Lauren Barnes

Lauren Barnes (born May 31st 1989) is a former soccer player who played a total of 13 seasons. She was awarded the NWSL Defender of the Year award in 2016 and 2019, though she was one of two finalists in the latter case. Barnes started her career after being drafted by the Philadelphia Independence, although she was only ever on bench during this time. The Seattle Reign FC would later pick her up in 2013, playing all 22 matches and tallying a total of 1949 minutes on field due to starting each match played during the year. Barnes became known for starting each match and for the next three seasons they'd start all but one, sadly this streak ended at the same time their team was disqualified from the finals, being beaten by FC Kansas City. She retired from playing in 2025 and returned to Seattle Reign to coach instead.