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Hannah Beard

Hannah Beard (born 22 August 1988) is an English association football player, who played for Liverpool Ladies in the English FA Women's Premier League, Santa Clarita Blue Heat and Los Angeles Strikers in the American USL W League, Brisbane Roar, Newcastle Jets, and Western Sydney Wanderers in the Australian W-League, and Illawarra Stingrays, North Shore Mariners, and UNSW FC in the National Premier Leagues NSW Women's. She also played college soccer for Saint Leo Lions.

College career

Beard played in college for Saint Leo Lions in the Sunshine State Conference (SSC) for four years between 2006 and 2009. During here time, she won many accolades, including NSCAA All-American and SSC Player of the Year in 2008. She finished her college career as the program leader in games played, assists, points, and multiple-goal games after playing 76 games, scoring 46 goals including 10 multiple-goal games, and accumulating 31 assists and 123 total points.[1] She was also an All-Sunshine State Conference selection every year and set numerous records, including single-season record for assists.[2] In February 2024, Beard was inducted into the hall of fame, with her record assists in a single season still intact and while still the all-time leader in assists and games played.[3]

Personal life

Beard was born in Liverpool to an Everton-supporting family.[4]

Club career

Youth

From the age of 9 until 17, Beard played for Liverpool, making the senior squad in her last year and playing in the FA Women's Premier League.[4][5]

United States

In 2011, Beard played for USL W League club Santa Clarita Blue Heat.[6] She scored her debut goal as the first goal for the club in the season opener.[7] She then continued to score goals periodically during the season.[8][9][10]

In May 2012, Beard joined archrival Los Angeles Strikers[11] after spending the off-season with English club Durham, where she was top-scorer.[12]

Australia

Beard (right) playing for Brisbane Roar in 2013

In October 2012, Beard moved to Australia, joining W-League club Brisbane Roar for the 2012–13 W-League season.[13]

The following season, Beard joined Newcastle Jets.[14]

For the 2014 W-League season, Beard joined Western Sydney Wanderers.[15] Alongside American Keelin Winters, she was one of the two foreign players playing for the club that season.[16] Both players extended with the club for the 2015–16 W-League season and were joined by two more visa signings.[17] Following two seasons with the club, Beard departed ahead of the 2016–17 W-League season.[18]

In 2018, Beard played for Illawarra Stingrays in the National Premier Leagues NSW Women's.[19] She then re-signed with the club for the 2019 season.[20] A notable point of the season was when after 10 weeks on the sidelines due to glandular fever, Beard returned to the field to score a hat-trick.[21]

In 2020, Beard joined North Shore Mariners.[22] She helped the club start the league positively, sitting top of the ladder after six matches, winning every one of them.[4] She stayed with the club until 2022, with their name changing to Northbridge Bulls.[23]

In September 2023, Beard re-signed with UNSW FC for another season with the club.[24] She then re-signed for a third year in March 2024.[25][26]

References

  1. ^ "Hannah Beard". Saint Leo Lions. Retrieved 5 March 2025.
  2. ^ "Saint Leo Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2018 Pt. 2". The Lions' Pride. 22 September 2018.
  3. ^ "Saint Leo Announces Hall of Fame Class of 2024". Saint Leo Lions. 1 February 2024.
  4. ^ a b c Stavroulakis, Mark (1 September 2020). "Hannah Beard hitting her targets at red-hot North Shore Mariners". Football NSW.
  5. ^ "LFC Ladies Squad 2004/2005". LFC Ladies.net. Archived from the original on 17 September 2003. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
  6. ^ "Hannah Beard". Western Sydney Wanderers. 13 October 2015. Her American debut came in the USL W-League with Santa Clarita Blue Heat in 2011
  7. ^ "Blue Heat Wins Season Opener". KHTS. 23 May 2011.
  8. ^ French, Scott (3 June 2011). "LOCALS: Seahorses, Blue Heat step up". ESPN. destroyed archrival L.A. Strikers, 7-2, after scoring three goals -- by Hannah Beard
  9. ^ Jones, Connie (29 June 2011). "Santa Clarita Blue Heat Women's Soccer Team Stays Unbeaten". KHTS. Hannah Beard and Edite Fernandes each had a goal and an assist for the Blue Heat.
  10. ^ Douglas, Alan (24 July 2011). "Whitecaps FC women defeat Santa Clarita Blue Heat 4-3 in thrilling W-League Western Conference Final". Whitecaps FC. the rebound came out to Beard at the edge of the 18-yard box, and she fired in to make it 3-2.
  11. ^ von Winckelmann, Debby (14 May 2012). "New faces shape 2012 LA Strikers". The Equalizer. Beard is an international from the UK, where she currently plays for the Durham Wildcats. She joins the Strikers after playing for the Santa Clarita Blue Heat last season
  12. ^ Brown, Spencer (2 February 2012). "Wildcats march into FA Cup third round against the odds". Palatinate. In under half an hour Durham had twice breached the Wednesday defence, despite being without injured top-scorer Hannah Beard.
  13. ^ "Roar finalise W-League squad". Brisbane Roar. 17 October 2012. Coach Wilson has also added English striker Hannah Beard to the squad
  14. ^ "Peter McGuinness announces Newcastle Jets squad". The Women's Game. 15 October 2013. In addition to the local players, the squad has been bolstered by the addition of Queenslanders Hannah Beard...who have previously played in the Westfield W-League with heavyweights Brisbane Roar.
  15. ^ "Wanderers new squad to benefit Western Sydney". Western Sydney Wanderers. 5 September 2014. ...new visa signing Hannah Beard...
  16. ^ Connellan, Matthew (1 October 2014). "America's Keelin Winters and England's Hannah Beard settle in at Western Sydney Wanderers". The Daily Telegraph.
  17. ^ "US superstar returns to Wanderers". Western Sydney Wanderers. 25 September 2015. Archived from the original on 15 May 2021. Retrieved 13 July 2021. The 26-year-old joins Hannah Beard...
  18. ^ Cocciolone, Cassandra (4 November 2016). "Season 9 Preview: Western Sydney Wanderers". The Women's Game. Archived from the original on 29 September 2017. Retrieved 29 September 2017. Joining them on the 'Outs' for the Red & Black are...Hannah Beard
  19. ^ Cohen, Mitch (7 May 2018). "Cooper, Beard fire for Illawarra". Illawarra Mercury.
  20. ^ Greco, John (12 March 2019). "Westfield Matildas star returns to WNPL club in NSW". National Premier Leagues. ...are all returning for 2019, as well as English-born striker Hannah Beard.
  21. ^ Mee, Cameron (1 July 2019). "Beard hat-trick fuels Illawarra Stingrays rout over Bankstown". Illawarra Mercury.
  22. ^ "NPL 2 NSW Women's 2020 Season Preview". Football NSW. 2 March 2020. head coach Grant Lee has lent on experience for his squad with W-League stars...alongside proven talent in Hannah Beard
  23. ^ "Football NSW League One Women's Season 2022 Preview". Football NSW. 17 February 2022. When you have the likes of quality footballers like Hannah Beard
  24. ^ "Re-signed Liverpool's Hannah Beard". UNSW FC. 28 September 2023 – via Instagram.
  25. ^ "2024 NPL Women's NSW Season Preview". NPL NSW. 26 February 2024. Key to UNSW's success will be the retention of striker Hannah Beard
  26. ^ "𝗦𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗕𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟰". UNSW FC. 19 March 2024 – via Facebook.