Alongside the Win, a Milestone for Forward Casey Phair

Casey Phair’s debut on Friday was a long time coming. 

The 17-year-old made her professional debut tonight in a 2–0 win on the road against Bay FC, subbing in for Messiah Bright in the 66th minute.

“It was surreal,” said Phair after the game. “I feel like I've worked so hard since I've gotten here—I don't think I've had to work so hard in my life. To have that pay off now today was really great. I’m very proud.”

The jump to the NWSL hasn’t been easy for Phair, who skipped college to go pro straight from her youth club after representing South Korea in the 2023 World Cup.

“The transition from club to professional is crazy,” Phair said earlier this week. “Learning to be a professional, it's obviously such a different environment, and there's certain things that professionals do that youth club athletes don't.”

Off the field, that looks like hitting the weights and giving more attention to recovery; on the field, Phair has been putting in extra work after the team trains. “It's only ten minutes but it still gives you that much more,” she says. “For a couple of weeks I did extra finishing and following that, I felt so much more confident, and the shots were going in. It really does help a lot, and not only does it help technically, but helps your confidence, just getting a lot of reps.”

But perhaps above all, there’s a shift in mentality from the youth level. “Just coming to training every day with the mentality that you want to get better, as well, is something I've adapted to get better at,” she says.

“This past month especially, I've put in a lot of extra work just to be that little bit better, and I think I have worked really hard.”

First Assistant Coach Eleri Earnshaw agrees, praising Phair’s work ethic. “I think the last few weeks she's really kind of tuned into what it takes to be a professional at this level,” she says. “It's been a little bit of an ‘aha’ moment for her, I think, in this part of the season. She has been working her socks off.”

In the fast-paced, physical NWSL, it’s rarely enough for forwards to score goals; they also need a high defensive work rate and a willingness to pressure opponents when out of possession.

The New Jersey-raised Phair has taken that to heart in training, where she’s not only been taking chances on goal, but “she's been pressing like we've asked her to press and her work rate has been consistent,” Earnshaw says. “I think if those things are there and she's doing the things we're asking her to do then she's earned an opportunity.”

Head Coach Becki Tweed had some words of encouragement for Phair during the game. “I said to her before she went on that she had to remember the moment, because you only get one professional debut," said Tweed after the game. "She worked hard for it. I said all along that she was going to earn it, and she did.”

For Phair and the coaching staff, tonight was just another milestone of many more to come. “Your first game is always the one to get your nerves out of your system,” said Tweed. “To be able to get her on for about 30 minutes, at the age of 17, is the first step in the right direction for her. She’s been working incredibly hard in training. The team was excited for her coming onto the field, and it was a big highlight of tonight.”

Perhaps the only thing sweeter than her debut was the result: the team’s second win in a row and a shutout against a team that had won their two previous meetings.

“We got the result that we wanted, and I think the big takeaway from this game is that we really played together, which is what we've been talking about for a while now,” said Phair. So I'm really happy to have gotten the result. It was just a really fun game and a really fun environment.”