Rylee Ann Foster (born 13 August 1998) is a Canadian soccer player who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for A-League Women club

Wellington Phoenix Wellington Phoenix Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wellington, New Zealand. It competes in the Australian A-League, under licence from Football Federation Australia. Phoenix entered the competition in the ...

. She has represented Canada at the under-17 and under-20 levels. In 2021, she was called up to the senior national team.

Early life

Raised in Cambridge, Ontario, Foster attended Stewart Avenue Public School, where she first excelled in sports from a young age, then

Glenview Park Secondary School Glenview Park Secondary School is a high school in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada, for students in South Galt. The school was opened in 1957. It is also one of the two International Baccalaureate (IB) Schools in Waterloo Region. Sports teams Glenvie ...

where she ran track and earned Junior Track Athlete of the Year honors. Foster was a Liverpool supporter as a youth. Her grandparents were born in South

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

Wavertree Wavertree is a district of Liverpool, England. It is a ward of Liverpool City Council, and its population at the 2011 census was 14,772. Located to the south and east of the city centre, it is bordered by various districts and suburbs such as ...

College career

Foster attended

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 Coll ...

from 2016–2019 where she played for the

West Virginia Mountaineers The West Virginia Mountaineers are the athletic teams that represent West Virginia University, an American university located in Morgantown, West Virginia. The school is a member of National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I. The Mou ...

with fellow Canadian internationals

Kadeisha Buchanan Kadeisha Buchanan (born November 5, 1995) is a Canadian soccer player who plays as a centre-back for English Women's Super League club Chelsea and the Canada national team. Born in Toronto and raised in Brampton, Ontario, she is the younge ...

and Ashley Lawrence. She made 84 appearances for the Mountaineers and had 39 clean sheets (the second highest record in the school's history)

Club career

Liverpool

Foster signed with

in January 2020 right before the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. She made her debut in a 3–1 win over Manchester United in October 2020 during the Continental Cup. She made her

FA Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features ...

debut in a 1–1 draw with Blackburn Rovers Ladies in March 2021. The same month, she signed a long-term contract with

in March 2021. She was named Player of the Month for April after keeping two clean sheets, including saving Katie Wilkinson’s and Courtney Sweetman-Kirk’s penalties in a 1–0 away win at

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

Wellington Phoenix

In September 2023, almost two years after the car crash that halted her career, Foster joined New Zealand A-League Women club

to compete for the first-choice goalkeeper spot with Brianna Edwards.

International career

Foster has represented Canada on the Canada U17 and Canada U20 teams. In 2021, she was called up to the senior national team. In 2013, she earned Golden Glove honors at the

2013 CONCACAF Women's U-17 Championship The 2013 CONCACAF Under-17 Women's Championship is the fourth edition of the U-17 women's championship in football for the CONCACAF region. The tournament was hosted by Jamaica from 30 October to 9 November 2013. The United States were the defen ...

after helping Canada finish in second place. She competed in two games at the 2014 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup in Costa Rica where Canada reached the quarterfinals but were eliminated by Venezuela 3–2. In January 2021, she was called up to training camp for the senior national team ahead of the

2021 SheBelieves Cup The 2021 SheBelieves Cup was the sixth edition of the SheBelieves Cup, an invitational women's soccer tournament held in the United States. Featuring national teams from Canada, Brazil, Argentina, and hosts United States, it began on February 18 ...

in the United States. She was one of three goalkeepers called up for the tournament in March 2021.

Personal life

Foster has a tattoo of Liverpool's anthem, "You'll Never Walk Alone," on the inside of her arm which she got after her grandmother passed away in 2013. In October 2021, Foster was involved in a serious car crash suffering life-threatening injuries including breaking her neck. She is hoping to make a full recovery, after having to wear a neck halo device for many months.

Honours

Individual

CONCACAF Women's U-17 Championship The CONCACAF Women's Under-17 tournament is a football (soccer) competition for women's national teams under 17 years of age in North America, Central America and the Caribbean region, and is the qualification tournament for the FIFA U-17 Women's ...

Golden Glove:

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

Best XI:

References

External links

*
Profile
at Liverpool F.C. Women * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Foster, Rylee 1998 births Living people Women's association football goalkeepers Canada women's international soccer players Canadian expatriate women's soccer players Canadian women's soccer players Expatriate women's footballers in England Women's Super League players Liverpool F.C. Women players Wellington Phoenix FC (A-League Women) players West Virginia Mountaineers women's soccer players Sportspeople from Cambridge, Ontario Canadian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States Canadian expatriate sportspeople in England Soccer people from Ontario Canada women's youth international soccer players