Rapinoe Welcome Teammate’s New Baby

During the SheBelieves Cup, Megan Rapinoe celebrated her goal against Brazil by rocking her hands back and forth. This celebration was directed to her teammates Ashlyn Harris and Ali Krieger. The couple announced at the beginning of the tournament of their newest addition, Sloane Phillips. Because of COVID-19 restrictions, Rapinoe and the team are not able to meet her just yet. “It’s a bummer for everyone not to be able to see the new baby,” Megan says. “We haven’t had really little ones on the team in a long time so we’re all super excited and just so happy for them.”

Around July 2020, the U.S. National players interviewed with Allure Magazine about their thoughts in having a child. Both players were concerned of how it would affect their professional soccer careers. “The unfortunate part is someone’s going to have to give in their career,” Harris said. “…we both love our jobs and have waited our whole lives for these moments.” She continues, “We’ve talked about surrogates, we’ve talked about adoption, and it’s just really tough…are we going to take the child everywhere?”

Having doubts within their career before, both players did not attend the 2020 November training camp. They also were not on the roster for the 2021 SheBelieves Cup.

Harris and Krieger announced the adoption and arrival their new baby girl on February 14, two days after she was born. They are not the only mothers on the USWNT, but the first open LGBTQ+ couple to have their own family. They announced her birth with a short message to her birth mother and her journey with her new family on Ali Krieger’s Instagram. The couple celebrated Sloane’s first week in the new family on February 19.

Although being new to the world, Sloane already has 23 confirmed aunts, including “Auntie Pinoe.”