Dudley was raised in Milton, Georgia, the daughter of Georgette McCray and Donald Dudley, and has an older brother.[3][4] She began playing soccer when she was two years old.[4] She attended Cambridge High School and earned all-state honors in soccer all four years there.[5] She also played basketball growing up and became her high school's all-time scoring leader with more than 2,000 career points.[5][6] She played youth club soccer for United Futbol Academy, earning ECNL All-American honors in 2022–23.[7] She verbally committed to Florida State University in October 2021, when the soccer program was led by Mark Krikorian, and signed a national letter of intent in December 2022 to play under new Florida State head coach Brian Pensky.[5][8]
Florida State Seminoles
Dudley scored 14 goals with 9 assists in 22 games for the Florida State Seminoles in her freshman season in 2023.[3] She scored a brace in a 3–3 draw against then-No. 1 North Carolina.[6] In the postseason, she scored the first goal in a 2–0 win against Pittsburgh in the ACC tournament and assisted Onyi Echegini's first goal in the conference final.[3] She scored three goals, two of them game winners, through the first five rounds of the NCAA tournament. In the national title game, she converted a penalty to open scoring and added an assist in a 5–1 victory over Stanford, making Florida State undefeated national champions.[5][9] She was recognized as the ACC Freshman of the Year, first-team All-ACC, first-team All-American, and the most outstanding offensive player of the NCAA tournament.[3]
Dudley recorded 9 goals and a team-high 11 assists in 15 games as a sophomore in 2024, earning first-team All-ACC honors. She assisted in all three rounds as Florida State won the ACC tournament; they lost in the second round of the NCAA tournament on penalties.[3]
Dudley helped lead the United States to third place at the U-20 Women's World Cup, the country's best result since 2012.[15] She started the opening match but missed the rest of the group stage after being in concussion protocol.[16][17] She returned off the bench in the first knockout round, scoring in extra time to defeat Mexico 3–2.[17] In the quarterfinals, trailing Germany 2–0, the United States came back in the last moments of regulation with a goal from Dudley and an own goal forced by Ally Sentnor in the 90+8th and 90+9th minutes; they advanced in a penalty shootout.[18] After falling to North Korea, the United States won the third place game 2–1 over the Netherlands, its best result since 2012.[15]
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