![]() Paulson with Bay FC in 2025 | |||
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Catherine Pauline Paulson [1] | ||
Date of birth | November 5, 2001 | ||
Place of birth | Mountain View, California, United States | ||
Height | 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) | ||
Position(s) | Midfielder, forward | ||
Team information | |||
Current team | Bay FC | ||
Number | 17 | ||
College career | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
2021–2023 | Stanford Cardinal | 47 | (4) |
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
2024– | Bay FC | 0 | (0) |
*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
Catherine Pauline Paulson (born November 5, 2001) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for Bay FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). She played college soccer for the Stanford Cardinal.
Paulson was born in Mountain View and raised in Los Altos, California. [2] She played basketball and danced in addition to playing soccer growing up. [3] She joined MVLA Soccer Club when she was eight. [3] She played two seasons of soccer at Saint Francis High School. [2] She and her twin sister committed to play college soccer at Stanford when they were sophomores. [4]
Paulson's freshman season with the Stanford Cardinal was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. She scored one goal in the 12 games she played in the spring, starting six of them. [2] [3] She missed her entire sophomore season due to injury. [2] In her redshirt sophomore season in 2022, she helped the Cardinal win the Pac-12 Conference, scoring 3 goals in 21 appearances exclusively as a substitute. [2] She started the first two games of her 14 appearances in 2023. Stanford went undefeated all the way to the final of the NCAA tournament, where they lost to Florida State. [2] [5] She graduated the following June, receiving her bachelor's degree in science, technology, and society. [1]
Bay FC head coach Albertin Montoya, formerly a coach at Paulson's youth club MVLA, invited her to join the expansion side as a training player following her graduation partway through the 2024 season. [3] On August 27, Bay announced Paulson's signing on a national team replacement contract with Savy King on international duty at the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup. [6] She debuted for the club later that day as a halftime substitute against Barcelona in a club friendly at PayPal Park. [3] It was her only appearance of the season. [7] On October 11, she signed a second contract with Bay for the remainder of the year. [8]
Paulson returned to Bay as a non-roster invitee in the 2025 preseason. [9] On March 10, she signed a short-term contract through June. [7] When it expired, she was re-signed until the end of the season. [10]
Paulson is the daughter of Jen and Greg Paulson. [2] She has three siblings including a twin sister, Sarah, who played soccer all four seasons with her at Stanford. [11] Three generations of her family played college sports at Santa Clara University. [2]
Stanford Cardinal