Lindsey Heaps
Midfielder · USWNT · Denver Summit FCLindsey Heaps, who played as Lindsey Horan earlier in her career, grew up in Golden, Colorado and went straight from high school to Paris Saint-Germain at 18. US Soccer calls her the first American woman to sign a professional contract straight out of high school. She later came home to the NWSL, captained the USWNT, won Olympic gold in 2024, and in 2026 signed with the new Denver team an hour from where she grew up.
- Position
- Midfielder
- Hometown
- Golden, Colorado
- Born
- 1994
- Plays now
- Denver Summit FC
Every club, in order, with the years
Look at the years beside each rung. Several of them cover three or four seasons in one place, and the second-division USL turns up on four of these thirteen routes.
- 1Club soccer in ColoradoTown & rec soccer
Colorado Rush
Golden, Colorado Childhood
She played her youth soccer with the Colorado Rush outside Denver, and left for a professional contract in Europe the summer she finished high school.
Colorado RushPro at 18No college soccerParent translationA college scholarship is the outcome almost every serious girls’ player in the country is working toward. Heaps skipped it entirely, which tells you how unusual her options were.
- 2Pro at 18 in ParisPro · MLS / USL
Paris Saint-Germain
Paris, France 2012 to 2015
She signed with Paris Saint-Germain in July 2012, straight out of high school. US Soccer describes it as a first for an American woman. She stayed through the end of 2015.
Signed at 18Straight from high school2012-2015 - 3Home to the NWSLPro · MLS / USL
Portland Thorns FC
Portland, Oregon 2016 to 2021
She came back to the US in 2016 to join the Portland Thorns in the NWSL. She scored the only goal of the 2017 championship game and was named its MVP, won league MVP in 2018, and took two Shields with the club.
2017 champion and final MVP2018 NWSL MVPTwo NWSL Shields - 4Back to EuropePro · MLS / USL
Olympique Lyonnais
Lyon, France 2022 to 2026
She joined Lyon on loan from Portland in January 2022 and played the full 90 minutes of that May’s Champions League final, a 3-1 win over Barcelona. She stayed in France until her 2026 move home.
Joined on loan, Jan 2022Champions League 2021-22Played the full final - 5Home to ColoradoPro · MLS / USL
Denver Summit FC
Denver, Colorado 2026 to present
She signed with the NWSL expansion side Denver Summit FC in January 2026, on a deal through 2029, and joined up in July once her season in France finished.
Signed Jan 2026Deal through 2029An hour from Golden - 6The national teamNational team
United States women’s national team
USWNT 2013 to present
She won her first cap on 8 March 2013 against China and became a fixture in midfield. As captain at the 2024 Paris Olympics she was the only US field player to play every minute of all six matches, and the United States won gold.
Debut 2013USWNT captainEvery minute in Paris
She signed in Paris at 18, straight out of high school.
The part worth reading is the order it happened in and how long each step took. Look at the years beside each rung above. Several of them cover three or four seasons in one place.
What a parent can take from this one
A few things worth pulling out of the route above, none of them a formula you can copy.
Skipping college for Europe is real but rare
She went straight to a European pro club and thrived. On the women’s side this is still uncommon, because college soccer is the normal route and only a handful of players ever get a pro offer at 18.
Development happened at the club
Her youth soccer was club soccer, and she was signing a professional contract the summer her classmates were choosing colleges.
Turning down college is a big bet
A scholarship is what most families work years for. Walking away from that route only makes sense for the rare player with an offer on the table and a family ready to support a move abroad at 18.
A pro career moves around
France, then home to the NWSL, then back to France, and now Denver. Pro players change clubs and countries often, so no single stop is the destination.
One path, not the path. MLS NEXT alone holds more than 53,000 players across 318 clubs. MLS has 30 clubs and caps an active roster at 30 players, and a World Cup squad is 26. Lindsey Heaps’s route is worth understanding rather than copying step for step, because the arithmetic between those numbers is not something a plan can beat. Here is where the odds actually land.
Which rung is your kid on right now?
Town, club, academy, college: the rungs Lindsey Heaps climbed are the same ones the clubs near you sit on. Read the ladder, or tell us about your kid and we’ll place them on it.
How we built this page
Every club, date and figure on this page was checked against US Soccer, the clubs themselves, college athletics departments and dated reporting. The professional record is well documented. The youth years are thinner, so where a claim could not be traced to one of those sources we cut it rather than fill the gap.
- US Soccer: Lindsey Heaps
- NWSL: the 2017 championship game MVP
- US Soccer: winning the Champions League with Lyon
- CBS Sports: signing with Denver Summit FC
Not affiliated with Lindsey Heaps, US Soccer, Denver Summit FC, or any club or league. No endorsement implied. Spotted something wrong? Tell us and we’ll fix it.
Photo: Erik Drost · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.