Kelli Elizabeth Hubly (born August 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 defender for

Bay FC Bay Football Club is an American professional Association football, soccer team based in the San Francisco Bay Area that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). The team began play in the NWSL as an expansion team in the 2024 Nat ...

in 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). During her first eight professional seasons with

Portland Thorns FC Portland Thorns FC is an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Portland, Oregon, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Established in 2012, the team began play in 2013 in the then-eight-team NWSL ...

, she won the 2017 and 2022 NWSL Championships, the 2021 NWSL Shield, and other awards.

Early life

Hubly was born in

Elk Grove Village Elk Grove Village is a village in Cook and DuPage counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. Per the 2020 census, the population was 32,812. Located northwest of Chicago along the Golden Corridor, the Village of Elk Grove Village was incorpor ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

and attended Elk Grove High School. Growing up she played for the club Sockers F.C. in Chicago, winning the 2010 and 2011 Illinois Cup Championships and the U.S. Youth Soccer Regional Championship in 2011.

College career

Hubly played at the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...

her first three years (2012-2014) of college, making the All-Freshman Team of 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 ...

(SEC) in 2012, winning the SEC's Freshman of the Week award on October 15, 2012, and making

Top Drawer Soccer TopDrawerSoccer.com (TDS) is an American soccer website that is dedicated to youth soccer in the United States. Specifically, the website focuses on Academy soccer, high school soccer, and college soccer in the United States. The website was lau ...

's National Team of the Week on October 8, 2013. In 2014 she helped the Wildcats advance to the SEC championship game. In 2015 she transferred to

DePaul University DePaul University is a private university, private Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission, Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from ...

, red-shirting that year due to NCAA transfer rules. She played the following year (2016), leading the

Big East Conference The Big East Conference (stylized as BIG EAST) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that competes in National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA NCAA Division I, Division I in 10 men's sports and 12 women's sports. H ...

in assists and assists per game, and graduated in 2017.

Club career

Portland Thorns

Hubly was eligible for but not drafted in the

2017 NWSL College Draft The 2017 NWSL College Draft was the fifth annual meeting of National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) franchises to select eligible college players. It was held on January 12, 2017 at the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Convention in ...

. She instead joined the Portland Thorns as a temporary national team replacement player in 2017. Hubly made her professional debut on July 15, 2017, in the final few minutes of a 1–0 win over 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 ...

. That fall, she won the

2017 NWSL Championship The 2017 National Women's Soccer League season was the fifth 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 ...

with the Thorns. She earned her first professional start on March 24, 2018, against the Courage. After playing every minute of the first four games of the 2018 NWSL season due to an injury to usual starter

Emily Menges Emily Townsend Menges (born July 28, 1992) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a center back for Bay FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). She previously played for Portland Thorns FC, with whom she won two NWSL Shi ...

, Hubly was signed by the Thorns on April 27, 2018, to a long-term contract. Hubly was a key member and frequent starter for the Thorns teams that won the 2020 Fall Series (Community Shield),

2021 NWSL Challenge Cup The 2021 NWSL Challenge Cup was a league cup tournament that took place during the 2021 National Women's Soccer League season. It began on April 9 and ended May 8, one week before the start of the regular season. It was the second iteration of th ...

, 2021 Women's International Champions Cup, and 2021 NWSL Shield. In 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 ...

, Hubly played in every minute of every game for the Portland Thorns and was included in the 2022 NWSL Best XI Second Team. She became a free agent on December 30, 2024.

Bay FC

Hubly signed a two-year contract with

on January 31, 2025.

International

Hubly was a member of the U.S. Women's National Team at the U-15, U-17, and U-18 levels.

Honors and awards

Portland Thorns FC * NWSL Champions:

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

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 ...

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 ...

: 2021 *

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 ...

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 ...

* NWSL Community Shield:

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 ...

Women's International Champions Cup The Women's International Champions Cup (WICC) is an annual club women's soccer invitational tournament in the United States. Launched by Relevent Sports Group in 2018, it features four women's soccer teams from America and Europe competing for ...

Individual *

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%), ...

: 2022 * Southeastern Conference All-Freshman Team: 2012

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hubly, Kelli 1994 births Living people American women's soccer players DePaul Blue Demons women's soccer players Kentucky Wildcats women's soccer players National Women's Soccer League players People from Elk Grove Village, Illinois Portland Thorns FC players Bay FC players Soccer players from Cook County, Illinois Soccer players from DuPage County, Illinois Women's association football defenders 21st-century American sportswomen