Rose Lavelle

Rosemary Kathleen Lavelle (born May 14, 1995) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for NJ/NY Gotham FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), and for the United States national team.

She was awarded the Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Sports Women of the Year award in 2013.

Lavelle was accepted to play college soccer at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2013.

A four-year starter, Lavelle made 19 appearances as a freshman, scoring 6 goals and registering 7 assists on the way to being named Big Ten Conference Freshman of the Year.

Wisconsin won the Big Ten Women's Soccer Tournament in 2014.

Lavelle played with the Dayton Dutch Lions in the USL W-League during the 2014 season.

Lavelle was named Big Ten midfielder of the year consecutively in 2015 and 2016.

In 2015, she was also named first-team All-American by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA), the first Wisconsin Badger to do so since 1991.

During her college break in the summer of 2015, Lavelle played for the Seattle Sounders Women of the W-League, where she was named all-league.

After finishing her collegiate career with the Wisconsin Badgers in 2016, Lavelle began her professional career with Boston Breakers before moving to Washington Spirit a year later.

After the W-League folded she returned to the Lions for the 2016 Women's Premier Soccer League season.

Lavelle represented the United States at multiple youth levels before making her senior international debut in 2017.

On January 12, 2017, Lavelle was selected number one overall at the 2017 NWSL College Draft by the Boston Breakers.

Lavelle started her professional career by scoring two goals in eight games and was named Player of the Month for April.

However, after suffering a hamstring injury in June while on international duty, Lavelle missed over two months and finished the season with only ten appearances as a rookie.

The Breakers folded before the start of the 2018 season.

A dispersal draft was held by the NWSL to distribute Breakers players across the league.

Lavelle was selected first overall by Washington Spirit, who acquired the first pick through a trade with Sky Blue FC.

Due to injury and international duty Lavelle appeared in only eleven games for the Spirit in 2018.

She started six games for the United States at the 2019 World Cup, scoring three goals, and was awarded the Bronze Ball.

The same year, she was named the sixth best player in the world at The Best FIFA Football Awards 2019 and was named to the 2019 FIFA FIFPro World XI.

Despite making only six appearances the following year due to international duty, scoring one goal and recording one assist, Lavelle was named to the 2019 NWSL Best XI in the end of the season awards.

In the 2020 Olympics, she scored one goal for the United States on the way to a bronze medal.

Lavelle was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, to parents Marty and Janet, and was raised with three siblings, John, Nora and Mary.

She played competitive soccer initially with GSSA Sycamore United Club before moving to Lakota United Soccer Club and later with Cincinnati United Premier Soccer Club.

She credits her love of soccer to long-time Cincinnati Soccer Trainer Neil Bradford, who began as her trainer at age 8 and predicted her rise to the Women's Soccer National Team as a youth.

As part of a third-grade book report, Lavelle chose to write about professional soccer star Mia Hamm.

A four-year varsity girls' soccer player at Mount Notre Dame High School, Lavelle was named Cincinnati's Player of the Year by The Cincinnati Enquirer her senior year.

The same year, she scored 15 goals (38 points) for her team.

Lavelle finished her high school career as the team's leading scorer with 57 goals.

She was twice-named NSCAA All-Region, as a junior and senior, and received first-team all-state honors.

With the 2020 season affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, Lavelle took part in the 2020 NWSL Challenge Cup, making four appearances and scoring one goal as Washington finished second in the preliminary group but were eliminated in the first knockout round by Sky Blue FC on penalties.

On August 16, 2020, Lavelle was traded to OL Reign in exchange for OL Reign's natural first-round pick in the 2022 NWSL College Draft, $100,000 in allocation money, and further performance-based allocation money with the acknowledgement that she would be signing outside the league.

On August 18, 2020, Lavelle signed with Manchester City of the English FA WSL ahead of the 2020–21 season.

She scored her first goal on October 7, 2020, in a 3–1 win over Everton in the 2020–21 FA Women's League Cup, scoring her second goal against Liverpool a month later in the same competition.

On January 31, 2021, Lavelle scored her first WSL goal as a substitute during City's 4–0 win over West Ham United.

On May 17, 2021, OL Reign announced the return of Lavelle to the NWSL as an allocated player having acquired her playing rights prior to her move to England in August 2020.

Lavelle missed the majority of the 2023 NWSL season due to injury and international duty.

She returned for the postseason, helping OL Reign secure a spot in the 2023 NWSL Championship in San Diego.

In the title match, Lavelle scored OL Reign's only goal in a 2-1 defeat to Gotham FC.