TU chemistry professor to referee at Women’s World Cup

In 2017 Kathryn Nesbitt became the first woman to officiate a Major League Soccer (MLS) match

By Megan Bradshaw on June 6, 2019

Kathryn Nesbit MLS game sideline
Kathryn Nesbitt during a Minnesota United FC match in 2018. (Courtesy of Greg Barkey / Professional Referee Organization)

Every fall, a common topic of campus conversation is what members of the Towson University community did over the summer. Assistant professor of chemistry Kathryn Nesbitt’s summer will be hard to top.

She is one of the three U.S. officials chosen to call games in the Women’s World Cup, which kicks off June 7 in Paris. According to a Baltimore Sun article, the World Cup will be the first senior international event for all three women. 

SheBelieves Spotlight: FIFA Referee Kathryn Nesbitt

MLS, NWSL, and this summer she could referee at the World Cup in France. #SheBelieves Spotlight, presented by Deloitte U.S.

Posted by U.S. Soccer on Tuesday, April 2, 2019

An MLS assistant referee since 2015, she has worked the 2016 U-17 Women’s World Cup, the 2018 U-20 World Cup. In 2017 she became the first woman to officiate a MLS match.

Nesbitt will work the sideline during the matches, determining fouls, corner and goal kicks, throw-ins, and offsides calls during the month-long tournament. The U.S. will begin to defend its title on Tuesday, June 11 with a 3 p.m. EST match against Thailand.

Read the full article from The Baltimore Sun

Photos courtesy of Greg Barkey / Professional Referee Organization