Alexandra Kimball

Alexandra Kimball
	Kimball with North Carolina in 2015
Personal information
Full name	Alexandra Amalia Kimball-Suarez
Date of birth	September 21, 1995 (age 28)
Place of birth	Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
Height	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Position(s)	Midfielder, striker
College career
Years	Team
2014–2018	North Carolina Tar Heels
Senior career*
Years	Team
	FC Austin Elite
	Real Salt Lake Women
2019	Utah Royals FC
2022	North Carolina Courage U23
International career‡
2022–	Peru
Managerial career
2023	North Carolina Tar Heels (assistant)
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals; ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of November 14, 2022

Alexandra Amalia Kimball-Suarez (born September 21, 1995) is a Peruvian-American soccer coach and player. Born and raised in the United States, she has represented Peru at the international level. She played college soccer for the North Carolina Tar Heels before being drafted by Utah Royals FC in the 2019 NWSL College Draft.

Early life

Kimball was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Melissa Suarez and Steven Kimball, the oldest of four children.^[1] She is of half-Peruvian descent.^[2] She began playing soccer at age two or three.^[3]^[4] Her family moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, when she was eight, and she aspired to play for the North Carolina Tar Heels from a young age.^[4]^[5] She played youth soccer for Triangle United and the Capital Area Soccer League.^[3]^[6] She attended Chapel Hill High School, where she led the soccer team to its first state championship in 2014, being named the most valuable player of the title game and the News & Observer player of the year.^[7]^[8]

College career

Kimball made 91 appearances for the North Carolina Tar Heels from 2014 to 2018, recording nine goals and seven assists while appearing as a substitute for most of her career.^[1] She struggled with injury and required surgery for a hip labral tear before the 2016 season, when she helped reach the NCAA semifinals, then took a medical redshirt in 2017.^[1]^[3]

Late in her redshirt senior year in 2018, Kimball became the starting center forward following an injury to Alessia Russo. She scored a career-high four goals that year, including two game winners against Virginia Tech in both the ACC and NCAA tournament.^[1]^[9] Named to the ACC all-tournament team, she helped the Tar Heels reach the conference and national finals, scoring in the conference title game but losing both finals to Florida State.^[1]^[10]

Club career

While in college, Kimball played during summers for United Women's Soccer clubs FC Austin Elite and Real Salt Lake Women.^[11]

Kimball trained with Utah Royals FC as a non-rostered player in 2018. Following her college career, she was drafted by the Royals with the 32nd overall pick in the fourth round of the 2019 NWSL College Draft.^[12] She was signed as a national team replacement player for Becky Sauerbrunn during the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup.^[13]

Kimball tore her ACL while training with Racing Louisville FC as a non-rostered player in the 2021 preseason.^[14]

Kimball made one appearance for the North Carolina Courage U23 during the 2022 USL W League season.^[15]

Kimball represented the US Women, composed mostly of youth and former national team players, at the Soccer Tournament in 2023 and 2024, helping win the women's event the second year.^[16]^[17]

Kimball scored four goals at the 2024 National Amateur Cup en route to winning the women's title with Pan World Elite WFC of Utah.^[18]

International career

Kimball made her senior international debut for Peru in a friendly game against Mexico on June 25, 2022. She was selected to the Peruvian roster for the 2022 Copa América Femenina, where she started the first two matches of the group stage.^[19]

Coaching career

After being injured in 2019–20, Kimball worked in sports facilities in Salt Lake City. In 2021, she worked for the Utah Avalanche youth soccer club and was an assistant coach at Bonneville High School.^[20] She also organized an online six-week training course for teenage girls' soccer players that year.^[4]^[21]

After being a volunteer assistant coach, Kimball was hired in 2022 as the director of team development for her alma mater North Carolina Tar Heels, working in community outreach and recruiting. She was promoted to assistant coach the following season, serving from August to November 2023. The Assembly reported that the university investigated Kimball for an alleged relationship with one of her players.^[20]^[22]