Story By Connor Downs - Rush Soccer: Retired professional women’s soccer player and former U.S. international Yael Averbuch joined Rush Soccer to chat with players, coaches and fans on Instagram during the COVID-19 health crisis.
Soccer has taken Averbuch from the suburbs of Newark, N.J., to the crowded streets of Moscow and more. Averbuch’s list of clubs she represented is as long as it is impressive. What’s more impressive, is the list of accolades, trophies, and records racked up during her illustrious playing career.
Averbuch is currently the Executive Director and founder of the NWSL Players Association, where she represents the players of the NWSL and continues to propel women's soccer forward. Averbuch also founded TechNe, a training mobile app that specializes in technical ability with the ball and individual training sessions from home.
As a professional player, Averbuch found success wherever she went. She was drafted into Women's Professional Soccer, where she lifted two league champion titles with Sky Blue FC. Averbuch spent the 2012-13 seasons overseas, playing in Russia and Sweden.
In 2014 Averbuch joined the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), playing with the Washington Spirit, FC Kansas City and the Seattle Reign.
As a student-athlete with the University of North Carolina, Averbuch won two national championships (2006 and 2008), set the NCAA record for most consecutive starts (105), and scored the fastest goal in women's collegiate soccer history (a record that stood for more than 10 years). In 2007 as a sophomore, Averbuch made her first U.S. Women’s National Team appearance and by 2010 she was a permanent member of the team. After four years at UNC, her number was retired, forever cementing Averbuch among the greatest to ever play at UNC.
With a reputation for developing elite youth players into American internationals like Lindsey Horan (Colorado Rush) and Christian Pulisic (Michigan Rush), Rush Soccer offers a developmental and competitive structure for more than 40,000 active players and coaches across more than 50 U.S.-based and international clubs, and an exclusive academic and elite soccer training partnership with the Combine Academy in North Carolina. For more information on Rush Soccer, please visit RushSoccer.com and follow Rush Soccer on Twitter and Instagram and subscribe to the Rush Soccer YouTube channel.