Elizabeth Franklin (born October 4, 2000) is an American professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player who plays as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for Chicago Stars FC of the

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a women's professional Association football, soccer league and the highest level of the United States soccer league system#Women's leagues, United States soccer league system (alongside the USL Supe ...

(NWSL). She played

college soccer College soccer, called college football in some countries, is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. While it is most widespread in the United States, it is also prominent in Japan, South Kore ...

for the

Notre Dame Fighting Irish The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are the athletic teams that represent the University of Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish participate in 26 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I intercollegiate sports and in the NCAA's Division ...

and the

Arkansas Razorbacks The Arkansas Razorbacks, also known as the Hogs, are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletics teams representing the University of Arkansas, located in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Fayetteville. The University of Arkans ...

before being drafted by the Red Stars in the 2024 NWSL Draft. A former two-sport athlete, she also played for the

Arkansas Razorbacks basketball The Arkansas Razorbacks men's basketball team, colloquially known as the Hogs, represents the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas in National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA Division I (NCAA), Division ...

team in her final year of college.

Early life

A native of

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...

, Franklin grew up playing club soccer for Crossfire ECNL. She also dabbled in several other sports, including

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

. She attended

Seattle Preparatory School Seattle Preparatory School, popularly known as Seattle Prep, is a private, Jesuit high school located on Capitol Hill in Seattle, Washington, United States. After it was founded in 1891, Seattle Prep merged with Immaculate Conception Parish Sch ...

, where she led the girls' soccer team to three Seattle Metro Championship titles and the Washington State Champion title in 2015. In her time with Seattle Prep, Franklin scored 59 goals and made 26 assists. She was named the 2018–19 Washington State Gatorade Player of the Year, the

Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is an American daily newspaper based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1891, ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region. The Seattle Time ...

Player of the Year, and twice to the all-state first team.

College career

Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Franklin started off her college sports career playing soccer for the

. In her freshman year at Notre Dame, Franklin starred in 15 games, starting 4. She scored her first college goal on October 31, 2019, scoring against Wake Forest in the 77th minute of the match. Franklin's goal helped the Fighting Irish clinch a spot in the 2019 ACC Championship match, knocking out their opponents. The following year, Franklin played in 4 games and accrued 96 minutes of total game time.

Arkansas Razorbacks

Franklin departed Notre Dame and joined the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States. It is the Flagship campus, flagship campus of the University of Arkan ...

ahead of the Razorbacks' 2021 fall campaign. She played in 18 games, starting half of them, in her first season with Arkansas. Her first Razorback goal came on October 21, 2021, against Auburn. She scored 4 more over the course of the season and accumulated 1667 minutes. As a senior, she started every single match of the campaign for the Razorbacks. She ended up scoring her first career brace on November 18, 2022, in a 5–2 NCAA Tournament win over Ohio State. Franklin played in one more season with the Fighting Irish, taking advantage of the extra year of

NCAA eligibility The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and 1 in Canada. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and helps ...

offered to athletes due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. She made good use of the season, starting every match, scoring a team-high 9 goals, and leading the team in assists and points. She received numerous accolades, including SEC Midfielder of the Year, SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year, All-SEC First Team, USC All-America second team, and USC All-Southeast Region first team honors. Following the conclusion of the soccer season, Franklin switched sports and joined the

Arkansas Razorbacks women's basketball The Arkansas Razorbacks women's basketball team represents the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States in NCAA Division I women's basketball competition. The school's team currently competes in the S ...

team. She played in 3 games for her team, making her collegiate basketball debut on December 7, 2023, against

Louisiana Tech Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Ruston, Louisiana, United States. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – Hig ...

. After signing a contract in the NWSL, Franklin did not return to the Razorbacks basketball program.

Club career

Chicago Stars

On January 12, 2024, Franklin was selected by the

Chicago Red Stars Chicago Stars Football Club is an American professional soccer team based in the Chicago metropolitan area that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). A founding member of the Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) league as the Chic ...

(later named Chicago Stars FC) in the 3rd round of the 2024 NWSL Draft (41st overall). On March 13, the Stars signed Franklin to her first professional deal, a one-year contract with an additional club option. She made her professional debut on March 29, entering the match as a substitute for Julia Bianchi in a 1–1 draw versus the

Orlando Pride The Orlando Pride are an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Orlando, Florida, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). The Pride began play in the 2016 National Women's Soccer League season, 2016 ...

. On September 1, she scored her first professional goal as Chicago was defeated by

Angel City FC Angel City Football Club is an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Los Angeles, California, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). The formation of the team was announced on July 21, 2020; it beg ...

, 2–1. Although having faced a one-game suspension in June due to "major game misconduct" committed in a match versus the

Kansas City Current The Kansas City Current are an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Kansas City, Missouri, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). It was founded as an NWSL expansion, expansion team in 2021 NWSL ...

, Franklin managed to make a total of 16 appearances in her rookie season. She also started Chicago's lone playoff match, a 4–1 defeat at the hands of Orlando.

Personal life

Franklin's father, Jesse Franklin IV, competed in rowing at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

and was inducted into the university's hall of fame in 1999. Franklin's brother, Jesse Franklin V, was selected by the

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

team

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Eas ...

in the

2020 MLB draft The 2020 Major League Baseball draft took place on June 10 and 11, 2020. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to Major League Baseball (MLB) teams. The draft order was set based on the reverse order of the 2019 MLB season standings. In ad ...

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Franklin, Bea 2000 births Living people American women's soccer players Women's association football midfielders Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's soccer players Arkansas Razorbacks women's basketball players Arkansas Razorbacks women's soccer players Chicago Red Stars draft picks Chicago Stars FC players Chicago Red Stars players National Women's Soccer League players 21st-century American sportswomen