacrosse team go undefeated on the way to the 2021 NCAA semifinals.

Dorsey sat out the start of her junior soccer season due to injury but returned later in the year and recorded her first career goal, a tap-in to force overtime against Boston College in October 2021. In the spring of 2022, as she switched from midfield to defense, she helped the lacrosse team go undefeated to win the 2022 NCAA lacrosse championship. Later that year, she helped the soccer team reach the final of the 2022 NCAA soccer tournament, anchoring a conference-best back line and scoring the third goal in a 3–2 win over Florida State in the NCAA semifinals, but they finished runners-up in the title game. She suffered an ACL tear ending her senior lacrosse season in the spring of 2023.

Professional career
The North Carolina Courage selected Dorsey with the 40th overall pick in the third round of the 2024 NWSL Draft. She signed a three-year contract with the team in March 2024.

International career
Dorsey, who played in the Olympic Development Program in middle school, was called up to the United States national under-20 soccer team for friendlies in December 2019.