Maycee Bell
American soccer player (born 2000)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Maycee Nicole Bell (born September 18, 2000) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a center back for the North Carolina Courage of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). She played college soccer for the North Carolina Tar Heels, earning All-American honors twice. She was drafted by NJ/NY Gotham FC in the first round of the 2024 NWSL Draft, then traded to the Courage during her rookie year. She represented the United States at the youth international level.
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Bell with NJ/NY Gotham FC in 2024 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Maycee Nicole Bell[1] | ||
| Date of birth | September 18, 2000 | ||
| Place of birth | Wichita, Kansas, U.S. | ||
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | ||
| Position | Center back | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | North Carolina Courage | ||
| Number | 27 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Sporting Blue Valley | |||
| College career | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2019–2023 | North Carolina Tar Heels | 77 | (7) |
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2024 | NJ/NY Gotham FC | 8 | (1) |
| 2024– | North Carolina Courage | 26 | (0) |
| International career | |||
| 2017–2018 | United States U-19 | 2 | (0) |
| 2018–2020 | United States U-20 | 8 | (1) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals as of November 2, 2025 | |||
Early life
Bell was born in Wichita, Kansas, to former college basketball players Brett and Kristy Bell, and has five younger siblings.[1] She began playing soccer as a forward but was converted to center back at her first youth national team training camp in 2014.[2] She said she "realized I loved stopping people from scoring more than I actually loved scoring" and modeled her game partly after national team defender Becky Sauerbrunn.[2][3]
Bell played one year of high school soccer as a freshman at Trinity Academy, scoring 19 goals at forward in 14 games, and was named Kansas's Gatorade Player of the Year for 2015–16.[4][5] She moved to the Kansas City area to play year-round with ECNL club Sporting Blue Valley, which she captained from 2014 to 2017, and attended Blue Valley Southwest, Blue Valley West, and Insight School of Kansas.[1][2] Bell moved to North Carolina in her senior year to play for the North Carolina Courage Academy and would train with the Courage first team during her college off-seasons.[6]
College career
Bell started for the North Carolina Tar Heels from her first week in 2019, when she was named the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Defensive Player of the Week.[7] She scored a career-high three goals as a freshman, including one in the ACC tournament final and one during the NCAA tournament, where the team finished runners-up.[8][9] She was named ACC Freshman of the Year, second-team All-ACC, and third-team All-American.[1] She was named to the All-ACC first team for fall 2020, and she recovered from ankle surgery to return in the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament that spring.[1][10]
Bell was named first-team All-ACC and second-team All-American as a junior in 2021, though she injured her left ankle in the pensultimate regular-season game.[11][12] She sat out the following season after tearing her meniscus in the first game of 2022.[13] She returned for a fifth year to co-captain North Carolina as a redshirt senior and was named to the All-ACC second team in 2023.[1]
Club career
Gotham FC
Reigning NWSL champions NJ/NY Gotham FC selected Bell with the 14th overall pick in the first round of the 2024 NWSL Draft, their sole pick of the night.[14] She was signed to a three-year contract.[15] On March 15, she made her professional debut as a substitute in the NWSL Challenge Cup, a 1–0 loss to the San Diego Wave.[16] She made her first regular-season appearance on April 20, coming in for Bruninha in a 2–1 away defeat to the Washington Spirit.[17] She earned her first start on May 8, taking Bruninha's place in a 1–0 win against the Houston Dash.[18] On June 19, she scored her first professional goal in late stoppage time against the San Diego Wave, finishing off Jenna Nighswonger's cross to secure a 2–1 victory.[19] She started four games in the NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup, helping Gotham advance to the final. In half a season with Gotham, she made 13 appearances (7 starts) and scored 1 goal in all competitions.[20]
North Carolina Courage
On August 21, 2024, Gotham FC traded Bell to the North Carolina Courage for $80,000 in allocation money and $10,000 in intra-league transfer funds.[21] She debuted for her former youth club on September 8, substituting late for Felicitas Rauch in a 4–1 win against the San Diego Wave.[22]
Bell made her first start for the Courage on March 22, 2025, playing left back in the home-opening 2–1 loss to the Seattle Reign.[23] On April 13, she made her first Courage start at center back after Malia Berkely was a late scratch against Gotham FC.[24] North Carolina head coach Sean Nahas, who had coached her with the Courage Academy, subsequently trusted her as a regular starter.[25] On May 3, she won all eight duels and three tackles during a 2–0 win over the Utah Royals, becoming the first NWSL player in five years to go 100% in those statistics on that many attempts.[25] She finished the season with 24 appearances, starting 21, as the Courage placed ninth and missed the playoffs.[26] On December 5, the Courage announced that they had signed Bell to a contract extension through 2028.[27]
International career
Bell trained with the United States youth national team beginning at the under-16 level in 2014.[1] She scored for the under-20 team in a friendly in March 2019 and recorded an assist at the 2020 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship, which the United States won.[28][29] She received her first call-up with the senior national team in December 2019 but had to miss the camp due to injury.[30]
Honors and awards
North Carolina Tar Heels
Individual
- Second-team All-American: 2021
- Third-team All-American: 2019
- First-team All-ACC: 2020, 2021
- Second-team All-ACC: 2019, 2023
- ACC Freshman of the Year: 2019
- ACC tournament all-tournament team: 2019
