Utah native Carly Nelson striving to be a role model in 'Return of Royalty'
The Utah-born goalkeeper who starred at the University of Utah didn't know she wanted to turn pro until college, but now strives to be the role model she never had growing up in Utah's queer community
Former University of Utah goalkeeper Carly Nelson remembers well the moment she decided to give professional soccer a shot.
Midway through her All-Pac-12 career with the Utes, Nelson was spending a summer in Pennsylvania doing door-to-door sales, trying to earn money for the upcoming semester. She had nothing bad to say about her experience, and even credits one of her sales supervisors for mentoring her into striving for her goals.
But on a particularly warm afternoon, she ran into an older man’s door and started telling him her story, about her two-time all-state high school soccer career, her time with the Utes, and her upcoming season in the Pac-12.
“And I want to go pro one day,” she remembered telling him, which caught her off guard at the time.
“He looked me in the eye, and he said, ‘kid, if you’re going to go pro, why the hell are you out here?’” Nelson recalled of his response. “I sat there, and I was stumped; this guy was right. So within the next week, I called my mentor and I said, I’ve got to go home. I’ve got dreams, and I need to go achieve them. I took what I had learned from door-to-door sales … and when I got home, I worked towards becoming a pro.”
Thus began a yeoman’s effort that took Nelson across the pond before eventually returning to her home state as a necessary role model for generations to come.
Nelson graduated from Utah in 2019 with a degree in positive psychology, and immediately set about to achieve those goals she made on that Pennsylvania porch. She played briefly with the semipro Utah Royals Reserves in the WPSL, but went undrafted in the 2020 NWSL College Draft.
The Royals invited her to preseason training camp as a non-roster invitee, but the league shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic two days after she arrived. In June, she signed a short-term contract with then-OL Reign for the NWSL Challenge Cup but did not play in five games of the competition, as well as the truncated fall series.
After making one appearance in 2021-22 with the relocated Royals side in Kansas City, Nelson went on loan to Danish Kvindeliga club FC Nordsjaelland, making her debut Sept. 25, 2021 in a 3-1 win over AGF. In all, she made 18 league appearances, earning seven shutouts and conceding 15 goals to help Nordsjaelland finish fourth in the table before joining the club permanently in July 2022.
Following the season, Nelson returned to the United States and signed a two-year contract with the Orlando Pride, which traded her rights and $65,000 in allocation money to the Utah Royals on Dec. 12, 2023 in exchange for an international roster spot in 2024.
In returning to her home state, Nelson is paving a needed road in her former Utah community. A product of Utah’s Celtic Storm and Timpanogos High School in Utah County, she is also a passionate advocate for the LGBTQ+ community.
Nelson has spoken publicly about coming out as queer at 13 years old, about the bullying she received growing up in a conservative Utah town — and how she now hopes to be a role model that she didn’t always have growing up.
“I’m a part of the queer community, and I think that hits really deep,” Nelson said. “I think it’s important for people in my community to show their face and show that they can be successful, regardless of their orientation or their identity. There’s a lack of representation in this state, so coming home and being someone who grew up here and who knows how it is, and then for people to see me in this role, as a woman as well as someone who came from here, then they can see: why not them?
“I do take that role seriously. I think it’s important; I want to be visible, and I want kids to see what is possible, that they don’t have to give up parts of themselves to be successful. They can celebrate and let those parts shine, and be successful because of those pieces in me — especially in Utah.”
Utah Royals FC opens the season Saturday, March 16 at 5:30 p.m. MST against the Chicago Red Stars. Get your tickets now at utahroyals.com.