U.S. Soccer has announced the women’s national team roster that will take on China at Allianz Field on May 31, and it includes some of the biggest names in women’s soccer.
And one of those names is a Minnesotan — well, a Minnesotan by marriage, at least.
Lindsey Heaps (formerly Horan) married St. Paul native and DeLaSalle and Augsburg graduate Tyler Heaps last December, so she’s at least an honorary Minnesotan. The hugely experienced midfielder, with 165 appearances for the national team, captained the USA in their last set of friendlies in April against Brazil.
Minnesota native Maddie Dahlien of Edina, who’s started all nine games as a winger for the Seattle Reign in her rookie year in the NWSL, will be with the under-23 team during this window. That squad, which will include a number of players who have played for the senior national team, will play two games in Germany against the German U-23 team. It’ll be an opportunity for more meaningful minutes for a number of young players like Dahlien, who is just 20 and on the fringes for the senior national team.
“This is what I’d say has been really missing for a lot of players, that they made that jump from under-20 to seniors and they don’t have a body of games,” USWNT head coach Emma Hayes said. “This is a great opportunity for us to be able to play players with less experience.”
This round of friendlies, during which the senior team will also play Jamaica, will see the return to the USWNT of all-everything defender Naomi Girma. She moved from the San Diego Wave to Chelsea in January, in what was the first million-dollar transfer in women’s soccer history. Girma and Chelsea took home the Women’s Super League, FA Cup and League Cup titles in England this year.
“You cannot underestimate the importance of players like Naomi Girma to this team, and we’ve been without a lot of experienced players over the last sort of six, seven, eight months,” Hayes said. “I think the way you make such a big move, like she did, it does take a little bit of time to settle in. It’s taking her body some time to adjust, but she’s in a great place and I know she’s very, very excited to be back in with us.”
Girma’s Chelsea teammate, forward Catarina Macario, is also on the roster, and is still working her way back into the national-team picture after missing all of 2023 and the 2024 Olympics because of knee injuries. Macario has scored twice already for the U.S. in 2025, a sign of her progress back into contention for one of the team’s forward roles.
