Among many of the new faces the Houston Dash added in the off-season, midfielder Kelcie Hedge is one of them. Joining the Dash after a trade with OL Reign, the young player is ready to help the Dash have a successful 2022 season. The Idaho native is entering her third season in the National Women’s Soccer League, but as a new face to the squad, she joined us on the City of Soccer podcast to introduce herself to fans.
As the youngest of three sisters, Hedge was introduced to soccer by her siblings.
“My parents always noticed that I always wanted to be doing what they were doing, and I always wanted to beat them and be better than them,” she explained on the City of Soccer podcast. “So that’s how I came to love sports and love soccer.”
Starting when she was four years old, Hedge fell in love with soccer and continued all throughout her childhood. She started turning heads in high school which is when she started earning call ups to the United States U-15 and U-17 Girls National Teams. Talent, however, wasn’t going to be enough to keep her there.
She said, “I had to elevate my speed of play and my game. My coaches told me, ‘You’ll start training with boys.’ So, I found a boys’ team and it definitely elevated my speed of play, my physicality, my – all of it.”
Training with boys brought a whole new level of challenges for the midfielder, but even as a teenager, she was willing to do whatever it took to make her soccer dreams a reality.
“It was definitely challenging, and the boys didn’t really accept me as one [of them] at first. I kind of had to go in and prove myself,” she shared. “I remember we were playing indoor one day and I went to take this ball from this guy and I kind of shoved him into the wall and he got really pissed off but then he finally respected me and next thing I know, when I got the ball, he totally shoved me into the wall and then from there it was just such a great training environment and they pushed me to that next level. It was awesome.”
During the week, Hedge would train with the boys team in her small town in Idaho, and on weekends, she would make the four and a half hour drive to play competitively with Seattle Premier in Washington state. It all paid off when the University of Washington offered her a scholarship to further her soccer career.
“I thought it was perfect. I loved the school, loved the program, loved the coaches. So I decided to start off there, then realized about two years in - I think, I transferred my sophomore year – it wasn’t quite the place for me and I had to go someplace else,” Hedge expressed.
With dreams of playing professional soccer, the midfielder transferred to Santa Clara University. Hedge thrived in Nothern California, where she was named WCC Player of the Year and a MAC Hermann Trophy Finalist in 2018. She was also named to the 2018 All-WCC First Team and 2018 First Team All-West Region. The midfielder started every match she played as a Bronco, tallying up a career total of 13 goals and 16 assists.
Her collegiate success led to her being selected ninth overall in the 2020 NWSL Draft by OL Reign. She opted to stay at home in order to be surrounded by her family to celebrate living out her professional soccer dreams so close to home.
“It was a dream come true. It was just a special feeling,” she said. “I was very blessed to be drafted by OL Reign that year.”
Hedge trained among the best, with the likes of Megan Rapinoe and Rose Lavelle. Unfortunately, she tore her ACL that summer. She made her professional debut a year later on July 18.
Now, the midfielder is ready to make an impact in Houston and to experience a new city.
“I honestly don’t know much about Houston. I’m excited to get to learn all these things about Houston,” she laughed.
Kelcie Hedge and the rest of the Houston Dash start preseason on February 1.
