State and club teams
Wheeler was a soccer player for various New South Wales regional leagues teams. She started with Granville and Districts' team, Wentworthville Uniting Church as a junior. [3] At 13 she joined another Granville districts side, Wenty Waratahs seniors (1981–1985), which was followed by Southern Districts teams: Chipping Norton (1986, as a defender/midfielder), Blacktown (1987–1988, first played as goalkeeper) and Melita Eagles (1989–1990). [1] She was goalkeeper for the New South Wales state team in their 1-0 win over South Queensland for the national title in 1988. [4]
After 1991, Wheeler spent most of her club career in Western Australian teams. [1] [5] Her club teams include stints with Morley-Windmills SC for 1991–1992, [5] Forrestfield United SC (1993–1995) and then Fremantle United (1995–1996). The player joined the Western Australia State Senior team in 1991–1992 and 1995–1996.. [1] As there were no AIS-aligned teams in Perth, she switched to SASI Pirates in South Australia from 1997 to 2000. [5] The latter team won the Women's National Soccer League championship for 1998–99. [7] : 113 Her next team was Murdoch University (1998–2002), where a third knee injury resulted in her retirement from soccer.
International career
Wheeler played for the Australia women's national soccer team (initially dubbed "Female Socceroos", later the "Matildas") from 1989 to 2000 for a total of 49 caps. [1] [7] : 130 She first played for the Female Socceroos in the 1989 OFC Women's Championship match against New Zealand, held in Brisbane on 26 March; New Zealand won 0–3. [8] Subsequently Australia finished third overall. [8] Their coach Steve Darby named Wheeler for the squad for the 1991 OFC Women's Championship held in May in Sydney. [9] [10] [11] Australian had equal points with New Zealand, however due to an inferior goal difference the Female Socceroos finished second. [11] As the tournament was the qualifier for 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup, Australia missed out on the first women's world cup. [11]
Her next game for the Australians was in the 1994 OFC Women's Championship in Papua New Guinea in October, with Tom Sermanni coaching. [12] They lost their first game against New Zealand, but won the second. [12] Wheeler's team won both games against the hosts, Papua New Guinea. [12] As Australia's goal difference was superior to New Zealand they won the tournament and qualified for the 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup – their first appearance. [13] At that world cup, held in Sweden in June, the Matildas lost all three group stage games and were eliminated. [13]
For the 1998 OFC Women's Championship, held in New Zealand in October, Wheeler only played in the first game, which was a 21–0 victory against American Samoa – the Matildas highest ever score. [14] She was replaced by Belinda Kitching for the rest of the tournament, which Australia won, again. [14] Upon winning that championship, Matildas qualified for the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup in the United States in June–July. [15] Wheeler only kept for the first group stage game – a 1–1 draw against Ghana. [15] Australia, with Kitching, lost the remaining two group matches and were eliminated. [15]
As the host nation the Matildas automatically qualified for the 2000 Summer Olympics with Wheeler in the squad. [16] In their group they faced Germany (0–3), Sweden (1-1) and Brazil (1–2) – they finished bottom of their group and were eliminated. [16] Wheeler retired from international football after the Olympics. During her tenure as Australia's goalkeeper she maintained 16 clean sheets. [7] : 130 In 2008 she was inducted into the Football Federation of Australia's Hall of Fame. [17]
