Heather Marie Stainbrook (born March 14, 2001) 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 the

Washington Spirit The Washington Spirit are an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). It is a continuation of the D.C. United Women of the USL W-League (1995� ...

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 for the

Utah Valley Wolverines The Utah Valley Wolverines represent Utah Valley University in NCAA DI collegiate athletics and sponsor 16 sporting programs. The Wolverines participate in the Western Athletic Conference. The school mascot is the Wolverine, and the colors are g ...

, for which she is the second all-time top scorer.

Early life and college career

Stainbrook grew up in

South Jordan, Utah South Jordan is a city in south central Salt Lake County, Utah, United States, south of Salt Lake City. Part of the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, the city lies in the Salt Lake Valley along the banks of the Jordan River between the Oquirrh ...

, and attended Alta High School in

Sandy Sandy may refer to: People and fictional characters *Sandy (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or nickname * Sandy (surname), a list of people * Sandy (Iranian music band), Iranian singer, comp ...

. She was named all-state the two years she played for her high school as she led the team to regional titles and state quarterfinals. She played club soccer for La Roca FC.

Utah Valley Wolverines

Stainbrook was a five-year starter for the

from 2019 to 2023. In her

pandemic A pandemic ( ) is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has a sudden increase in cases and spreads across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. Widespread endemic (epi ...

-shortened sophomore year, she helped win both the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the Western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, Texas, Utah and Washington (state), Washington. Due to ...

(WAC) regular-season and tournament titles; Utah Valley qualified for the NCAA tournament for only the third time in program history and won its opening match for the first time. She won two further regular-season conference titles with the team and appeared in one further NCAA tournament. Stainbrook received first-team All-WAC recognition three times and was named the WAC offensive player of the year when she scored a career-high 13 goals in 2022. After five seasons, Stainbrook left Utah Valley as its all-time top scorer with 40 goals in 102 games.

Club career

Washington Spirit

Stainbrook was not selected in the

2024 NWSL Draft The 2024 NWSL Draft presented by Ally was the twelfth annual meeting of National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) franchises to select from a list of amateur players above the age of 18 playing in the United States who exhausted, lost, or renounced ...

but was invited to preseason training with the

, which signed her to a three-year contract on March 11, 2024. She made her professional debut as a late substitute against 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 ...

on May 3, becoming the first Utah Valley player to play in the NWSL. She first entered the Spirit's starting lineup late in the year after

Andi Sullivan Andi Maureen Sullivan (born December 20, 1995) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for the Washington Spirit of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and the United States national team. Sullivan played col ...

's season-ending injury. She scored her first professional goal on her second start on October 20, opening a 2–0 win over the Chicago Red Stars.

Career statistics

Awards and honors

Washington Spirit *

NWSL Challenge Cup The NWSL Challenge Cup is an annual supercup competition organized by the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), a division 1 women's league in the United States soccer league system. The current (2025) cup holder is the Washington Spirit, who ...

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

Utah Valley Wolverines * WAC tournament:

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 ...

*WAC regular-season champions: 2020, 2022, 2023 Individual *First-team All- WAC: 2021, 2022, 2023

References

External links

* Living people 2001 births Soccer players from Utah Sportspeople from Sandy, Utah People from South Jordan, Utah American women's soccer players 21st-century American sportswomen Women's association football midfielders Utah Valley Wolverines women's soccer players Washington Spirit players National Women's Soccer League players {{US-women-footy-midfielder-stub