Abigail Lynn Dahlkemper (born May 13, 1993) 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 defender for San Diego Wave FC 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 Federati ...

(NWSL) and the United States national team.

Early life

Dahlkemper was born in

Lancaster, Pennsylvania Lancaster, ( ; pdc, Lengeschder) is a city in and the county seat of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It is one of the oldest inland cities in the United States. With a population at the 2020 census of 58,039, it ranks 11th in population amon ...

and raised in

Menlo Park, California Menlo Park is a city at the eastern edge of San Mateo County within the San Francisco Bay Area of California in the United States. It is bordered by San Francisco Bay on the north and east; East Palo Alto, Palo Alto, and Stanford to the south ...

. She has two brothers, Andrew (the oldest) and Joseph (the youngest) and is the daughter of Andrew and Susan Dahlkemper. She attended Sacred Heart Preparatory and played on the soccer team. In 2010, she was named Gatorade California Girls Soccer Player of the Year and a Parade All-American.

College career

In 2013, she helped the

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pac-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) ...

win their first ever NCAA National Championship. In 2014, Dahlkemper was awarded the

Honda Sports Award The Honda Sports Award is an annual award in the United States, given to the best collegiate female athlete in each of twelve sports. There are four nominees for each sport, and the twelve winners of the Honda Sports Award are automatically in th ...

Club career

In 2013, Dahlkemper signed with the

Pali Blues Pali Blues was an American women's association football, soccer team, which played from 2008 to 2014. The team was a member of the United Soccer Leagues USL W-League, the second tier of women's soccer in the United States and Canada. The team pl ...

in the W-League. The team won the western conference title as well as the national championship in July 2013.

Western New York Flash

In January 2015, Dahlkemper was selected by the

Western New York Flash The Western New York Flash (WNY Flash) was an American soccer club based in Elma, New York that competed in the United Women's Soccer league. They have won league championships in four different leagues: the USL W-League in 2010, Women's Pro ...

in the 2015 NWSL College Draft as the third overall pick. She was signed to the team in March and made her debut in April. Dahlkemper won the NWSL Championship with the Flash in 2016.

Adelaide United (loan)

In October 2015, Dahlkemper joined

Adelaide United Adelaide United Football Club is a professional soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club participates in the A-League Men under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was founded in 2003 to fil ...

in the Australian W-League on loan for the 2015–16 season.

North Carolina Courage

Dahlkemper became part of the

North Carolina Courage The North Carolina Courage is a professional women's soccer team based in Cary, North Carolina. It was founded on January 9, 2017, after Stephen Malik acquired National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) franchise rights from the Western New York ...

in 2017 after the Western New York Flash was sold to the owners of North Carolina FC. She played every minute for the Courage in 2017 helping them win the NWSL Shield. Dahlkemper was named to the 2017 NWSL Best XI. Dahlkemper was voted NWSL Defender of the Year for the 2017 Season. In 2018 Dahlkemper played 19 regular season games for North Carolina. She was an important part of North Carolina's defense which broke the record for fewest goals conceded and repeated as NWSL Shield winners. She was named to the 2018 NWSL Best XI and was a finalist for Defender of the year. North Carolina won the 2018 NWSL Championship with a 3–0 win over Portland, and didn't concede any goals in the playoffs.

Manchester City

On January 16, 2021, Dahlkemper joined

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

of the English

FA WSL 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 t ...

on a two and a half year deal, becoming the third American international to sign for the club during the 2020–21 season following

Sam Mewis Samantha June Mewis (born October 9, 1992) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for Kansas City Current of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), as well as the United States national team. She played college s ...

and Rose Lavelle's arrivals in summer. On August 20, 2021,

announced that Dahlkemper had left the club.

Houston Dash

On August 29, 2021, Houston Dash announced that they had acquired Dahlkemper from the North Carolina Courage.

San Diego Wave

On November 22, 2021, Dahlkemper was announced as the first-ever player signing by NWSL expansion club San Diego Wave FC.

International career

In 2013, Dahlkemper represented the United States under-23 women's national soccer team at the 2013 Four Nations Tournament helping the under-23 team win the championship. She played in the 2014 Six Nations Tournament as a member of the under-23 team and helped lead the team to win the championship for a second time. Dahlkemper received her first call-up to the U.S. Women's National Team in October 2016 for a set of friendlies against Switzerland. On October 19 she earned her first cap, as she came in as a second-half substitute. Due to a

sepsis Sepsis, formerly known as septicemia (septicaemia in British English) or blood poisoning, is a life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage is follo ...

infection contracted at the end of 2016, Dahlkemper was unable to appear for the U.S. WNT until June 2017. Following her recovery from sepsis, Dahlkemper quickly became a mainstay for the United States in central defense. She played her first 90 for the U.S. WNT against Norway on June 11, 2017. Dahlkemper would start 10 of the final 11 games of the year, accumulating 945 minutes in 2017, which was fifth highest on the team. In 2018 Dahlkemper won the

SheBelieves Cup The SheBelieves Cup is an invitational women's soccer tournament held in different cities in the United States in late February or early March. In its first three years (2016, 2017 and 2018), it was contested by the same four teams: the United ...

and the

Tournament of Nations The Tournament of Nations was a global invitational tournament for national teams in women's soccer in non-World Cup and non-Olympic years hosted by the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) in several American cities. The inaugural tournament ...

with the U.S. WNT. On September 19, she was named to the final 20 player roster for the

2018 CONCACAF Women's Championship The 2018 CONCACAF Women's Championship was the 10th edition of the CONCACAF Women's Championship (also known as the CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup or the CONCACAF Women's World Cup Qualifying Tournament), the quadrennial international football champio ...

. In 2019, Dahlkemper was the starting central defender for the national team beside

Becky Sauerbrunn Rebecca Elizabeth Sauerbrunn (born June 6, 1985) is an American professional soccer player for Portland Thorns FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), the highest division of women's professional soccer in the United States. Since 2021 ...

at the

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's association football championship contested by 24 women's national teams representing member associations of FIFA. I ...

in France, marking her first World Cup appearance. Dahlkemper and goalkeeper

Alyssa Naeher Alyssa Michele Naeher (born April 20, 1988) is an American soccer goalkeeper for the Chicago Red Stars of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and the United States national team. She was on the 23-player roster for the United States at t ...

were the only players to start every match of the tournament for the United States, with Dahlkemper playing every minute of the team's seven games aside from coming off in the 82nd minute against

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

in the group stage. Dahlkemper and the United States defeated the Netherlands 2–0 in the final to win the United States' fourth Women's World Cup title.

Personal life

In 2019, along with USWNT teammates

Crystal Dunn Crystal Alyssia Soubrier (; born July 3, 1992) is an American soccer player for the Portland Thorns FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), the highest division of women's professional soccer in the United States, and the United States ...

Megan Rapinoe Megan Anna Rapinoe (; born July 5, 1985) is an American professional Association football, soccer player who plays as a Midfielder#Winger, winger and captains OL Reign of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), as well as the United States ...

, and

Alex Morgan Alexandra Morgan Carrasco (born Alexandra Patricia Morgan; July 2, 1989) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a striker and captains for San Diego Wave FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), the highest division o ...

, Dahlkemper posed for the 2019 ''Sports Illustrated'' Swimsuit Issue in Saint Lucia. She is married to

Aaron Schoenfeld Aaron Maxwell Schoenfeld ( he, אהרון מקסוול שוינפלד, born April 17, 1990) is an Israeli-American former professional soccer player who played as a forward. Early life Schoenfeld is Jewish, and was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, ...

. They started dating in May 2019 and announced their engagement in December 2020. Shortly after, they got married in a private ceremony on January 5, 2021.

Career statistics

Club summary

World Cup appearances

Olympic appearances

Honors

UCLA * NCAA Women's Soccer Championship:

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 ...

2014 United States *

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's international governing bod ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Olympic Bronze Medal An Olympic medal is awarded to successful competitors at one of the Olympic Games. There are three classes of medal to be won: gold medal, gold, silver medal, silver, and bronze medal, bronze, awarded to first, second, and third place, respect ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

* CONCACAF Women's Championship:

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament The CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament was an international football (soccer) event in the North America, Central America and the Caribbean region, and was the qualification tournament for the Olympic Games. Women's football tourname ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

;Western New York Flash * NWSL Champions:

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

;North Carolina Courage * NWSL Champions:

NWSL Shield The NWSL Shield is an annual award given to the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) team with the best regular season record as determined by the NWSL points system. The NWSL Shield has been awarded annually since 2013 and is recognized as a m ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

;Individual * NWSL Defender of the Year:

*NWSL Best XI:

References

External links

US Soccer player profile

UCLA player profile
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dahlkemper, Abby 1993 births Living people UCLA Bruins women's soccer players American women's soccer players Association footballers' wives and girlfriends Parade High School All-Americans (girls' soccer) Soccer players from California Sportspeople from the San Francisco Bay Area Pali Blues players National Women's Soccer League players Western New York Flash players Adelaide United FC (A-League Women) players Sportspeople from Lancaster, Pennsylvania People from Menlo Park, California Women's association football defenders United States women's international soccer players Western New York Flash draft picks United States women's under-20 international soccer players North Carolina Courage players San Diego Wave FC players Schools of the Sacred Heart alumni 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players FIFA Women's World Cup-winning players Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in soccer Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics 21st-century American women American expatriate sportspeople in England American expatriate women's soccer players American expatriate sportspeople in Australia Expatriate women's footballers in England Expatriate women's soccer players in Australia