At midnight under the running lights of Fetzer field, the UNC women’s soccer team plays a pick up game organized by a young, relatively unknown player: Tobin Heath. Having won a national championship earlier that day, UNC’s head soccer Coach Anson Dorrance was amazed to find his team still eager to play. But he was hardly surprised by who arranged it. “She [Tobin] missed her teammates, she missed the ball and she missed the game.”

Heath’s love of soccer began at age four in Basking Ridge, New Jersey but she was ultimately drawn further south to the soccer powerhouse of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Carolina’s baby blue suited Heath as she began her career. Here, she developed her classic Brazilian style of play: fancy footwork, artful dribbling and the best ball control in the game. Heath also earned herself the title as the queen of nutmegs.

Dorrance says that this, alongside her love of the ball and love of the game, is what distinguishes her from other players, “She is a master of the ball. She absolutely loves the ball, she can do anything with it and I think that’s what sets her apart.

And Tobin Heath is a player unique from the rest. As an undergrad, she was named to the Academic All-ACC Women's Soccer Team as well as the All-Tournament Team at the NCAA College Cup in her freshman season. During her college career, she led her team to three NCAA championships and four ACC championships.

Her career hasn’t slowed down as she moved onto the international stage. Throughout her time in college, Heath simultaneously played for the youth national team. She eventually claimed a spot on the United States’ senior national team in 2008. Heath was named to the Olympic team that year as the youngest player on the roster at age 20.

Since then, she’s played in two more Olympics (2012, 2016) and will be competing in her third World Cup this summer (2011, 2015, 2019). In total, she’s made 149 international appearances, scoring 29 goals and making 37 assists. Heath holds two Olympic gold medals and a World Cup title.

Coach Dorrance suspects Heath’s star power thus far is just a glimpse of things to come. This summer, Dorrance expects to see true greatness, “She certainly showed me her love of the ball and the game when she was here, now you’re seeing her in full flower coming into this World Cup as one of the world’s greatest players.”