When Emily Dowd completed her collegiate soccer career with the Tennessee Lady Vols, she didn’t consider that the end of her soccer career.
She probably thought she’d go “halfway around the world” for a chance to continue playing at a high level.
Well, that is exactly what she did.
The Gainesville, FL, native is playing in Sweden for Tierp IF, a team in the SvFF’s Dvision I Norra Svealand League. That is Sweden’s second division.
She made her debut with the team on April 20, and celebrated her first start by scoring her team’s second goal in a 3-2 win over Gustafa GolF.
Dowd played for the Lady Vols from 2008-2011, scoring 22 goals with 12 assists over 82 matches.
Her most productive season was her senior year when she scored 12 goals and was chosen second team All-SEC. She finished her career tied for the third-most goals and fifth-most points all-time in UT single-season history.
Dowd grew up in Gainesville, home of the University of Florida, and was the leading scorer on her Gainesville High School team her last three years of high school soccer. In her senior season at UT she had a goal and an assist in leading Tennessee to a SEC victory over Florida, which at the time was ranked #6 nationally.
Her 163 high school goals is still the all-time scoring mark in Alachua County.
An American Teammate
Dowd started the season as the only American player on the team. That has changed with the signing of former UNC Charlotte standout Carrie Dail, a native of Hubert, NC.
Dail, who started 20 games as a senior last fall for the 49ers, arrived in mid-May after her Charlotte graduation, and almost immediately made an impact,. Coming in as a second-half sub, she scored five minutes into her debut
Tierp’s season will continue through the summer and conclude in October.