NWSL Rookie Report: Dual-national Diana Ordonez hits scoring milestone with North Carolina Courage

• by Ben Wiley  @wileyb99, Aug 19, 2022

Diana Ordóñez, a product of North Texas youth soccer who starred at the University of Virginia, has already set the NWSL rookie scoring record with eight goals. After frequent U.S. youth national team appearances, she switched to the Mexican national team. She entered the NWSL after being acquired by the North Carolina Courage as sixth overall in the 2022 draft.

CHILDHOOD: Born in Riverside, California, Ordoñez grew up in Prosper, Texas, as the youngest of five children of an Ecuadorian dad and Mexican mom.

YOUTH SOCCER: Ordóñez spent her formative soccer years (2010-2019) playing in the FC Dallas Girls Academy. In 2016-17, she helped her team win an ECNL national championship and was named Texas Gatorade Player of the Year.

COLLEGE: Ordóñez starred at the University of Virginia where she scored 45 goals in just three seasons, the third most in the team’s history. In 2021, she was named ACC Offensive Player of the Year, First Team All-ACC and a First Team All-American. She also was named a semifinalist for the MAC Hermann Trophy.

NATIONAL TEAMS: Ordóñez's U.S. youth national team play included winning the Concacaf U-17 Championship in 2018. Now, at senior level, she switched her allegiance to represent the Mexican national team. She made her debut for Mexico April 9, scoring two goals off the bench in the team’s 11-0 victory over Anguilla. Ordoñez has been capped six times by El Try and was part of the Mexican Concacaf W Championship team that failed to qualify for the World Cup or Olympics. At age 20, she looks likely to play a key role in the rebuilding of  El Tri's women's team.

PROFESSIONAL SOCCER: Ordoñez made her Courage debut March 19 coming off the bench in an NWSL Challenge Cup match against NJ/NY Gotham FC. She has appeared in 10 of the Courage’s 12 games this season, starting all but one. Ordoñez has been positioned either as the lone striker or as one of two starting forwards. The team cleared her starting spot by trading forwards Lynn Williams to the Kansas City Current and Jessica McDonald to Racing Louisville FC.

Ordonez is the top scorer on her team, third-most in the NWSL, and now the record holder of most goals in a season for an NWSL rookie. Unfortunately, her impressive season hasn’t translated to the team’s success as they find themselves in last place.

Next up: Saturday, Aug. 20: North Carolina Courage vs Chicago Red Stars 7:00pm. ET (Twitch)

TEAMMATE SAYS: "I am so proud of her. She works so hard day in, day out, and coming in as a rookie, it’s hard enough, and coming into a big semifinal game, I am just so proud of her.” — teammate Carson Pickett, following the team’s semifinal victory at the 2022 Challenge Cup it won. (Just Woman’s Sports)

ORDONEZ SAYS: "I had a fire in my belly after those first two [Portland] goals. This team is very motivated by seeing each other work hard – they make it really easy for me to score goals when they put them up on a platter the way that they do. When we all band together and feel that sense of togetherness when we’re playing, it just helps us come out stronger and perform better as a team. … We knew we could get ourselves out of the situation we’d put ourselves in in the second half. That’ll be huge for us moving forward.” —Diana Ordóñez (nccourage.com)