Bianca Henninger Moreno (born 22 October 1990) is an American-born Mexican former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who last played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

for the

Houston Dash The Houston Dash are an American professional soccer team based in Houston, Texas, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). The Dash began play in the 2014 season. The team plays its home games at Shell Energy Stadium. His ...

and the

Mexico women's national football team The Mexico women's national football team (Spanish: ''Selección Nacional de México Femenil'') represents Mexico in international Women's association football, women's football. The team is governed by the Mexican Football Federation and compe ...

Early life

Henninger attended

Archbishop Mitty High School Archbishop Mitty High School affectionately known as Mitty by its staff, students and alumni is a private Catholic high school located in San Jose, California, United States. The school is named for John Joseph Mitty, the fourth Archbishop of S ...

San Jose, California San Jose, officially the City of San José ( ; ), is a cultural, commercial, and political center within Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area. With a city population of 997,368 and a metropolitan area population of 1.95 million, it is ...

where she was an NSCAA All-American in 2006 and 2007. She was named a Parade Magazine All-American in 2007 and 2008. Henninger played U-13 to U-18 for the De Anza Strykers, a four-time state cup finalist. She played U- 6 through U-11 with the Central Valley Mercury.

Santa Clara University

Henninger attended

Santa Clara University Santa Clara University is a private university, private Jesuit university in Santa Clara, California, United States. Established in 1851, Santa Clara University is the oldest operating institution of higher learning in California. The university' ...

. As a freshman in 2008, she played in seven matches for the

Broncos A bucking horse is any breed of horse, male or female, with a propensity to buck. They have been, and still are, referred to by various names, including bronco, broncho, and roughstock. The harder they buck, the more desirable they are for ro ...

, starting three. As a sophomore in 2009, she started 17 of 19 matches and earned six shutouts. She had one assist on a long punt. Henninger suffered a concussion in the first

West Coast Conference The West Coast Conference (WCC) — known as the California Basketball Association from 1952 to 1956 and then as the West Coast Athletic Conference until 1989 — is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I consisting o ...

game of the year and missed four conference games. She earned her first career NCAA Tournament shutout in a 1–0 victory over Michigan State in the first round. During the second round of the NCAA tournament in a match against Oklahoma State, she saved two penalty kicks and scored one in a 6–5 shootout victory. She started 21 games as a junior and 18 games as a senior and was 1st team all-WCC both years.

Club career

Philadelphia Independence

Henninger was selected by the

Philadelphia Independence The Philadelphia Independence was an American professional association football, soccer club that was based in the Philadelphia suburb of Chester, Pennsylvania. The team joined Women's Professional Soccer as an expansion team in 2010 and played ...

in the third round (14th overall) of the 2012 WPS Draft.

New York Fury

After the WPS folded in early 2012, Henninger signed with the

New York Fury New York Fury was a semi-professional American women's soccer club playing in the Women's Premier Soccer League Elite, the top tier of women's soccer in the United States in 2012. It was part of the Fury Soccer Organization which also supports t ...

in the

WPSL Elite The Women's Premier Soccer League Elite (WPSL Elite) was a women's semi-professional soccer league created by the Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL) to support the sport in the United States, both from continued interest by WPSL teams in profes ...

FC Kansas City

On 7 February 2013, Henninger was drafted by

FC Kansas City FC Kansas City was an American professional women's soccer club based in Kansas City, Missouri. The team was one of the eight founding clubs of the National Women's Soccer League in 2012, and began play in 2013. They were two-time NWSL champio ...

for the inaugural season 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 ...

Houston Dash

On 13 January 2014, Henninger was traded to the

in exchange for the first pick of the third round (19th overall) in the

2014 NWSL College Draft The 2014 NWSL College Draft was the second annual meeting of National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) franchises to select eligible college players. It was held on January 17, 2014, at the NSCAA Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was ope ...

. Henninger was named Player of the Week for week 7 of the 2015 NWSL season after recording eight saves in a 1–0 Houston win over Portland. On January 26, 2020, Henninger announced her retirement from professional soccer.

Loan to Melbourne Victory

In October 2016, Henninger was loaned to

Melbourne Victory Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victory ...

for the 2016–17 W-League season.

International career

Born in the United States, Henninger was a member of the

2010 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The 2010 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup was the 5th edition of the tournament. It was held in Germany, who also hosted the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup a year later, from 13 July to 1 August 2010. Sixteen teams, comprising representatives from all si ...

U.S. squad that was eliminated in the quarterfinals. She played in all four games and allowed only two goals. She also played in all 5 games for the gold medal-winning U.S. team in the 2010 Concacaf U20 World Cup qualifying tournament in Guatemala, during which she surrendered 2 goals. She played for various U.S. youth teams before 2010, and the U-23's in 2011 and 2012. She attended training camp with the full national team in 2011. Henninger did not play in any senior-level games with the U.S. team, leaving her eligibility open to play with the

, as her mother was born in Mexico. In November 2015, Henninger began training with the Mexico national team. She was called up by the Mexico team in 2016 for the Four Nations Tournament in China. She made her senior debut for Mexico on 4 February 2017 in a 3–2 friendly loss against Canada. Henninger has 4 caps with the national team, sharing goalkeeping duties with teammate Cecilia Santiago.

Honors and awards

Henninger received the adidas Golden Glove award while representing the United States with the United States U-20 women's national soccer team at the

in Germany. Henninger received the US Soccer Young Female Athlete of the Year award in 2010. NSCAA/Performance Subaru First-Team All-American in 2010 and Third-Team in 2011. Henninger was WCC 1st team All Conference in 2010 and in 2011 was WCC 1st team All Conference in addition to being the conference Goalkeeper of the Year.

Personal life

Henninger is openly lesbian. She owns a dog called Rafa.

References

External links

Bianca Henninger
profile at

*
US Soccer player profile

FC Kansas City player profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Henninger, Bianca 1990 births Living people LGBTQ people from California Sportspeople from Saratoga, California Soccer players from San Jose, California Sportspeople from Los Gatos, California Mexican women's footballers Mexico women's international footballers Mexican expatriate sportspeople in Australia Mexican expatriate sportspeople in Germany Mexican expatriate women's footballers Mexican lesbian sportswomen Mexican people of American descent American women's soccer players United States women's under-20 international soccer players American expatriate women's soccer players in Germany Expatriate women's footballers in Germany American expatriate sportspeople in Australia American expatriate women's soccer players American lesbian sportswomen American LGBTQ soccer players American sportspeople of Mexican descent 21st-century American LGBTQ people 21st-century Mexican LGBTQ people Archbishop Mitty High School alumni Expatriate women's soccer players in Australia FC Kansas City players Houston Dash players Melbourne Victory FC (women) players National Women's Soccer League players New York Fury players Parade High School All-Americans (girls' soccer) Santa Clara Broncos women's soccer players Women's association football goalkeepers Women's Premier Soccer League Elite players United States women's youth international soccer players 21st-century American sportswomen 21st-century Mexican sportswomen