Carly Marie Nelson (born February 11, 1998) is an American professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player who plays as a goalkeeper for

Utah Royals Utah Royals FC is an American women's professional soccer club based in the Salt Lake City suburb of Sandy, Utah. Established on November 16, 2017, as an expansion club, the Royals played its first stint in the National Women's Soccer League ( ...

of the

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. It is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federatio ...

(NWSL).

Early life

Born in Lindon, Utah, Nelson was a two-time First Team All-State goalkeeper as she helped

Timpanogos High School Timpanogos High School is a public high school in Orem, Utah, United States. Opened to its first students in August 1996, it became part of the Alpine School District of Utah County. The school mascot is the Timberwolf and the official school co ...

reach the 4A state title game in three-straight seasons. She was also named Team MVP twice. She played club soccer with Celtic Storm, winning the state title in five seasons

Utah Utes

Nelson played four seasons of college soccer at the University of Utah between 2016 and 2019 while studying for a

bachelor's A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ye ...

positive psychology Positive psychology is the scientific study of what makes life most worth living, focusing on both individual and societal well-being. It studies "positive subjective experience, positive individual traits, and positive institutions...it aims t ...

. As a freshman she made seven appearances, keeping three shutouts and conceding three goals. She made her first collegiate start in a 3–0 win over in-state rival

Utah State Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah's ...

on August 28, 2016. In 2018, she was twice named

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

goalkeeper of the week, led the conference in saves with 92 in total and ranked fourth in save percentage at 82.1%. In her final season, she made a career-high 105 saves, the most by a Ute in two decades and recorded Utah's longest shutout streak since the 2006 season after keeping four throughout September. In summer 2019, Nelson also played for Utah Royals FC's semi-professional reserve team in the Women's Premier Soccer League. She was rostered for nine games and made one appearance, 45 minutes in a 1–0 defeat to Utah Arrows.

Club career

OL Reign

Nelson declared for the

2020 NWSL College Draft The 2020 NWSL College Draft was the eighth annual meeting of National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) franchises to select newly eligible college players for the 2020 NWSL season. It was held on January 16, 2020 in conjunction with the United Soc ...

but was not selected. She was invited to preseason training camp with Utah Royals FC as a non-roster invitee but the league shut down two days in to camp due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In June 2020, Nelson signed a short-term contract with OL Reign, one of four non-roster invitees signed for the

2020 NWSL Challenge Cup The 2020 NWSL Challenge Cup was a tournament during the 2020 National Women's Soccer League season to mark the league's return to action from the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the first professional team sports event to return to play in United States. ...

, the NWSL's replacement competition for a return to play following the three-month stoppage. She was an unused substitute in all five games. She was also an unused substitute in two Fall Series games.

Kansas City Current

Nelson signed with the unbranded

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...

NWSL expansion franchise on December 23, 2020. She made her senior club debut for the team on July 23, 2021, playing the full 90 minutes in a 0–0 draw with North Carolina Courage.

FC Nordsjælland

In August 2021, Nelson was loaned to Danish Kvindeliga club FC Nordsjælland. She made her debut for the club on September 25, in a 3–1 win against AGF. She made 18 league appearances, keeping seven shutouts and conceding 15 goals as Nordsjælland finished 4th. She also made three appearances in the

Danish Women's Cup The Danish Women's Cup, or Sydbank Kvindepokalen (previously 3F Cup) for sponsorship reasons, is the national women's football cup competition in Denmark and was first held in 1993. List of finals The list of finals: By titles See also * ...

. In July 2022, she joined the club permanently.

Orlando Pride

On January 29, 2023, Nelson and Nordsjælland mutually agreed to terminate her contract so she could return to the United States, signing a two-year contract with Orlando Pride.

Utah Royals

On December 12, 2023, Orlando traded Nelson to hometown expansion franchise

along with $65,000 in Allocation Money in exchange for an International Roster Spot for the 2024 season.

Personal life

Nelson was raised in a Mormon community and speaks openly about her journey to freedom from the religion. She is openly gay and first came out at 13 to her best friend before being bullied at school as a result. With no support at home or school, Nelson felt isolated and attempted suicide. She is now an advocate for raising awareness to the struggles LGBTQ+ teens go through.

Career statistics

College summary

Club summary

References

External links

Carly Nelson
at Utah Utes * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Carly Living people 1998 births People from Lindon, Utah Sportspeople from Utah County, Utah Soccer players from Utah American women's soccer players Women's association football goalkeepers Utah Utes women's soccer players Seattle Reign FC players Kansas City Current players FC Nordsjælland (women) players Orlando Pride players National Women's Soccer League players Elitedivisionen players American expatriate women's soccer players American expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Expatriate women's footballers in Denmark American LGBT soccer players 21st-century American LGBT people Lesbian sportswomen