Emily Spreeman (née Cressy; born August 30, 1989) is an American soccer player for the United States women's deaf national team. A forward, she is the deaf national team's all-time leading scorer.
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Birth name | Emily Ann Cressy[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | August 30, 1989[2] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m)[3] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Forward | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Eagles SC | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| College career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2007–2010 | Kansas Jayhawks | 60 | (23) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| International career‡ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2005– | US Deaf WNT | 24 | (33) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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| ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of June 1, 2024 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Spreeman was raised in Ventura, California, and attended Buena High School. She played college soccer for the Kansas Jayhawks, where she was named the Big 12 Conference Rookie of the Year in 2008. With the deaf national team, she is a two-time Deaflympics gold medalist (2005 and 2021) and two-time World Deaf Football Champion (2016 and 2023).
Youth and college career
editSpreeman began playing soccer when she was four.[4] At age eight, she joined Eagles Soccer Club of Camarillo, California, and won the US Youth Soccer National Championships with the team at the under-14 level in 2004 and under-17 in 2007.[5][6] She scored two goals in the final of the latter tournament and received the Golden Boot as the event's top player.[6][7] She also played for the regional Cal-South Olympic Development Program (ODP) team, where she was a teammate of future national team player Alex Morgan.[4][3] While in high school, she was called up to the deaf national team at age 15.[8]
Spreeman played two years of high school soccer at Buena High School after she transferred from Ventura. Her teammates learned sign language to communicate with her on and off the field. In her senior year in 2007, she was converted from midfielder to striker and recorded 16 goals and 11 assists.[9] She led the team into the playoffs, winning the Channel League and making the CIF Southern Section semi-finals, and was named first-team All-CIF and the Ventura County Star's player of the year.[4][9]
Kansas Jayhawks, 2007–2010
editSpreeman played college soccer for the Jayhawks at the University of Kansas. The university provided her with sign language interpreters for classes, practices, games, and interviews; on the field, she also read the lips of her teammates and coaches. She redshirted her first year, practicing with the team but traveling with them only for an exhibition series in Brazil in the spring. In the 2008 season, she scored in her first official game against Purdue and led the team with five goals by the seventh game.[5] At the end of the season, with eight goals, she was named the Big 12 Conference Rookie of the Year and the USA Deaf Sports Federation Sportswoman of the Year and received national all-rookie recognition from Soccer America, SoccerBuzz, and TopDrawerSoccer.[3][10]
In the 2009 season, Spreeman led the team with 12 goals, tied for second best in program history at the time, and was named to the United Soccer Coaches all-region third team.[3][10] In the summer of 2010, she won her third national title with her club team, Eagles, at the USASA under-23 championships, recording the game-winning assist in the final.[6] She concluded her college career in 2010 with 23 career goals, seventh in program history as of 2023, and six assists.[11]
International career
editSpreeman has represented the United States internationally in deaf soccer since the age of 15, when she started all six matches in the team's gold medal-winning debut at the 2005 Summer Deaflympics in Australia. She received the Golden Boot and Golden Ball at the 2016 World Deaf Football Championships in Italy, where the United States won gold.[8] She also won gold at the 2021 Deaflympics in Brazil.[12] She led the team to win the 2023 World Deaf Football Championships in Malaysia, scoring 13 goals in six games, and repeated as the tournament's Golden Boot and Golden Ball winner.[4] For her performance, she was also named U.S. Soccer's first Female Deaf Player of the Year in 2023.[13]
Spreeman set a single-game team record with six goals against Australia on June 1, 2024, in an exhibition double header with the women's national team.[14] As of 2024, she is the deaf national team's all-time leading scorer and the only active player from the team's original roster at the 2005 Deaflympics.[8]
Personal life
editSpreeman was raised in Ventura, California, one of three daughters of Rick and Rhonda Cressy.[3] She was born very hearing-impaired, which her family discovered when she was nine months old, and originally wore hearing aids in both ears and learned to speak. During her second year of high school, the little hearing she had in her right ear disappeared, after which she became increasingly deaf.[5][15]
As of 2023[update], Spreeman lives in Newport Beach, California. Outside of soccer, she works as a spa esthetician.[4]
References
edit- ^ "Emily Cressy SPREEMAN". Archived from the original on January 27, 2023.
- ^ "2016 Best Sportsmen and Sportswomen Award Finalists". CISS. December 19, 2016. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
- ^ a b c d e "Emily Cressy". Kansas Jayhawks. Archived from the original on June 15, 2024. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
- ^ a b c d e Baxter, Kevin (November 7, 2023). "Emily Spreeman has been a game-changer for U.S. Soccer and deaf athletes". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
- ^ a b c Hays, Graham (September 22, 2008). "Kansas' Cressy defies life's challenges to find success on, off field". ESPN. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
- ^ a b c DeLay, Jackson (August 16, 2010). "Cressy wins third title with Eagles Soccer Club". The University Daily Kansan. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
- ^ "Gatlin plans to appeal doping ban". Los Angeles Times. July 30, 2007. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
- ^ a b c "U.S. Women's Deaf National Team Beats Australia 11–0 in Historic Match with Record-Setting Six-Goal Performance from Emily Spreeman". United States Soccer Federation. June 1, 2024. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
- ^ a b Potkey, Rhiannon (April 7, 2007). "A striking difference". Ventura County Star. Retrieved June 8, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b Buckner, Candace (July 24, 2010). "She sounds like a star". The Kansas City Star. Retrieved June 8, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Kansas Soccer 2023 Record Book" (PDF). Kansas Jayhawks. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
- ^ "Emily Cressy Spreeman". Deaflympics. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
- ^ "U.S. Soccer Announces Winners of 2023 Player of the Year Awards for Extended National Teams". United States Soccer Federation. January 10, 2024. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
- ^ Rothschild (June 2, 2024). "U.S. Deaf Women's National Team using Colorado showcase as platform to reach kids". Denver7. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
- ^ Temple, Jesse (September 12, 2008). "Jayhawk soccer forward enjoying better days". KUsports.com. Retrieved June 8, 2024.