Annabeth Westmoreland

is a former professional soccer player who holds the record for most appearances for the Baker Park National Team with 121 caps. She was also the first ever player from Baker Park to be named to Galactico Short List team recognizing the most outstanding players in the multiverse.

Early Life
Born in Jamestown, Baker Park to David and Julie (Foster) Westmoreland, "Annie" (as she's said she was known in her family) didn't obsess about the game growing up; her father had to ask if she was interested in pursuing the sport more seriously, based on the fact that she was tall for her age and had a natural, instinctual ability that stood out. It didn't matter that much to her, although she and her parents were confronted with brushing aside advances from professional club academies looking to sign her to a part-time youth contract.

Early Career
Joined the girls team at Montrose High School in Jamestown as a 14 year old freshman and immediately caught the attention of her coaches & teammates; she became the first 9th grader to start in a varsity match at the school, which brought her passing ability, vision and pace to the forefront, sparking a team that had only won seven of 21 matches (plus three draws) the previous year to an 18-1-1 regular season, plus three more post-season wins that put the school on the brink of the semi-finals of the State of Baker Park's Secondary Schools Interscholastic Activities Association tournament. Westmoreland scored the only goal in a 3-1 loss, but the future looked bright for the school. Named to the Second Xi of the SSIAA statewide All-Star Team--the first and still only 9th grade girl to be awarded that honor--her parents again were besieged with professional offers leading into her sophomore year.

In the fourth match of her second high school campaign, she suffered a fracture of the fourth & fifth metatarsal on her right foot after being stepped on, causing her to miss 13 games; although the team had struggled in her absence, her return meant that there was time to get organized before the playoffs began. The second of the three final games was an away trip to Greenwell H.S. in suburban Belle Haven on a Tuesday night. On a corner kick 63 minutes into the match, Westmoreland looked to send an outswinging ball into the box with her left foot; as she followed the flight of the kick and moved infield to the edge of the penalty area, she suddenly found herself on her back on the pitch. In her telling of the story, the Greenwell player that was closest to the corner flag reached out and threw Westmoreland to the ground with a clothesline hook around her neck; momentarily stunned, her reaction became the story--she jumped up and pushed the offending player to the ground, then attempted to inflict more punishment before being restrained by teammates. Eyewitness accounts were inconclusive and there was no visual evidence from any video to corroborate the sequence of events. Westmoreland was shown a red card, which came with an automatic three game suspension, and she was portrayed in the press as the protagonist and offender, although she has always maintained her innocence and her story has come to be widely accepted as the truth.

Aftermath and reconsideration
The Montrose team lost their opening round state tournament game, meaning that Westmoreland would've still had one game remaining to serve on her ban had she returned for her junior season; she turned her back on the sport following the end of that season, choosing to redirect her energies towards her schoolwork, and joining the track team in the spring, competing in the 400 meters and the long jump. She eventually chose to join the academy at Ridge Raiders in Harrisville prior to her junior year, having carefully weighed all of the offers from top professional clubs. As for that night in Belle Haven, she's always avoided naming the culprit in spite of the identity not being in doubt; she has only spoken in the most general terms about an exchange of communication between herself and the Greenwell player that occurred some 12 years after the fact, only saying that the matter was closed in her mind, resolved amicably. Much of Westmoreland's subsequent professional career involved a conscious effort to dispel any of the negative stigma she'd acquired as a result of the incident.

Professional Career
At Raiders as an academy player, Westmoreland developed a reputation as a hard working, humble trainee with a serious academic focus and a degree of physical prowess that was clearly beyond the level of an average first year youth team signing; she was named in the squad for a late season match for the Raiders Ladies, and made her first WNL appearance at 17. The following season she moved into the First Team at mid-season, although she continued to pursue her studies, which resulted in a perfect score on all sections of the HSE; she signed a full-time, four year pro contract a month afterwards.

She earned a call-up to the Women's National Team training camp ahead of her first full season, and was in the starting lineup--the first of her record 121 NT appearances--for the second match played for that squad.