| McKinley Crone | |
| Birth Date: | 20 October 1998 |
| Birth Place: | Maitland, Florida, United States |
| Height: | 5 ft 9 in[1] |
| Position: | Goalkeeper |
| Currentclub: | Orlando Pride |
| Clubnumber: | 40 |
| Collegeyears1: | 2017–2019 |
| College1: | Oklahoma Sooners |
| Collegecaps1: | 41 |
| Collegegoals1: | 0 |
| Collegeyears2: | 2020–2022 |
| College2: | Alabama Crimson Tide |
| Collegecaps2: | 66 |
| Collegegoals2: | 0 |
| Years1: | 2023– |
| Clubs1: | Orlando Pride |
| Caps1: | 0 |
| Goals1: | 0 |
McKinley Crone (born October 20, 1998) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a goalkeeper for the Orlando Pride of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Born and raised in the Orlando area, she played collegiately for the Oklahoma Sooners and the Alabama Crimson Tide.
Crone was born in the Orlando suburb of Maitland, Florida, to Mark and Lora Crone, and has a younger sister.[2] She played multiple sports growing up before dedicating herself to soccer at age nine, though she also swam varsity in high school.[2] [3] She lettered in four years of soccer at Edgewater High School in Orlando, playing at forward as a freshman before staying in goal, and received all-metro honors three times. She played club soccer for Florida Kraze Krush.[2]
Crone played two full seasons as the starting keeper for the Oklahoma Sooners. She piled up saves with 111 as a freshman in the 2017 season and 97 as a sophomore in 2018, though the team had losing records both years.[3] [4] She then suffered an injury and sought to play elsewhere, transferring to the Alabama Crimson Tide in 2020.[3] In the 2021 season, she shut out Clemson in the first round of the NCAA championship, helping Alabama win its first ever match at the national tournament, and made a season-high seven saves in the loss to BYU in the next round.[2] [5]
In the 2022 regular season, Crone allowed only 11 goals in 19 games as Alabama went undefeated against Southeastern Conference (SEC) opponents and won the conference regular-season title for the first time in program history.[3] [6] They were beaten by South Carolina in the SEC tournament final but made it to the semifinals of the NCAA tournament for the first time, where Crone posted a season-high eight saves but allowed three, losing to eventual champions UCLA.[2] [7] She made 229 saves in three years at Alabama and tied the program record with 21 career clean sheets. She holds the all-time national record for career minutes played by a goalkeeper (9,519).[2]
Crone joined the Orlando Pride as a non-roster trialist in the 2023 preseason. On September 13, she was signed to the roster for the rest of the season after having had two spells on national team replacement contracts.[8] She was again invited to train in the 2024 preseason and was signed to a one-year contract on March 11, becoming the likely third option behind Anna Moorhouse and Sofia Manner.[9] She made her professional debut on July 20, 2024, as the starting keeper against the North Carolina Courage in the first group stage game of the 2024 NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup. She made five saves in the 1–1 draw in regulation before the game went to penalties, where Crone saved two kicks but lost the shootout 5–4.[10]
Individual