When it was announced the 2026 SheBelieves Cup was coming to Columbus, U.S. women’s national team forward Emma Sears had extra reason to hope she’d be on the roster.
While Sears has made 14 appearances for the national team since October 2024, being part of the SheBelieves game in Columbus would be meaningful for the Dublin native.
“I’ve been joking that something’s in the air here,” Sears said.
Now, when the USWNT faces Canada at ScottsMiracle-Gro Field for its second game in the SheBelieves tournament on March 4, Sears will have more than 30 friends and family members there to support her as she represents the U.S. in her hometown for the first time.
“It’s really nice to be home,” Sears said, “having the comfortability piece of that, and knowing that I’m going to have familiar faces in the stadium at the game is really special to me.”
The last time SheBelieves took place in Columbus was in 2024, before Sears hit the national team’s radar. At that point, she was getting ready to debut for Racing Louisville FC, which selected her 28th out of Ohio State in the NWSL draft.
She hadn’t represented U.S. soccer at the youth level, so Sears relied on her development playing soccer in central Ohio to propel her to a professional career, which eventually led to USWNT opportunities.
“My path wasn’t exactly linear,” Sears said. “But I’ve kind of leaned into that, and I think that I take a lot of pride in the growth that I’ve experienced with this [U.S.] team.”
After being a three-year starter at Dublin Jerome, where she earned All-Ohio first-team honors her junior and senior years, Sears joined the Buckeyes in 2019. She spent five seasons at Ohio State, recording 25 goals, 15 assists and two hat tricks, making her one of four Buckeyes to have multiple hat tricks.
Once Sears got to Louisville, she took just two months to break into the starting lineup.
By the end of the regular season, Sears had set a Louisville rookie record of five goals in addition to catching the eye of USWNT coach Emma Hayes. However, Hayes thought Sears making the jump to the national team could be a challenge.
“Some players come through the youth national team system, or have gone to the top programs in the country, collegiately,” Hayes said. “It’s not always so easy when you’re not coming from the traditional route. … But she’s a fighter and she’s not going away.”
Sears’ first game for the U.S. was a friendly against Iceland, and she scored her first international goal 38 minutes after coming off the bench. Sears has scored six goals since joining the national team, three from her hat trick against New Zealand on Oct. 29.
Leading up to the SheBelieves game in Columbus, Hayes sat down with Sears to discuss her growth over the past 16 months and her potential, which goes beyond her scoring ability.
“She makes absolutely everything count,” Hayes said. “She has worked so hard on herself to become a student of the game, to work at decision-making, her execution in the finishing phase. … If you go and watch some of her assists from last year, the range of her final passes is improving so much. And defensively, she’s learned her triggers.”
According to Hayes, if the 2027 World Cup were this year Sears would be the first player coming off the bench. But with more than a year to continue improving, Hayes thinks Sears can still do even better.
“She always makes an impact,” Hayes said. “The next jump is how is she going to push into the [starting] 11 on a regular basis?”
The U.S. faces Canada following a 2-0 win over Argentina to begin the tournament on March 1. The U.S. and Canada kick off at 6:45 p.m., with Argentina first facing Colombia at 3:30 p.m.
