Leigh Ann Brown (; born August 17, 1986) is an American former

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 ...

defender. She previously played for

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 ...

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 ...

FC Gold Pride FC Gold Pride was an American professional women's soccer club based in the San Francisco Bay Area, which participated in Women's Professional Soccer (WPS). The club replaced the San Jose CyberRays of the defunct Women's United Soccer Associati ...

, Atlanta Beat, and 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 ...

of the

Women's Professional Soccer Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) was the top-level professional women's soccer league in the United States. It began play on March 29, 2009. The league was composed of seven teams for its first two seasons and fielded six teams for the 2011 ...

(WPS) and earned two caps with the

United States women's national soccer team The United States women's national soccer team (USWNT) represents the United States in international women's soccer. The team is governed by the United States Soccer Federation and competes in CONCACAF (the Confederation of North, Central Ameri ...

Early life

Born in

Poway, California Poway () is a city in San Diego County, California, United States. Poway's rural roots influenced its motto "The City in the Country". The city had a population of 48,841 as of the 2020 United States census. Poway is part of San Diego's East ...

, Brown attended Mt. Carmel High School where she led her team to two league championships and two second-place finishes. As a freshman, she was named Second Team Palomar League while winning the CIF San Diego section championship. She was named Second Team North County and First Team Palomar League during her sophomore year and earned All-North County and First Team Avocado League honors her junior and senior seasons. She also played for the 2003 National Champion and 2001 Regional Finalist San Diego Surf teams.

University of San Diego, 2004–2007

Brown attended the

University of San Diego The University of San Diego (USD) is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in San Diego, California, United States. Chartered in 1949 as the independent San Diego College for Women and San Diego University ...

where she played for the Toreros from 2004 to 2007. During her freshman season, she started 17 games. She was named second-team All-WCC her sophomore season before being named to the first-team the subsequent two seasons. After her senior season, she earned a fourth-team All-American selection by Soccerbuzz Magazine. Brown played in 75 of the team's 81 games throughout her career at San Diego.

Playing career

Club

WPS, 2009–2011

Brown was selected by

during the sixth round (40th overall) of the

2009 WPS Draft The 2009 WPS Draft took place on January 16, 2009. It was the first draft held by Women's Professional Soccer to assign the WPS rights of college players to the American-based teams, though other players not previously assigned could be drafted as ...

for the inaugural season of the WPS. She scored her only goal of her WPS tenure on May 3, 2009 in a 1–0 home win versus

Sky Blue FC Gotham Football Club is an American professional soccer team based in the New York metropolitan area that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Founded in 2006 as Jersey Sky Blue, the team was known as Sky Blue FC from 2008 un ...

. At the end of the season, Brown was deemed surplus to requirements by Albertin Montoya and was subsequently chosen by Atlanta Beat as the first overall choice in the 2009 WPS Expansion Draft. Brown signed with the Atlanta Beat after being selected first overall in the 2009 WPS Expansion Draft in preparation for the 2010 season. She made 24 appearances for the Beat with 21 starts playing for a total of 1,972 minutes. In 2011, Brown played for the

. She started in all 19 of her appearances and played a total of 1,740 minutes. She re-signed with the Independence for the 2012 season; however the WPS suspended operations before the season began.

NWSL: FC Kansas City, 2013–2015

In February 2013, Brown signed with

for the inaugural season of 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 ...

. During the team's first defeat in regular season play, Brown provided the assist on Kansas City's lone goal against the

Western New York Flash The Western New York Flash (WNY Flash) was an American women's soccer club based in Elma, New York, that most recently competed in the United Women's Soccer league in 2018. They won league championships in four different leagues: the USL W-Leag ...

. She came third in voting 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 ...

behind

Becky Sauerbrunn Rebecca Elizabeth Sauerbrunn (born June 6, 1985) is an American former professional association football, soccer player who played as a center back. She co-captained the United States women's national soccer team, United States national team wi ...

and

Christie Rampone Christie Patricia Pearce (formerly Rampone; born June 24, 1975) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a defender. She is the former captain of the United States national team. Pearce is a three-time Olympic gold medal ...

in the 2013 season. She retired at the end of the 2015 season.

International

On August 22, 2013, Leigh Ann Brown received her first call up to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

senior team by US Head Coach

Tom Sermanni Thomas Dorby Sermanni (born 1 July 1954) is a Scottish football manager and former professional player, who mostly works in women's football. He has previously managed the Australia women's national team across three stints (1994–1997, 2005� ...

Honors and awards

Individual

NWSL Best 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%), ...

: 2013 * NWSL Second XI: 2015

Team

''with FC Kansas City:'' *

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 ...

: 2014, 2015

References

External links

San Diego Toreros coach profile

FC Kansas City player profile

Atlanta Beat player profile

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Leigh Ann 1986 births Living people University of San Diego alumni FC Gold Pride players Atlanta Beat (WPS) players Philadelphia Independence players American women's soccer players 21st-century American sportswomen Soccer players from California National Women's Soccer League players FC Kansas City players San Diego Toreros women's soccer players San Diego Sunwaves players United States women's international soccer players Women's association football midfielders Women's Professional Soccer players New York Fury players WFC Rossiyanka players Women's Premier Soccer League Elite players American expatriate women's soccer players American expatriate sportspeople in Russia Expatriate women's footballers in Russia