Drew Conner & Steph McCaffrey Celebrate Birthdays

Two rising stars in Chicago Soccer celebrated birthdays this weekend.

First, Chicago Fire midfielder Drew Conner— a.k.a DJ D Con— turned 24 on Sunday.

The Cary, IL native joined the Fire Academy back in 2008 and spent 5 seasons during his teenage years. He later moved to Madison, Wisconsin where he spent his collegiate career with the Wisconsin Badgers for the next three years. During this time he was also part of the now-defunct Chicago Fire U-23 setup. Towards the end of December 2015, he signed a homegrown contract with the Chicago Fire.

At the beginning of the 2016 season, he was loaned out by the club to then USL affiliate Saint Louis FC where he had a total of 12 appearances.

Conner later made his Fire debut a season later against the Columbus Crew as a 95th-minute sub for John Goosens. During the 2017 season, he played 21 games – starting eight of them.

Conner was also one of the three players— alongside Dax McCarty, and Bastian Schweinsteiger— who sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” at a Cubs game last season.

Also on Sunday, Chicago Red Stars forward Stephanie McCaffrey turned 25.

The Massachusetts native started out her soccer career with Buckingham Browne and Nichols where she was named the Independent School MVP in 2008 and 2010. She later joined FC Stars of Massachusetts and won the state championship.

McCaffrey later played for the Boston College Eagles. During her tenure there, she played 76 games and co-captained the team during her senior year.

In 2015, McCaffrey was selected as the fifth pick by the Chicago Red Stars during the 2015 NWSL College Draft. She was traded later to the Boston Breakers. During her time with the Breakers, she played 19 games – starting 17 of them – and scored 3 goals.

The following season she was reunited with the Red Stars where she has scored two goals in 20 appearances.

In addition to her club duties, McCaffrey is part of the USWNT player pool and has six caps to her credit. Her first appearance for the Stars and Stripes was a friendly against Brasil where she scored a debut goal.

Happy Birthday you two and thank you for representing Chicago well!