Corey Jacob Baird (born January 30, 1996) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a winger for Major League Soccer club Houston Dynamo.
Career
Youth
Baird, from Escondido, California 20 miles from San Diego, began his youth career with FC Heat, where he played from 2002 to 2004, before moving to San Diego Surf, where he played from 2005 through 2012. Corey played his final year of youth soccer with Real Salt Lake AZ, Real Salt Lake's U.S. Soccer Development Academy (DA) team. Corey played in the DA from 2010 through 2014.
From 2008 through 2014, Baird participated in Cal-South Olympic Development Program or ODP and various age group US soccer Youth National Teams. In August 2011, Baird was invited and attended the United States men's national under-17 soccer team Residency Program, hosted at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, from 2011 to 2013.
Collegiate
On February 6, 2013, Baird signed a National Letter of Intent to play for Stanford University. In his freshman year with the Cardinal, Baird appeared in all 19 matches, making 14 starts in the midfield and helped lead Stanford to its first Pac-12 men's soccer championship since 2001. Baird was twice named Pac-12 Player of the Week during the conference season and was named second team All-Pac-12 that year. He was also named to first team Freshman All-American teams by Soccer America and College Soccer News.
In his sophomore year, Baird started all 23 matches, helping to lead Stanford to both defend its Pac-12 men's soccer championship and win its first NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship. Baird was named to the NCAA College Cup All-Tournament team and again named to second team All-Pac-12
In his junior year, Baird appeared in all 23 matches, making 22 starts in the midfield and at forward, helping to lead Stanford to win its third consecutive Pac-12 men's soccer championship and defend its NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship. Baird was named to both the NCAA College Cup All-Tournament team and All-Pac-12 first team, as well as earning Pac-12 Player of the Week during the conference season.
In his senior year, Baird appeared in 18 matches, making 16 starts at forward, helping to lead Stanford to win its fourth consecutive Pac-12 men's soccer championship and its third consecutive NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship. Baird was named to the United Soccer Coaches All-Far West Region first team, All-Pac 12 first team, and earned Pac-12 Player of the Week during the conference season.
Baird completed his Stanford career tied for third all-time in career assists while also scoring 16 goals.
Club career
Real Salt Lake
On January 5, 2018, Baird signed as a Homegrown Player for Real Salt Lake of Major League Soccer. Baird made his RSL debut on March 17 as a 66th-minute substitute during a 1–0 win over the New York Red Bulls. He was then sent to the Real Monarchs, RSL's USL affiliate, where Baird scored in a 3–2 win over the Tulsa Roughnecks in the Monarchs' first match of the season. Baird returned to the RSL first team following the match. He scored his first goal for Real Salt Lake on March 30 in a 3–1 loss to Toronto FC. He made his first MLS start on April 7 and picked up his first career assist in the match, helping Real Salt Lake defeat the Vancouver Whitecaps 2–1. On May 12, scored in a 3–2 win against D.C. United with a diving header. The goal was later named MLS Goal of the Week. Baird ended the MLS regular season with 31 appearances, eight goals, and five assists, helping RSL finish sixth in the Western Conference and qualify for the playoffs. His good performances saw him named MLS Rookie of the Year. In the playoffs, Baird started and helped RSL beat LAFC 3–2 in the knockout round. He made 1 substitute over the 2 legs of the conference semifinals, as Real Salt Lake lost 5–3 to Sporting Kansas City on aggregate.