| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Alexa Christine Spaanstra [1] | ||
| Date of birth | February 1, 2000 [1] | ||
| Place of birth | Brighton, Michigan, U.S. | ||
| Height | 5 ft 4 in (1.63 m) | ||
| Position(s) | Forward | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Portland Thorns | ||
| Number | 77 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Michigan Hawks | |||
| College career | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2018–2022 | Virginia Cavaliers | 107 | (37) |
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2023–2024 | Kansas City Current | 26 | (3) |
| 2024– | Portland Thorns FC | 8 | (0) |
| International career | |||
| 2016 | United States U-17 | 3 | (0) |
| 2017 | United States U-19 | 3 | (2) |
| 2018–2020 | United States U-20 | 17 | (2) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals as of December 27, 2024 | |||
Alexa Christine Spaanstra (born February 1, 2000) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a forward for Portland Thorns FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). She played college soccer for the Virginia Cavaliers, where she was a five-time All-ACC selection. Internationally, she has played for the United States youth national team, winning CONCACAF tournaments at the under-17 and under-20 levels. She was selected by the Current in the first round of the 2023 NWSL Draft.
Spaanstra was born and raised in Brighton, Michigan, [2] as the older of two children born to Andrea and Scott Spaanstra. [3] Her father played college basketball for the Northern Michigan Wildcats, and her mother ran track at Aquinas College. [3] Spaanstra played club soccer for the Michigan Hawks of the Elite Clubs National League (ECNL) starting at the under-11 level, helping the team win national ECNL titles in 2014 and 2017 and finish runners-up in the years between. [3] [4] She was also a competitive sprinter, winning a national 200-meter dash at age 10 and lettering in track at Brighton High School. [3] [4] She was ranked by TopDrawerSoccer as the No. 7 recruit of the class of 2018. [3]
Spaanstra was a five-year starter at forward and midfield for the Virginia Cavaliers from 2018 to 2022. [3] [5] She helped Virginia win the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) regular season title in 2021 and reach the finals of the ACC tournament in 2019 and 2021, earning all-tournament honors in each of her first four seasons. [3] [5] [6] As a freshman in 2018, she recorded nine goals and six assists, both joint team bests, and was named All-ACC third team and ACC All-Freshman. [3] [7] She had three goals and a team-best twelve assists as a sophomore in 2019, including four assists in one game and two against Florida State in the ACC semifinals, and was second-team All-ACC. [3] After missing about a month due to injury, she made the All-ACC first team with ten goals as a junior in 2020–21, including four goals in the first two rounds of the 2020 NCAA tournament as the Cavaliers reached the semifinals. [3] [8] She recorded seven goals and nine assists as a senior in 2021, helping Virginia take the ACC regular season title, and was named second-team All-ACC. [3] [9] [10] She finished her fifth season of eligibility with eight goals and was third-team All-ACC in 2022. [3] [11]
The Kansas City Current selected Spaanstra tenth overall in the first round of the 2023 NWSL Draft. [12] She was signed to a two-year contract in February 2023. [13] She made fifteen appearances and five starts as a rookie. [14] She recorded her first professional assist and her first goal in a 6–0 win over the Chicago Red Stars on October 7. [15] [16] She scored again the following week, helping salvage a 2–2 draw away at NJ/NY Gotham FC on October 15, and was recognized for her performances as the NWSL Rookie of the Month for September/October 2023. [15] [17] Spaanstra started eight games and recorded a goal and an assist in 11 appearances for the Current in the 2024 regular season. Additionally, she played in four matches in the NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup and one in the Women's Cup, where she scored the winning goal against South African club Mamelodi Sundowns on August 15. [18]
On August 19, 2024, Portland Thorns FC announced that they had acquired Spaanstra in a trade with the Kansas City Current in exchange for $25,000 in intra-league transfer funds and an additional $15,000 in allocation money. [19]
Spaanstra trained with the United States youth national team beginning at the under-14 level in May 2013. [20] She was called up to the national under-17 team in August 2014 to play friendlies in South Korea and trained with both the under-17 and under-20 teams in August 2015, aged 15. [21] [22] [23] She helped the United States win the 2016 CONCACAF Women's U-17 Championship and competed at the 2016 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup. [4] [24] She led the national under-19 team to win a tournament in China in September 2017 and was recognized as the tournament's most valuable player. [25] While in college, she competed at the 2018 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup and won the 2020 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship. [26] [27] She first played with the national under-23 team at an NWSL preseason tournament in February 2022. [28]
| Club | Season | League | Cup [a] | Playoffs [b] | Continental [c] | Other | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Kansas City Current | 2023 | NWSL | 15 | 2 | 6 | 0 | — | — | — | 21 | 2 | |||
| 2024 | 11 | 1 | — | — | — | 4 [d] | 0 | 11 | 1 | |||||
| Total | 26 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 32 | 3 | ||
| Portland Thorns FC | 2024 | NWSL | 8 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 [d] | 0 | 12 | 1 | |
| Career total | 34 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 44 | 4 | ||
United States U20