Bucks County native Marissa Sheva plays for the Republic of Ireland women’s soccer team

The Irish American tradition in the Philadelphia region is as strong as anywhere in the country. But for Bucks County native Marissa Sheva, it goes even deeper.

A 25-year-old midfielder with the NWSL’s Washington Spirit, Sheva was born in Sellersville to a mother with Irish roots. She played for U.S. under-14 and under-15 national teams while at Pennridge High School, then played four years for Penn State’s college powerhouse from 2015 to 2018.

Though the first few seasons of her pro career were stop-start, she found solid footing last year with the Spirit. And when she learned the Republic of Ireland’s women’s national team was scouting for American prospects with Irish heritage, Sheva sent word to the program that she was already pursuing Irish citizenship.

Once the paperwork was done, the Irish squad called her up last month. On Feb. 22, she earned her debut cap in a scoreless tie with China in Spain.

“Oh, it was awesome,” Sheva said. “The team and the staff were so welcoming. … I went in with very few expectations, so to be able to come out with my first international cap was really, really amazing, and I was really proud to represent Ireland.”

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It’s one thing to participate in the Philly area’s many cultural activities and social groups, such as the Irish Society of Philadelphia and the Donegal Association of Philadelphia — both of which Sheva’s family is a part. Playing for an Irish national team takes it to a whole new level.

“A lot of my mom’s relatives still live in Ireland, and they come over to visit and we spend holidays with them,” Sheva said. “So it’s deeper than just being eligible for citizenship. I’m truly proud to represent my family, represent Ireland, and make them proud.”

Sheva said that while she was in the Irish camp, nothing came up about manager Vera Pauw’s role in abuse scandals in the NWSL. Pauw was accused of misconduct when she coached the Houston Dash in 2018, and in January the league imposed a show-cause penalty on her for future employment in the league.

“Nobody questioned me about any of the allegations or anything like that,” Sheva said.

But there were plenty of good things to talk about. This summer, Ireland will play in its first women’s World Cup, in a star-studded group with Canada, Nigeria, and co-host Australia. In April, the Irish will play the U.S. in a two-game set in Austin and St. Louis.

“Fingers crossed,” Sheva said, “it would be such a cool opportunity to represent Ireland against the United States in the United States, and be able to have my Irish American family in the stands, watching and cheering us on.”

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While in Washington, Sheva has witnessed the Spirit’s transformation under new principal owner Y. Michele Kang. Long one of the more underfunded teams in the NWSL, it’s now a leader in the league, and has restored prominence to a flagship women’s soccer city.

“Washington has definitely been the most professional environment I’ve been a part of,” Sheva said, praising Kang for “going above and beyond to really put together the best environment for us as professional athletes. I would love to spend my career here.”

As an example, Sheva pointed to the Spirit’s hiring this offseason of longtime U.S. women’s national team fitness guru Dawn Scott. The Americans won two World Cups and an Olympic gold medal in Scott’s tenure, and players raved about her high standards and attention to detail.

Washington pried Scott away from MLS’s Inter Miami, whose manager, Phil Neville, ran England’s women’s team when it hired Scott in late 2019. And when Scott left Inter, the hole was so big that the club hired the Union’s renowned performance chief Garrison Draper to fill it.

“She always says, ‘For the longest time, female athletes were treated as small men, and we have a much more complex situation than that,’” Sheva said. “It’s been a lot of focus on female health to make sure that we are prepared for game day, prepared for sessions, day in and day out. And then she’s built out a medical staff, performance staff, that is just second to none.”

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Sheva pointed to Scott’s focus on the impact of athletes’ menstrual cycles on high performance. It’s an area of sports science that hasn’t seen much research historically, because most research has focused on male athletes.

But the tide is turning now, and it’s a major topic in the NWSL. The Orlando Pride recently stopped using white shorts in uniforms because players asked for it, a move that was hailed across the sport. Other clubs have done the same thing, including England’s Manchester City. Now, FIFA is under growing pressure to change its equipment rules for national teams.

“Their worst nightmare of people being able to see that they are on their period is not going to happen with the black shorts,” the Pride’s ob-gyn, Christine Greves, told Equalizer Soccer last month.

“It’s really cool what Orlando is doing,” Sheva said. “For so long, it’s something that was talked about. It seems like a simple solution to a big problem, especially now we’re playing on huge stages on national television, and it’s not something you want to have to worry about.”

The Spirit won’t make the same move this year, because their new uniforms are all-black and all-white ahead of a potential rebranding. But Sheva expects that “eventually in the league, it’s going to be pretty common to not see white shorts.”

For as happy as Sheva is in Washington, she admitted she still pines for home sometimes.

“We need a NWSL team in Philly,” she said, noting she attended Independence games as a kid and Charge games as a preschooler. “I think Philly should be next on the list.”

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