Kaleigh Nicole Kurtz (born September 9, 1994) 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

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 ...

for the

North Carolina Courage The North Carolina Courage are an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Cary, North Carolina, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). It was founded on January 9, 2017, after Stephen Malik acqui ...

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). Kurtz played collegiately for the

South Carolina Gamecocks The South Carolina Gamecocks represent the University of South Carolina in the NCAA Division I. The University of South Carolina uses "Gamecocks" as its official nickname and mascot. While the men's teams were traditionally known as the Fight ...

, where she was the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

defensive player of the year and a first-team All-American in 2016. After one season with Swedish club

Östersunds DFF Östersunds DFF is a Swedish football club in Östersund, Sweden. The club was formed 2001 as a co-operation between two Östersund clubs, originally using the name Storsjöns DFF, which was later changed to Ope-Frösö DFF and finally to Östers ...

, she joined the Courage in 2018. She has won two

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 ...

s, two

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 ...

s, and two

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 ...

s with the Courage. Since becoming a starter for the team in 2021, she has set the NWSL record for consecutive minutes played, becoming a three-time iron woman.

Early life and college career

Kurtz grew up in

Greer, South Carolina Greer is a city in Greenville County, South Carolina, Greenville and Spartanburg County, South Carolina, Spartanburg counties in the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 35,308, making ...

. She started playing soccer at the age of four in her local

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

league, switching to Carolina Elite Soccer Academy at age nine. She played other competitive sports growing up, including swimming and running. In soccer she has almost always played the position of defender, specifically center back. She attended high school at Riverside High School, where she was a three-year all-State winner. Going into her junior year of high school, Kurtz broke her femur which ultimately affected her college recruiting prospects. Kurtz spent her first year of college soccer at the

University of Richmond The University of Richmond (UR or U of R) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Richmond, Virginia, United States. It is a primarily undergraduate, residential institution with approxim ...

in 2013, starting 18 games. After that season, she transferred to the

University of South Carolina The University of South Carolina (USC, SC, or Carolina) is a Public university, public research university in Columbia, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1801 as South Carolina College, It is the flagship of the University of South Car ...

. Kurtz made 69 appearances for the Gamecocks. South Carolina reached the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament in

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

and

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

. In her senior year in 2016, she was named a First Team NSCAA All-American, the SEC Defensive Player of the Year, and a MAC Herman Trophy Semifinalist.

Club career

Östersunds DFF

Following college, Kurtz played for Östersunds DFF in the Swedish Elitettan, fulfilling her desire to play overseas. She made 12 appearances and captained the side.

North Carolina Courage

2018–2019

Kurtz was a non-roster invitee during the 2018 Carolina preseason. She signed with the Courage in March 2018. She debuted on April 18, 2018, starting at center back against the OL Reign. She made six appearances in the 2018 regular season, as well as two in the

2018 Women's International Champions Cup The 2018 Women's International Champions Cup was the first edition of a series of friendly women's association football matches. It took place from July 26 to 29, 2018 in the United States. For the first time, the ICC included a women's tourname ...

. Kurtz's option for 2019 was picked up in October 2018.

Canberra United (loan), 2019–2020

Kurtz spent the NWSL offseason of 2019–2020 in the Australian W-League playing in the capital for Canberra United, on loan from the North Carolina Courage. She played every minute in the 12-game season for Canberra. During round 6, Kurtz broke her nose in the run of play having to come off shortly to get fully bandaged in order to stop the bleeding, and then competing in the final minutes of the game. She was later named to the round 6 Team of the Week. She tallied one assist during her time in Australia and led the league in clearances with a total of 69 clearances during the regular season. Kurtz capped off her time in Canberra by receiving the 2019/2020 Canberra United Player of the Year award.

2021–present

Following the departure of

Abby Dahlkemper Abigail Lynn Dahlkemper (born May 13, 1993) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a center back for Bay FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and the United States national team. Dahlkemper played collegiately for the ...

, Kurtz became one of the Courage's starting center backs alongside

Abby Erceg Abby May Erceg (born 20 November 1989) is a New Zealand professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Liga MX Femenil club Toluca. She formerly played for the New Zealand national team, where she became the first player (male or femal ...

in the 2021 season. Kurtz played every minute of the regular season in 2022, becoming an iron woman for the first time. Following the 2022 season, she signed a new three-year contract with the Courage. Kurtz continued her iron woman streak through the 2023 season and ranked second in the NWSL in blocks (22). She was named to the

NWSL Second XI NWSL Best XI and Second XI are annual awards presented to the best and second-best eleven players in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). the teams of the season awards are voted on by players (40%), owners/general managers/coaches (25%), ...

and nominated for

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 ...

. Kurtz broke the NWSL regular-season consecutive minutes record on May 24, 2024, passing

Amber Brooks Amber Jean Brooks (born January 23, 1991) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a defender for USL Super League club Dallas Trinity. She has previously played for Adelaide United, the Houston Dash, OL Reign, the Washington Spi ...

's mark of 6,493 minutes. She accumulated four yellow cards with eight games left in the 2024 season, meaning that one more card would result in a suspension; she managed not just to complete her third consecutive iron woman season without a card but did not commit a single foul in that span.

Honors

South Carolina Gamecocks *2016 SEC Defender of the Year *2016 First Team NSCAA All-American *2016 First Team NSCAA Scholar All-American North Carolina Courage * NWSL Champions:

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

*Women's International Champions Cup Winner:

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

Canberra United *2019/2020 Canberra United Player of the Year Individual *

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 ...

Best XI Second Team:

Best XI First Team:

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 ...

Career statistics

''As of April 20, 2019''

References

External links

*
Kaleigh Kurtz
at North Carolina Courage {{DEFAULTSORT:Kurtz, Kaleigh 1994 births Women's association football midfielders Living people National Women's Soccer League players Soccer players from South Carolina North Carolina Courage players American women's soccer players South Carolina Gamecocks women's soccer players Richmond Spiders women's soccer players American expatriate women's soccer players American expatriate sportspeople in Australia American expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Expatriate women's footballers in Sweden Expatriate women's soccer players in Australia Canberra United FC players 21st-century American sportswomen Elitettan players Östersunds DFF players