Evelyn Shores

Last updated

Evelyn Shores
UNC vs VT (Nov 2024) 09 (Shores).jpg
Shores with North Carolina in 2024
Personal information
Date of birth (2004-12-29) December 29, 2004 (age 20)
Place of birth Denver, Colorado, U.S.
Height 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Position(s) Left back, midfielder
Team information
Current team
Angel City
Number 15
College career
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
2023–2024 North Carolina Tar Heels 23 (5)
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
2025 North Carolina Courage U23 3 (0)
2025– Angel City 4 (0)
International career
2019 United States U-15 1 (0)
2022 United States U-20 2 (0)
2025 United States U-23 2 (1)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of August 21, 2025
‡ National team caps and goals as of June 4, 2025

Evelyn Shores (born December 29, 2004) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a left back for Angel City FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). She played college soccer for the North Carolina Tar Heels and helped the team to the 2024 national championship, ending a 12-year drought. She has played for the United States at the youth international level.

Contents

Early life

Shores was born in Denver, Colorado, to Debbie and Steven Shores, and has two older siblings. [1] After the family moved to Atlanta, Georgia, she began playing soccer for Tophat SC when she was four years old. She stayed with the club through high school, playing two or three age groups up. [2] She attended the Westminster Schools, where she lettered in basketball and led the soccer team to three straight state titles. In her senior season, she scored 27 goals with 24 assists and was named to the Just Women's Sports All-America team. [1] [3] She was ranked by TopDrawerSoccer as the seventh-best player of her class, part of North Carolina's top-ranked 2023 recruiting class. [4]

College career

Shores made 13 appearances (6 starts) in her freshman season with the North Carolina Tar Heels before sustaining an anterior cruciate ligament injury against Wake Forest, ruling her out for the rest of the 2023 season. She had 4 goals and 3 assists and was named to the ACC all-freshman team. [1] [5] She returned to the field for the last ten games of her sophomore season in 2024. In the NCAA tournament, she scored her first goal since her injury and assisted Olivia Thomas during a 3–0 third-round win against Minnesota. She averaged 45 minutes off the bench during the NCAA tournament, playing 44 in the final against Wake Forest as North Carolina won its 23rd national title and first since 2012. [1] [6]

After her sophomore season, she played for the North Carolina Courage U23 in the summertime USL W League. [7] She also played for the US Women team at the Soccer Tournament 2025 and scored the winning goal in the US$1 million final, although she could not share in the prize money due to NCAA rules. [8]

Club career

Angel City

On July 10, 2025, Angel City FC announced that the club had signed Shores to her first professional contract on a three-and-a-half-year deal. [9] She spoke with multiple NWSL teams before visiting Angel City and deciding not to return to college. [10] She made her professional debut on August 1, starting in a 2–0 loss to the Seattle Reign. [11]

International career

Shores began training with the United States youth national team at the under-14 level in 2017. [12] The next year, she helped the under-15 team win the 2018 CONCACAF Girls' U-15 Championship. She went on to train with the under-16 and under-17 teams before the youth national programs went on hiatus during the COVID-19 pandemic. [13] She played for the under-20 team at the 2022 Sud Ladies Cup, which the team won, but was not selected to the final roster for the 2022 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup. [2]

Shores was called into training camp with the under-23 team, practicing alongside the senior national team, in March 2025. [14] In June 2025, as the only college player on a team of under-23 professionals, she scored a stoppage-time game winner against the Germany under-23s. [15]

Career statistics

As of August 21, 2025
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
ClubSeasonLeagueCup [a] Playoffs [b] Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Angel City FC 2025 NWSL 4040
Career total40000040

Honors and awards

North Carolina Tar Heels

United States U15

United States U20

Individual

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Evelyn Shores". North Carolina Tar Heels . Retrieved December 19, 2024.
  2. 1 2 Suitts, Phillip (December 23, 2022). "USWNT hopeful Evelyn Shores known for her creative magic". Just Women's Sports . Retrieved December 19, 2024.
  3. Suitts, Phillip (June 30, 2022). "Seven seniors headline inaugural JWS soccer All-American teams". Just Women's Sports . Retrieved December 19, 2024.
  4. "Final 2023 Women's DI Recruiting Rankings". TopDrawerSoccer . August 14, 2023. Retrieved June 11, 2025.
  5. Moon, Emma (November 25, 2024). "UNC women's soccer's Evelyn Shores scores breakthrough goal against Minnesota". The Daily Tar Heel . Retrieved December 19, 2024.
  6. Koh, Michael (December 9, 2024). "UNC Women's Soccer Beats Wake Forest to Win 23rd National Championship". Chapelboro.com . Retrieved December 9, 2024.
  7. "NC Courage U23". USL W League . Retrieved June 11, 2025.
  8. Pelit, Asli (July 11, 2025). "Who is Evelyn Shores? Meet the USWNT youth player winning NCAA titles and scoring $1m goals". The Athletic . Retrieved June 11, 2025.
  9. "Angel City Signs U-23 WNT Player Evelyn Shores". Angel City FC. July 10, 2025. Retrieved July 10, 2025.
  10. Pelit, Asli (July 10, 2025). "Angel City bets on future, signing Evelyn Shores: 'When we break through, it's going to be spectacular'". The Athletic . Retrieved July 10, 2025.
  11. "Angel City FC shut out in Seattle as NWSL resumes". Orange County Register . August 2, 2025. Retrieved August 3, 2025.
  12. Eskilson, J.R. (September 15, 2017). "U.S. U14 GNT Sept. Camp Notes". TopDrawerSoccer . Retrieved December 19, 2024.
  13. "U16 GNT roster for trip to Europe". United States Soccer Federation. June 12, 2019. Retrieved December 19, 2024 via TopDrawerSoccer .
    "U17 WNT heads to Florida for training camp". United States Soccer Federation. February 12, 2020. Retrieved December 19, 2024 via TopDrawerSoccer .
    "US U20 WNT Camp Roster – October". United States Soccer Federation. October 7, 2021. Retrieved December 19, 2024 via TopDrawerSoccer .
  14. "24 Players Called Up for U.S. U-23 Women's National Team Training Camp in Los Angeles". United States Soccer Federation. March 26, 2025. Retrieved March 26, 2025.
  15. "U.S. Under-23 Women's National Team Defeats Germany, 2-1, on Late Goal from Evelyn Shores". United States Soccer Federation. March 2, 2025. Retrieved June 11, 2025.