Having only been in the competition for just over half a season, Shea Connors has already left her mark in the #NPLWNSW.
Leading the league scoring charts with nine goals, the APIA attacker has been in fine form for Spencer Prior’s team in 2022 and a fantastic addition.
Connors, an American, was born in Connecticut, USA, where she grew up taking her first football steps with her twin sister Keenan at the age of five.
Her next move saw her go to the Big Apple, New York City, where she attended St John’s University to kick start her college football (soccer) career, a major contributor to her game.
“The college system helped me improve my game so much. It’s essentially professional football + school. Your world revolves around soccer. Every single day you have something for your team whether it’s training, gym, meetings, recovery, travel, or several of those things all in one day,” said Connors.
“You also have coaches who are dedicated to you full-time. Everything is filmed down to the trainings – so at all times you are performing! It is extremely competitive as a few years I had close to 30 teammates competing for starting 11 spots. I learned so much from my college soccer coaches and my college strength coach – on and off the field.”
The potent attacker almost hung the boots up early after a stint in Iceland post her college career, but a call from warmer pastures, saw her come Down Under and take Australia by storm.
“I had some offers to go to Europe again, but I had been so cold in Iceland I needed a change. I almost decided to stop playing and work full time when I had a friend who had a connection to the Queensland NPL. I chatted with coaches that were, sent my CVs and I ended up deciding on Logan Lightning. They flew me out and I owe a lot to Nick Croyden, who was the head coach at the time, for taking the risk on me,” Connors said.
Her performances for Logan Lightning in that first season were near incredible, scoring goals at will and earning her a call up with the Liberty A-League side Brisbane Roar.
For Connors, the Liberty A League and US College system bore many similarities.
“The A league competition is similar in ways to the US college system! I feel like the US college system had a huge focus on fitness and physicality. It’s always hard for me to compare this when asked but the games are both very competitive and fast paced.”
The numbers that Connors was putting up in the Queensland NPL competition caught the eye of others, APIA Leichhardt being the quickest to react and sign the goal scoring machine.
And Connors is enjoying every moment in Sydney’s Inner-West.
“I decided I needed a bit of change for my next season. Last year I played for Lions and had a really successful year, and just wanted a new challenge to keep me ready for another A league season! Life with APIA is great, the club were amazing at getting me settled in,” Connors said.
“We had an interesting start to the season but now we are really on a roll and connecting! The girls are great and APIA really supports women’s football which is really amazing to see. Even at our Thursday night game last week we had almost every youth girls team up to our reserves cheering us on. That was really special. Not ever club has that, and that makes APIA really special.”
With APIA’s rise in form recently, the club are able to aim for the top again and Connors believes the team has the quality, despite some hurdles they will face along the way.
“I think we’ve got so much potential. I think we can go very far! It’s great to be in the top 4 now and I believe we can maintain that but we all obviously would love to work for that top spot,” said Connors.
“We are missing some key players in the coming weeks for Matildas/Young Matildas callups that will definitely create some new challenges.”
The NSW Women’s NPL prides itself on being one of the strongest in the country and Connors agrees with that statement.
“The NSW NPL competition is very competitive, it’s great to see so many A-League players mixed up on different teams. This keeps the competition really high each game!”
Connors has hopes of returning to the Liberty A-League for the 2022-23 season but also long term goals of going back to the United States.
“My personal goal is to be back in the a league for the near future at least! I think one day I might want to go back home to the states and play in the NWSL! However I love Australia and playing here,” said Connors.
-By NPL NSW Women’s Chief Writer and Commentator Nikola Pozder