Frances Andrea Silva León (born November 2, 1992) is a Venezuelan-American retired

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 ...

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

and

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

who played for

FC Kansas City FC Kansas City was an American professional women's soccer club based in Kansas City, Missouri. The team was one of the eight founding clubs of the National Women's Soccer League in 2012, and began play in 2013. They were two-time NWSL champions ...

Early life

High school

Frances attended

Blue Valley North High School Blue Valley North High School is a public high school located in Overland Park, Kansas, United States, serving students in grades 9–12. The school is one of the five high schools operated by Blue Valley USD 229 school district. The school col ...

in Overland Park, KS.

West Virginia University

In her college years, she played for

West Virginia Mountaineers women's soccer The West Virginia Mountaineers are the intercollegiate women's soccer team representing West Virginia University. The Mountaineers compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) as members of the Big 12 Conference. ...

team. In her four years with the Mountaineers, Silva helped WVU claim four conference championships. During her senior season, Silva finished with 15 goals, 13 assists and 43 points. Silva was Second Team NSCAA All-America in 2013 and First Team NSCAA Scholar All-America in 2013.

Playing career

Club

She was drafted by

in the

2014 NWSL College Draft The 2014 NWSL College Draft was the second annual meeting of National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) franchises to select eligible college players. It was held on January 17, 2014, at the NSCAA Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was ope ...

. She was the 19th overall pick. She scored her first goal for FC Kansas City on May 3, 2014, in a 4–0 win against

Houston Dash The Houston Dash is a professional women's soccer team based in Houston, Texas. It joined the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in the 2014 season, and is affiliated with the MLS team Houston Dynamo FC. History Establishment On November ...

. On June 14, 2014, Silva scored her second-career goal, a game-winner in the third minute of stoppage time, also against the Dash. Silva had an impressive sophomore campaign with the Blues, appearing in 15 of the squad's 20 matches. She led the entire NWSL in assists per minute played (minimum three assists recorded), averaging an assist every 145.6 minutes of action. Megan Rapinoe's mark of an assist every 164.8 minutes played was good for second in the league. In the end, Silva and the Blues recorded their second straight NWSL Title, defeating the Seattle Reign, 2–1, at Providence Park in Portland, Oregon, on October 1, 2015. Silva announced her retirement from professional soccer on November 16, 2016, ending her time with

International

Silva played for the United States U-23 National Team at the Six Nations Tournament in La Manga, Spain, in the winter of 2014. She started and scored her first international goal in a 2–0 win over Sweden on March 4, 2014. She ultimately helped guide the USA squad to three wins and a Six Nations Tournament title

Honours

Club

;FC Kansas City Winner *

NWSL championship The National Women's Soccer League Playoffs (or NWSL Playoffs) are a single elimination tournament among six teams in the National Women's Soccer League of the United States, deciding the winner of the NWSL Championship. Since playoff games cann ...

: 2014 *

: 2015

Personal life

She was born in Venezuela and is fluent in both English and Spanish. She studied in

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State College ...

, television journalism with a minor in sports communication. Silva received her master's degree in sport management from

in the summer of 2014.

References

External links

FC Kansas City player profile

West Virginia player profile
* 1992 births Living people FC Kansas City players National Women's Soccer League players Soccer players from Kansas Women's association football forwards American women's soccer players Women's association football midfielders West Virginia Mountaineers women's soccer players Venezuelan women's footballers Venezuelan emigrants to the United States American sportspeople of Venezuelan descent FC Kansas City draft picks Footballers from Caracas {{US-women-footy-bio-stub