It’s the second year of writing about all of the gay players in the NWSL! With the league kicking off this weekend, I’ve updated the post with all of the latest and greatest teams and players. As someone who deeply loves following sports for the storyline, knowing which players are openly gay gives me immense joy. While I do not follow the league incredibly closely, this article is always a delight to write and I hope that it will help you all to become more avid women’s soccer followers just as it helped me!

There are, unfortunately, fewer out gay players in the league this year than last year, but that can always change over the course of the season! As always, if I missed someone or if you feel like someone is incorrectly on this list, let me know in the comments or send me an email at writethroughthenight @ gmail . com. A note that I’m using the NWSL rosters, and they don’t update in a way that makes sense to me. Blame them if it’s slow to update!

I specified the pronouns of people who are known to not go by she/her

Last Updated: 3/19/2023

Angel City

christen press (right) and tobin heath (left) at the 2022 ESPYS

Angel City is one of five teams with five gay players on it this year. Notable is Christen Press, who recently came out and is dating Tobin Heath, fellow USWNT soccer player. I expect them to improve from last year, where they were solidly middle to bottom of the pack.

  • Sarah Gorden
  • DiDi Haracic
  • Paige Neilsen
  • Christen Press
  • Merritt Mathias

North Carolina Courage

The Courage were not incredibly good last year, and I cannot imagine this will change. Their only gay player is Meredith Speck, from what I can tell, which makes them not that fun to follow!

  • Meredith Speck

Houston Dash

I am devastated to announce that despite having lesbian legend Rachel Daly on the team last year, this year the Dash have no gay players. I wonder how much of this has to do with NWSL players who have a choice trying to get out of Texas. Regardless, the Dash is always a pretty good team, and I’m sure they’ll manage to make a run this year as well.

Gotham FC

Ali Krieger (right) with her wife Ashlyn Harris (left)

I love Ali Krieger! And Kristie Mewis! and Kelley O’Hara! This team is home to so many incredibly big names, and I cannot believe that they’re all going to be playing together on one field. I’m intrigued to see how they will gel— to me and my admittedly uneducated opinion, this looks like championship potential. Of course, they came in dead last in 2022, so they needed to make some improvements if they were going to win any games at all.

  • Ali Krieger
  • Kristie Mewis
  • Delanie Sheehan
  • Kelley O’Hara
  • Abby Smith

KC Current

Adrianna Franch (right) and her wife Emily Bosacci

Kansas City was solidly middle of the pack last year, and I hope that they’ll be able to improve some this year to make them a true title contender. Chloe Logarzo and her wife typically pack their Instagram feeds with gay content, Mallory Weber has the world’s most adorable dog, and Adrianna Franch and her wife are adorable! This team may not be great to follow from a soccer standpoint, but from a gay standpoint they’re up there.

  • Debinha
  • Adrianna Franch
  • Kristen Hamilton
  • Chloe Logarzo
  • Mallory Weber

Racing Louisville

Abby Erceg and Carson Pickett both spent last year on the Courage, but now the dating duo have found their way to Louisville. I’m excited to see the energy this team will bring with the addition of these two talented players.

  • Abby Erceg
  • Carson Pickett
  • Rebecca Holloway
  • Zaneta Josseline Wyne
  • Kelsey Daugherty

OL Reign

Tziarra King (left) and Jess Fishlock (right)

OL Reign has a teammates/girlfriends couple of its own with Tziarra King and Jess Fishlock. They’re super cute and post on Instagram stories a decent amount so it’s worth the follow. The Reign are also home to Quinn, a member of the Canadian National Team and the first nonbinary athlete to win a medal in the Olympics.

  • Quinn (they/them)
  • Jess Fishlock
  • Tziarra King
  • Megan Rapinoe
  • Nikki Stanton

Orlando Pride

Marta (left) and Carrie Lawrence (right)

Bonus points go to Orlando for literally being called the Pride. While this team has gotten significantly less gay in the offseason, on-Field romance lovers don’t despair, because teammates Carrie Lawrence and Marta are together.

  • Carrie Lawrence
  • Marta
  • Kaylie Collins

Chicago Red Stars

Tierna Davidson (right) and girlfriend Alison Jahansouz

I absolutely love Tierna Davidson, and she plays for this team! I’m also making plans to move to Chicago, so I hope to get to see many of these games in person this year.

  • Tierna Davidson
  • Tatumn Milazzo
  • Ella Stevens

Washington Spirit

There’s only one gay player on this team, Anna Heilferty. I don’t have anything else to say about this Spirit team, except that they placed second-to-last last year, and are likely to have another similarly bad season unless something changes.

  • Anna Heilferty

Portland Thorns

The Portland Thorns won the NWSL last year, and I’m excited to see another successful year from them this year! While I don’t know a ton about these players, all three of the queer players on the team have stayed in Portland for years, meaning that you’ll have been able to follow their careers for a while!

  • Taylor Porter
  • Hannah Betfort
  • Natalia Kuikka

Wave

Christen Westphal

I’m going to actually get to go to a San Diego Wave game this year, and I’m so excited! This team is so good and has such fun energy that they’re sure to be a delight to watch.

  • Kailen Sheridan
  • Christen Westphal
  • Madison Pogarch

Feel free to let me know in the comments who I’ve missed! I will be updating this post as the season continues.

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