Emily May Sams (; born July 1, 1999) 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 defender for 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 ...

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) and the

United States national team The United States national team or Team USA may refer to any of a number of sports team representing the United States in international competitions. Olympic teams Additionally, these teams may compete in other international competitions such as ...

. She plays primarily as a

center back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

but has also been deployed at

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

. She played college soccer for the

Florida State Seminoles The Florida State Seminoles are the athletic teams representing Florida State University (FSU) located in Tallahassee, Florida. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I, prima ...

, where she won the 2021 national championship. She played half a season in Sweden before being selected third overall by the Pride in the 2023 NWSL Draft. In 2024, she helped lead the Pride to the

NWSL Shield The NWSL Shield is an annual award given to the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) team with the best regular season record as determined by the NWSL points system. The NWSL Shield has been awarded annually since 2013 and is recognized as a ...

and was named

NWSL Defender of the Year The NWSL Defender of the Year award is presented annually to the best defensive player in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Becky Sauerbrunn won the first three Defender of the Year awards from 2013 to 2015 and added her fourth in 2019 ...

. Sams trained with the youth national team from the under-19 to under-23 levels. She was included in the squad that won gold at the

2024 Paris Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

before making her senior debut later that year.

Early life

Sams was born in

Boise Boise ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 census, there were 235,685 people residing in the city. Located on the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and nor ...

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

in 1999. Her family moved to

Navarre Navarre ( ; ; ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre, is a landlocked foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Autonomous Community, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and New Aquitaine in France. ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

in the summer of 2014. She attended Navarre High School where she tallied 107 goals and 70 assists for the soccer team and was honored with several individual awards including 2016 Florida Miss Soccer and twice Player of the Year by the Pensacola News Journal. She also played youth club soccer for Gulf Coast Texans.

Florida State Seminoles

Sams played three seasons of

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

Seminoles The Seminole are a Native American people who developed in Florida in the 18th century. Today, they live in Oklahoma and Florida, and comprise three federally recognized tribes: the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, ...

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

between 2017 and 2021; she made a total of 62 appearances, starting 61, scoring six goals and registering seven assists. As a freshman she played in all 21 FSU games on the season, including 20 starts. On her collegiate debut she made two assists for Deyna Castellanos in a 3–0 win over the

UNC Greensboro Spartans The UNC Greensboro (UNCG) Spartans are the athletic teams that represent the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in Greensboro, North Carolina. All 17 UNCG sports compete in the Southern Conference (SoCon). History The intercollegiate ath ...

. She scored her first collegiate goal on October 5 in a 3–0 win over the

Boston College Eagles The Boston College Eagles are the athletic teams that represent Boston College, located in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level ( Football Bowl Subdivis ...

. She

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

for the 2018 season due to an ACL injury before being forced to sit out in 2019 with a second ACL tear. She returned in 2020 to start in all 16 games during 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 ...

shortened season as FSU claimed both the ACC

regular season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of S ...

and

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...

titles. Individually she was named College Cup All-Tournament Team, All-ACC Second Team,

United Soccer Coaches The United Soccer Coaches (formerly known as the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)) is an organization of American soccer coaches founded in 1941. It is the largest soccer coaches organization in the world, with more than ...

Second Team All-American. In 2021, she started all 25 games and played a team-high 2,306 minutes in her redshirt senior year, anchoring a back line that allowed 13 goals and kept 14 shutouts. The team finished second in the regular season standings behind the

Virginia Cavaliers The Virginia Cavaliers, also known as Wahoos or Hoos, are the athletic teams representing the University of Virginia, located in Charlottesville. The Cavaliers compete at the NCAA Division I level ( FBS for football), in the Atlantic Coast C ...

but defended their 2021 ACC women's soccer tournament title with a 1–0 victory over the Cavaliers before going on to win the 2021 National Championship title, beating the

BYU Cougars The BYU Cougars are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Brigham Young University (BYU), located in Provo, Utah. BYU fields 21 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) varsity athletic teams. They are a member of the Big 12 C ...

on penalty kicks in the final. She earned College Cup All-Tournament Team, All-ACC First Team, ACC All-Tournament Team and United Soccer Coaches First Team All-American honors as well being named ACC Defensive Player of the Year. Having redshirted in 2018 and accrued an additional year of eligibility following the COVID-19 impacted season, she was permitted to play one more season of college soccer but announced she would forgo it and turn professional in August 2022 after feeling disrespected by the FSU administration following the head coach search.

Club career

Racing Louisville (W League)

Sams signed for the semi-professional

USL W League The USL W League (USLW) is a Women's association football, women's soccer league in the United States. It began play in May 2022 and follows the USL W-League (1995–2015), USL W-League, a similar league that existed from 1995 to 2015. It is c ...

affiliate of

Racing Louisville FC Racing Louisville Football Club is an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Louisville, Kentucky, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). It began playing in 2021 at Lynn Family Stadium. The team i ...

in May 2022. She made nine appearances and scored four goals during the 2022 season and was named to the Best XI second team.

BK Häcken

After electing to forgo her final season at Florida State in early August 2022, partway through the

2022 NWSL season The 2022 National Women's Soccer League season was the tenth season of the National Women's Soccer League, the top division of women's soccer in the United States. Including the NWSL's two professional predecessors, Women's Professional Soccer (2 ...

, Sams signed a professional contract directly with the

NWSL 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 ...

on August 31, 2022. The move allowed her to retain her eligibility to have her playing rights distributed in the 2023 NWSL Draft and play in the 2023 NWSL season. In a statement, the league's Chief Legal Officer stated: "We are constantly evaluating our policies and procedures to ensure the NWSL is attracting and retaining the best players in the world." Having signed through 2025, she was loaned out to Swedish

Damallsvenskan The (; ), known as OBOS for sponsorship reasons, is the highest division of women's football in Sweden. It is one of the best women's leagues in the world, and was founded in 1988. The division consists of a league of 14 teams. From 2013, t ...

side

BK Häcken FF Bollklubben Häcken Fotbollsförening () is a women's football club based in Gothenburg, Sweden. Founded in 1970 as Landvetters IF () and known as Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC () between 2004 and 2020, the club became the women's section of the men' ...

for the remainder of the 2022 season. She made her senior club debut on September 14, 2022, starting and playing the full 90 minutes of a 3–0

Svenska Cupen Svenska cupen (, ), also known as the Swedish Cup in English, is a knockout cup competition in Swedish football and the main Swedish football cup. ''Svenska cupen'' usually refers to the men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also ...

third round victory over second division Jitex BK. She made a further four appearances, all in the league, scoring one goal in a 7–1 win over AIK. Despite being named as a substitute for both

second qualifying round The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of Un ...

legs against

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club, commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain () or simply PSG, is a French professional Association football, football club based in Paris. They compete in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top d ...

, she did not appear in the

UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. ...

Orlando Pride

On January 12, 2023, Sams was selected in the first round (third overall) of the 2023 NWSL Draft by

. Sams recorded her first NWSL assist, to Barbra Banda, in a 1–0 win over

Racing Louisville Racing Louisville Football Club is an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Louisville, Kentucky, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). It began playing in 2021 at Lynn Family Stadium. The team i ...

on May 5, 2024. She scored her first NWSL goal on May 19, opening a 3–2 win against the

Seattle Reign Seattle Reign FC is an American professional soccer team based in Seattle, Washington, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Founded in 2012, it is one of eight inaugural members of the NWSL. Since June 2024, the Reign ar ...

. Her performance alongside center back partner

Kylie Strom Kylie Allyssa Nadaner (; born March 18, 1992) is an American Association football, soccer player who plays as a center back for the Orlando Pride of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Nadaner played College soccer in the United States, c ...

helped Orlando set the NWSL's record for consecutive games unbeaten and secure the

, the first trophy in Pride history. Sams was named to the NWSL Team of the Month three times, selected to the NWSL Best XI, and voted the

. On February 13, 2025, she signed a contract extension with the Pride through 2027.

International career

In March 2017, Sams was called into training camp with the United States under-19 team for the first time, one of only two college players on the roster. In January 2018, she was called up to an under-20 training camp ahead of the

2018 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship The 2018 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship was the 9th edition of the CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship, the biennial international youth association football, football championship organised by CONCACAF for the women's under-20 national teams ...

but did not make the final roster. In February 2022, she was named to the under-23 squad for the 2022 Thorns Invitational. She returned to the under-23s to play in the Three-Nations Tournament hosted in Sweden in June 2022. In June 2024, Sams received her first senior national team call-up as a training player ahead of the send-off match for the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

. The next month she was named as an alternate to the Olympic team after Lynn Williams came off the alternate list to replace

Catarina Macario Catarina Cantanhede Melônio Macário (; born October 4, 1999) is a professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder or forward for Women's Super League club Chelsea. Born in Brazil, she plays for the United States national team. Macari ...

. She was named to the matchday squad for the final group stage game against Australia in place of the injured Tierna Davidson, and was again named in the 18 for the quarter-final against Japan, but was an unused substitute for both. Davidson returned for the semi-final. The United States won gold by defeating

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

1–0 in the final. Despite not playing in the Olympics or having made her international debut, Sams met the eligibility criteria for a medal by being named to a matchday squad. She made her international debut on October 27, 2024, starting and playing the full 90 minutes of a 3–1 friendly victory over

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

in Nashville.

Personal life

Sams has a

twin Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of Twin Last Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two ...

sister, Lizzy, who was a high school teammate with her at Navarre before playing college soccer at

Daytona State College Daytona State College (DSC) is a public college in Daytona Beach, Florida, United States. It is part of the Florida College System. History Established by the Florida Legislature in 1957 as Daytona Beach Junior College, the college initially o ...

. She married Dakota Sams on February 19, 2024.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honors

Florida State Seminoles *

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

regular season:

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

*Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament:

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

* NCAA Women's College Cup:

Orlando Pride *

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

NWSL Championship The NWSL Championship is the annual championship game of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), the top-flight women's soccer league in the United States. It is the culmination of the NWSL playoffs, which is contested by the teams with the ...

United States *

Summer Olympic Games The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The 1896 Summer Olympics, inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, ...

Gold Medal:

Individual *

First Team

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

: 2021 *Atlantic Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Year: 2021 *

Best XI First Team:

References

External links

*
Florida State Seminoles profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sams, Emily 1999 births Living people Sportspeople from Santa Rosa County, Florida Sportspeople from Boise, Idaho American women's soccer players Women's association football defenders Soccer players from Idaho Florida State Seminoles women's soccer players Orlando Pride draft picks Orlando Pride players BK Häcken FF players Racing Louisville FC (USL W League) players USL W League players Damallsvenskan players National Women's Soccer League players American expatriate women's soccer players Expatriate women's footballers in Sweden American expatriate sportspeople in Sweden United States women's youth international soccer players American twins United States women's under-20 international soccer players 21st-century American sportswomen United States women's international soccer players Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in soccer Footballers at the 2024 Summer Olympics