Rylee Ann Baisden (born April 16, 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for

USL Super League The USL Super League (USLS), officially known as the Gainbridge Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional women's soccer league and the highest level of the United States soccer league system, alongside the National Women's Socce ...

club Carolina Ascent. She played

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 Pepperine Waves.

Early life

Baisden grew up in

Orange County, California Orange County (officially the County of Orange; often initialized O.C.) is a county (United States), county located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population ...

and went to school in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

College career

Baisden attended college at

Pepperdine University Pepperdine University () is a private university, private Christianity, Christian research university affiliated with the Churches of Christ, with its main campus in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Pepperdine's main campus consists ...

Club career

After her college career, Baisden went to play briefly in Sweden and played for a year in France. For the 2018–19 season, Baisden moved to Australia to play for Morton Bay United in the

National Premier League The Jamaica Premier League (formerly the National Premier League), commonly abbreviated as JPL and officially known as the Wray and Nephew Jamaica Premier League for sponsorship reasons, is sanctioned by the Jamaican Football Federation as the ...

where she scored 33 goals in 23 games. Due to her form Baisden was named in the league's team of the season, was nominated for player of the year and participated in Morton Bay's maiden grand final appearance. On the back of this form Baisden was drafted by Brisbane Roar ahead of the

2019–20 W-League The 2019–20 W-League season was the twelfth season of the W-League, the Australian national women's association football competition. Nine teams competed in the league, with most of the players from Australia but 33 of them from 11 other cou ...

season. Baisden admitted that she did not expect to be offered the contract. She debuted in Brisbane's first game of the 2019–20 season against

Melbourne Victory Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victory ...

, and scored her first goal in the W-league in their next match, a 3–1 loss to

Western Sydney Wanderers Western Sydney Wanderers Football Club (colloquially known as Western Sydney, Wanderers, or simply as WSW) is an Australian professional association football club based in the Western Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in t ...

. Baisden signed a fall contract with 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 ...

in September 2020, followed by a one-year contract with an option for another year in January 2021. On her debut, she recorded an assist to her former Pepperdine teammate Lynn Williams in a win against the

Houston Dash The Houston Dash are an American professional soccer team based in Houston, Texas, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). The Dash began play in the 2014 season. The team plays its home games at Shell Energy Stadium. His ...

in September 2020. She scored her first NWSL goal in a win 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 ...

in August 2022. On January 31, 2023, Baisden suffered a long-term

ACL injury An anterior cruciate ligament injury occurs when the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is either stretched, partially torn, or completely torn. The most common injury is a complete tear. Symptoms include pain, an audible cracking sound during in ...

whilst playing against Melbourne Victory, ruling her out for the rest of the season. Baisden was named to the Courage's preseason roster in February 2024. In May 2024, Baisden signed with

club

Carolina Ascent FC Carolina Ascent Football Club is an American professional women's soccer club based in Charlotte, North Carolina, that competes in the USL Super League (USLS). USL W League (USLW) History Charlotte was named as one of the eight team locations i ...

International career

Baisden represented the United States at the World University Games in Taiwan.

Personal life

Baisden is passionate about photography, and has started a photography business, where she also works with drones. She started an online fitness business, Sweat Happy Club, in 2020.

Honors

Carolina Ascent * USL Super League Players' Shield: 2024–25 North Carolina Courage *

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 ...

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 ...

References

External links

*
RyleeBaisden.com
– Rylee's official website 1994 births Living people Soccer players from Orange County, California American women's soccer players Women's association football forwards Brisbane Roar FC (women) players Perth Glory FC (women) players American expatriate women's soccer players American expatriate sportspeople in Australia Expatriate women's soccer players in Australia Pepperdine Waves women's soccer players North Carolina Courage players National Women's Soccer League players Sportspeople from Yorba Linda, California 21st-century American sportswomen Carolina Ascent FC players {{US-women-footy-forward-stub