Cari Roccaro always wanted to be a professional soccer player.
Growing up on Long Island gave her the opportunity to see the New York Power of the WUSA.
But by the time she started college at the University of Notre Dame, that dream was in jeopardy. The WPS folded, leaving no apparent successor league. “I just knew I wanted to do this. I had no idea what it was gonna look like. By the time I was graduating college, the league was here, and I got drafted. And I haven't really looked back.” Roccaro said in an interview with Gal Pal Sports
Roccaro was the Houston Dash’s first pick in the 2016 entry draft, fifth overall. She’s spoken candidly about her struggles early in her career. The nine-year veteran of the NWSL has found her joy. “I haven't thought about retirement or anything like that, but I've always just been like, let me keep doing this. I might as well. It's so fun.”
Her perseverance and dedication to the game is paying off. The Red Stars are playoff-bound for the first time since 2022, and a landmark CBA agreement has increased player salaries and perhaps the greatest gain: full free agency, and peace of mind.
“I've been in the league when it looked a lot different, and fortunately for younger players they're never going to have to know what that feels like.” Roccaro said. When she arrived in Chicago in 2022, it was her third team in three years.
“The one thing that I think I had been craving for so long in my career, that I think free agency allows for people, is stability. And you get to kind of choose to stay, choose if you want to go, choose where you might want to go, to allow yourself to set up a life and a home off the field, so you can be the best version of yourself off the field, and then that translates to how you play on the field, and it makes a huge difference for players.”
Roccaro arrived at a Red Stars team in disarray. “I think I came in at a time where, frankly, I wasn't exactly sure what I was getting into,” she said, recalling her first season with the club.
The groundbreaking Sally Yates report on abuse in the NWSL detailed systemic failures at the Red Stars that allowed former head coach Rory Dames create an abusive environment. Dames received a lifetime ban from the NWSL, and former owner Arnim Whisler was removed as team chairman by the club’s Board of Directors.
Despite announcing his intentions to sell the team in December of 2022, the sale was not complete until September 2023.
The Red Stars 2023 season was a struggle on and off the field. They lost leading scorer Mal Swanson to a season-ending injury in April, and fired GM Michelle Lomnicki in May after her former club hired Craig Harrington in the middle of a two-year ban from the NWSL.
The team finished the season in last place for the first time in the history of the Chicago Red Stars.
“I'm super proud of that team last year for kind of just showing resilience and pushing through, and even more so, just fortunate to be a part of the club as we've now made positive change this year, and not that, like wins and results define our worth.”
Last September, Roccaro became a free agent for the first time in her career. She chose to re-sign with the Chicago Red Stars. The club sale to Laura Ricketts’ investment group gave hope for a new beginning. “I said, I'm gonna stay and I'm gonna see what we can do and be, continue to be a part of this positive change. And it hasn't been easy, but I think that's what makes you grow and makes you better.”
Changes for the Red Stars included a new coach, new President, and General Manager. An influx of young talent came by draft and by transfer. A healthy Mal Swanson returned to form. One year later, the work is not finished, but the Red Stars are back in the playoffs.
Roccaro takes great pride in what this team has managed to achieve in just one season together. “To be clinching. As early as we did, and not falling below the playoff line at all this year. I feel like this team has accomplished so much, and we feel that we're going to keep pushing, but we are stopping to smell the roses for a second. I think it's like, ‘Wow, that's incredible, and let's keep going.’”
The youth movement has been vital to the Red Stars success this season. “The younger players have really stepped up the last few weeks. And these were some of the rookies that hadn't been playing in the beginning of the year at all. I think it's been really great to kind of see their growth and see how they've stepped in, and they've been thrown into the fire.”
With youth comes naivete. The young players on the squad don’t have the same burdens carried by Red Stars past. “It's been a whole new refresh in the locker room and really great vibes. It's just been a really nice way to transition into this new era.”
Part of that new era transition for Roccaro included a change to a familiar position: center back. “A lot of coaches, players, fans, all the above either don't know or have forgotten that I've been a center back my whole life! So I think it was like this big shock in Portland when I got moved to the back line, and the announcers were kind of like, ‘she's not a defender!’, and I'm like, Oh, but I am.”
The move was a joyful homecoming for Roccaro. “I love defense. I love being gritty. I love organizing. I love leading from the back. I love the pressure of just having teams come at you and you have to problem solve. I just think everything about it is super fun.”
Roccaro also hit an important milestone, joining the 10,000-minute club against Portland in September. “I didn't even know that stat was approaching, I found out after the game, when one of the rookies was like, ‘congrats!’ And I was like, for what? Like, I had no idea,” Roccaro said of hitting the mark.
“I say it's an honor to be a pioneer in this league, because I was in it when it was different and I feel more proud of that. One of my biggest accomplishments as an NWSL player is that I was making pennies and I’m still kicking.”