Five things about Lindsay Horan, Captain America of U.S. Soccer’s Olympic team

Horan’s path to wearing the armband at these Summer Games is dually unique and inspiring

She’s Captain America, the U.S.’ leader of an Olympic race to gold and one of the most dominant players in the middle of the pitch.

It would be weird to see a U.S. women’s national team lineup without Lindsay Horan, who has been a part of the senior squad on some capacity since 2013 and if she appears in Wednesday’s game against Australia (1 p.m., USA Network, Peacock) will have made her 153rd appearance for the States on the senior level.

Horan is a dominant force not just here but internationally, as she plays her club ball in the highest division of French women’s soccer with Lyon. So who is she, both on off and off the pitch?

Here’s five things you should about her and how she got to this point.

She was a high school All-American, but…

She didn’t play high school soccer. Despite attending Golden High School in Golden, Colo. Horan played club soccer and was invited to play for the U.S. under-17 youth national team. By the time her senior year came around, Horan was considered the top prospect coming out of high school by ESPN.

She never played in college either

Horan was so good she bypassed her college career despite having a full ride to North Carolina, considered one of the best women’s programs in the country. Instead, the fresh-faced 18-year-old was whisked away to France to play professionally for the women’s team of Paris St.-Germain, where she appeared in 58 games and scored 46 goals over the course of four seasons in Paris.

She can play three different positions

What makes Horan such a high-value commodity is her versatility. She has played three different roles for both club and country as a center midfielder, an outside midfielder who usually lines up on the left side and as a forward. All three seem to work well for the 30-year-old, who has 35 goals for the U.S. national team, since her debut as an 18-year-old in the 2013 Algarve Cup.

She met her fiancé ... at the office

Horan is engaged to Tyler Heaps, an analyst for the U.S. Soccer Federation. According to People Magazine, the pair met in 2016 while Heaps was traveling with the women’s program. He proposed to Horan in 2023 after a seven-year relationship that began on the job. There is no word on whether the human resources department at U.S. Soccer is outraged over this.

She dominated domestic soccer

Horan had a brief stint in the States with arguably NWSL’s top club, the Portland Thorns. In her time there before a move to Lyon last summer, Horan led Portland to an NWSL title in 2017, in which she was named the Most Valuable Player. The following year, she was named league MVP and as one of the NWSL’s Best XI players.