Colorado’s greatest soccer player is coming home

USWNT captain Lindsey Heaps signs with Denver Summit FC

Lindsey Heaps is coming home to Colorado!

The absolute legend from Golden has signed a four-year deal to play for the NWSL expansion side Denver Summit FC. One of the greatest athletes ever born in Colorado, Heaps, is the current captain of the United States Women’s National Team and one of the most accomplished soccer players of her generation.

Heaps, 31, may be better known to some locally as Lindsey Horan. She married San Diego FC general manager Tyler Heaps in 2024 and just started going by her married name on the field this season. She will play it out for OL Lyonnes, arriving back home in the Mile High City, ready to play in June.

“I’m incredibly excited to come home to Colorado and join Denver Summit FC,” Heaps said in the team’s news release. “This club represents something special, not just for the league, but for this community and for the next generation of players growing up here. I’m fully committed to finishing the season strong with Lyon, and I can’t wait to begin this next chapter in Denver this summer.”

From the moment the team got the go, they said they would be chasing stars. They also said they wanted to focus on the great group of women Colorado has playing at the top level of the game now. In signing Heaps, the Summit knock one of their first big on the field moves out of the park.

“Signing Lindsey Heaps is a defining moment for Denver Summit FC,” said Denver Summit FC General Manager Curt Johnson in a news statement. “She represents the very highest level of excellence as a player, a leader, and a professional. To welcome her back home to Colorado and to have her help shape the identity of this club is incredibly meaningful.”

Heaps returns home after her decorated career has spanned the NWSL, UEFA Women’s Champions League, and international football’s biggest stages. A product of Colorado’s youth soccer system with the Colorado Rush, Heaps is one of Adidas’ star athletes.

At Lyon, where she currently plays, she has won three Division 1 Feminine titles, a UEFA Women’s Champions League title, and the Coupe de France Feminine. Before that at the NWSL level, she won the 2017 NWSL Championship, NWSL Shield (2016, 2021) and NWSL Challenge Cup (2021), earning NWSL MVP honors in 2018 while playing for Portland. Horan only left in January 2024 in what was reported at the time as the most expensive USWNT transfer in history.

Heaps has made a whopping 170 appearances for the USWNT, winning the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, 2024 Olympic Gold, 2020 Olympic Bronze, and multiple CONCACAF titles. She has been named U.S. Soccer Female Player of the Year (2021) and has been included in The Best FIFA Women’s 11 (2024).

Photo credit: Justin Tafoya/Clarkson Creative/Denver Summit FC

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