Sydney Leroux

Her father was a professional baseball player who pitched briefly for the California Angels in 1986.

Sydney Rae Leroux (born May 7, 1990) is a Canadian-born American professional soccer player, World Cup winner and Olympic gold medalist who currently plays as a forward for Angel City FC in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL).

Coming from a family of baseball players, Leroux played baseball for Whalley Little League from 1994 to 2004.

Leroux was raised primarily by her mother after her parents split when her mother was three months pregnant with her.

During her freshman and sophomore year of high school, Leroux attended Johnston Heights Secondary School in Surrey where she was the leading scorer on the soccer team.

Also a track and field athlete, she won Provincials in the 4 × 100 meters relay with her team.

Leroux played three seasons of club soccer with Coquitlam City Wild, helping the team to Provincial Cup Championships in 2003, 2004 and 2005.

Leroux's prolific goalscoring helped the team win the under-14 national championship in 2003.

She secured a bronze medal in helping the team finish third at the under-16 national tournament in 2005.

Leroux became the youngest player to play for the Vancouver Whitecaps of the W-League at the age of 15.

She also won a championship as part of a British Columbia select team at the Canada Games in 2005.

Leroux stated that at a very early age, she knew she wanted to play for the United States women's national soccer team.

To pursue her goal, she moved to Scottsdale, Arizona at the age of 15 and attended Horizon High School during her junior and senior years while living with multiple host families.

Despite having a challenging time adjusting to life without her family and friends, she helped lead Sereno Soccer Club to state titles in 2007 and 2008.

Of her move to the United States, she said, "It was not easy. It was probably one of the most difficult things I ever had to do, move away from everything that I knew and was comfortable with to something that I had no idea about. Not having any family around. Doing it on my own. As a 15-year-old, that's kind of hard. I had to grow up really fast [...] But I guess it's all worth it. Now I have a chance to prove myself, and that's what I enjoy, and that's why I did what I did."

Born in Canada to a Canadian mother and an American father, Sydney came up through the Canadian system and represented Canada at various youth levels, until she chose to play for the United States women's national under-20 soccer team starting in 2008 and later began playing for the U.S. senior national team in 2012.

Leroux played collegiate soccer for UCLA from 2008 to 2011, under head coaches Jill Ellis (2008–10) and B. J. Snow (2011).

During her freshman season, she started 18 of the 19 games in which she played.

She was the sixth-highest scorer on the team with five goals and six assists for a total of 16 points on the season, and was named to the All-Freshman Team in the Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10).

During her second year, she led UCLA in scoring with 48 points (23 goals, two assists) and was a semi-finalist for the Hermann Trophy.

Her 23 goals ranked second in the Pac-10 and tied with teammate Lauren Cheney for a new single-season record at UCLA.

Leroux earned Soccer America MVP second team, Second-team All-Pac-10, and 2009 NCAA All-Tournament Team honors the same year.

During the first round of the NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Tournament, she tied the school's record for most goals scored in a single match after scoring four during the team's 7–1 defeat of Boise State.

As a junior, Leroux ranked fifth in UCLA history for career points (91) as well as fourth in goals (41) and game-winning goals (15).

She ranked third in the Pac-10 for goals (13) and second in game-winning goals (6) earning her First-team Soccer America MVP, Third-team NSCAA All-American, First-team NSCAA All-Pacific Region, and First-team All-Pac-10 honors the same year.

During the Bruins' first game of her junior season in 2010, she scored four goals against Cal Poly Pomona helping her team win 7–0.

She was subsequently named Pac-10 Player of the Week.

Leroux scored the game-winning goal during the second round of the 2010 NCAA Tournament helping the Bruins defeat the UCF Knights 2–1 and advance to the third round where they lost to Stanford.

During her final year with the Bruins in 2011, she led the team in scoring for the third straight season with 16 goals and three assists for a total of 35 points.

She was named First-team NSCAA All-American, Soccer America's MVP First Team, and was a semi-finalist for the Hermann Trophy.

She scored eight game-winning goals, more than any other player in the newly renamed Pac-12 Conference.

Leroux has earned over 75 caps with the senior national team and was part of the Americans' winning squads at the 2012 London Olympics and 2015 Women's World Cup.

Leroux played collegiate soccer in NCAA Division I for UCLA Bruins women's soccer and at the semi-professional level for the Vancouver Whitecaps.

She made her debut for the Whitecaps at the age of fifteen, becoming the youngest player ever to play for the team.

Leroux was the number one pick by the Atlanta Beat during the 2012 WPS Draft on January 13, 2012.

Following the suspension of the league in early 2012, she played for the Seattle Sounders Women during the summer of the same year.

In 2013, she made her professional debut for the Boston Breakers in the NWSL during the league's inaugural season.

She was later traded to Seattle Reign FC in 2014, Western New York Flash for the 2015 season and FC Kansas City prior to the 2016 season.

Leroux was born in Surrey, British Columbia, to a white Canadian mother, Sandi Leroux, and a Black American father, Ray Chadwick.

Her mother played third base for the Canadian national softball team.