Kayla Duran

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Kayla Duran
Kayla Duran Gotham Utah 8.23.25-082 (cropped).jpg
Duran with Gotham FC in 2025
Personal information
Full name Kayla Jennifer Duran [1]
Date of birth (1999-09-29) September 29, 1999 (age 25) [2]
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) [3]
Position(s) Defender
Team information
Current team
 Gotham FC
Number 19
Youth career
FC Stars
College career
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
2018–2019 Boston College Eagles 20 (1)
2020–2022 Brown Bears 33 (2)
2023 USC Trojans 19 (1)
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
2025– Gotham FC 1 (0)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 20:14, August 9, 2025 (UTC)

Kayla Jennifer Duran (born September 29, 1999) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a defender for Gotham FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). She played college soccer for the Boston College Eagles, Brown Bears, and USC Trojans.

Contents

Early life

A native of Woburn, Massachusetts, [4] Duran played soccer for local club FC Stars. [5] She contributed to two ECNL final four appearances and also won the 2018 Massachusetts Gatorade Player of the Year award. [4] [6] Duran was a dual-sport athlete at Buckingham Browne & Nichols School, participating in both soccer and ice hockey. [7] With the soccer team, she totaled 63 goals and 44 assists across all 3 positional lines. She helped Buckingham Browne & Nichols win one league championship. She also received individual honors, landing a spot on the 2017 High School All-American East team and bagging one League MVP title. [4] [7]

College career

Boston College Eagles

Duran kicked off her college career with the Boston College Eagles. She started all 20 games of her freshman year [4] and was named to the 2018 ACC All-Freshman team. [8] She recorded 1827 minutes of play, reaching a single-game personal record of 110 minutes against Miami on October 13. [4] She scored her first college goal on September 20, 2018, picking off a rebound to help Boston College beat Syracuse, 3–0. [9] However, Duran picked up a season-ending injury in the build-up to her sophomore year. She was forced to miss the entire season and never appeared for the Eagles again. [10]

Brown Bears

Duran transferred to Brown University in 2020, partially due to the school's open curriculum education program. [11] Her return to the field was later pushed back another year, as the COVID-19 pandemic caused the Ivy League to cancel the 2020 athletic season. During their time off the field, Duran and the Bears worked hard to prepare for the 2021 campaign. Their efforts proved to be successful, as Brown won their second Ivy League title in a row upon returning to the pitch. [12] Duran, who was originally brought in as a midfielder, [5] spent the majority of her time at Brown playing as a center back. [11] [13] Her positional move paid off, as she was named the Ivy League defensive player of the year and was named first-team All-Ivy and All-Region. [12] She also scored a goal for Brown on October 9, 2021, heading in a Sheyenne Allen corner kick to beat Princeton by a 3–1 scoreline. [14]

In her second year at Brown, Duran was named one of three team captains. [15] She led the team to their third consecutive Ivy League title and played in every match of the year. [16] [17] She was also named to the All-American third team and maintained her spot on the All-Ivy and All-Region first teams. [17] In her two active seasons of play with Brown, Duran started every single available match. [17]

USC Trojans

In 2023, Duran entered the NCAA transfer portal for the second time. [3] She went on to play one year with the USC Trojans as a graduate student. [18] She started all 17 of the Trojans' Pac-12 games and synergized with USC's defensive unit to post 9 shutouts. [19] She also participated in both of the team's NCAA tournament games as they were eliminated in the second round by BYU. [19] [20] On November 3, 2023, Duran scored her only goal with USC and also tallied an assist as rivals UCLA beat the Trojans, 4–2. [21] At the end of the season, Duran was named to the All Pac-12 first team. [19]

Club career

Gotham FC

Duran signed her first professional deal, a national team replacement contract, with Gotham FC on July 14, 2025. [22] On August 8, she extended her contract with Gotham through February 2026. [23] Duran made her professional debut the very next day, coming in as a substitute for Jess Carter in a scoreless draw with the Washington Spirit. [24] As the season went on, Duran found success in Gotham's CONCACAF W Champions Cup games; she recorded her first career start in August 2025 against Monterrey, [25] her first professional goal on September 2 versus Alianza, [26] and her first assist later the same month against the Vancouver Rise Academy. [27]

International career

As a high school sophomore, Duran received a call-up to the United States national under-17 team. [7]

Personal life

Duran's brother, Riley Duran, is a professional ice hockey player who was selected by the Boston Bruins in the 2020 NHL entry draft. [28] Both of Duran's parents were former collegiate athletes; her father played ice hockey for the SUNY Plattsburgh Cardinals while her mother played soccer, softball, and basketball for the Utica Pioneers. [17]

Career statistics

Club

As of August 9, 2025
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
ClubSeasonLeagueCupPlayoffsTotal
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Gotham FC 2025 NWSL 10——10
Career total10000010

    References

    1. ↑ "142nd Commencement Ceremony" (PDF). University of Southern California. p. 69. Retrieved July 16, 2025.
    2. ↑ "Kayla Duran". NWSL . Retrieved August 9, 2025.
    3. 1 2 "USC unveils 9-player signing class loaded with youth national team talent". SoccerWire. Retrieved July 17, 2025.
    4. 1 2 3 4 5 "Kayla Duran - Women's Soccer". Boston College Eagles . Retrieved July 16, 2025.
    5. 1 2 "Women's Soccer Adds Midfielder/Forward Kayla Duran". Brown University Athletics. Archived from the original on July 19, 2025. Retrieved July 16, 2025.
    6. ↑ Sigal, Jonathan (May 11, 2020). "Why Kayla Duran transferred from Boston College to Brown". New England Soccer Journal. Retrieved July 16, 2025.
    7. 1 2 3 "Hot Shots: BB&N star Kayla Duran lifts her game to lofty Heights". Boston Herald . October 19, 2017. Retrieved July 16, 2025.
    8. ↑ "ACC Women's Soccer: 2018 Season Awards Announced". The ACC. November 1, 2018. Archived from the original on December 1, 2018. Retrieved July 16, 2025.
    9. ↑ Bent, Katie (September 20, 2018). "Boston College Women's Soccer Defeats Syracuse". BC Interruption. Retrieved July 16, 2025.
    10. ↑ Sigal, Jonathan (August 26, 2019). "Key injuries throw Boston College major challenge early in Lowe's tenure". New England Soccer Journal. Archived from the original on April 27, 2025. Retrieved July 16, 2025.
    11. 1 2 York, Jason (August 26, 2022). "D1 Women: How Kayla Duran transformed her game to succeed at Brown". New England Soccer Journal. Retrieved July 16, 2025.
    12. 1 2 "After 7-0 season, women's soccer looks ahead". The Brown Daily Herald. Retrieved July 16, 2025.
    13. ↑ Pipicelli, Will (November 2, 2023). "17 Former FC Stars Girls Players Earn Conference Awards". FC Stars. Retrieved July 16, 2025.
    14. ↑ "Women's soccer earns dominant win over Princeton". Brown University Athletics. Retrieved July 16, 2025.
    15. ↑ "Duran, Maxwell, Allen named 2022 women's soccer captains". Brown University Athletics. Retrieved July 16, 2025.
    16. ↑ "'They're one-in-a-million': Women's soccer wins third consecutive Ivy League title". The Brown Daily Herald. Retrieved July 16, 2025.
    17. 1 2 3 4 "Kayla Duran - Women's Soccer". Brown Bears . Archived from the original on July 19, 2025. Retrieved July 16, 2025.
    18. ↑ "USC soccer unable to secure another UCLA upset". Annenberg Media. November 4, 2023. Retrieved July 17, 2025.
    19. 1 2 3 "Awujo, Duran Named to First Team, Flores Freshman of the Year as Nine Trojans Earn Pac-12 Awards". USC Trojans . Retrieved July 17, 2025.
    20. ↑ Christiansen, Jordan (November 17, 2023). "BYU women's soccer team advances to Sweet 16 with 1-0 victory over USC". Deseret News. Retrieved July 17, 2025.
    21. ↑ "No. 22 USC Women's Soccer Falls at No. 2 UCLA, 4-2". USC Trojans . Retrieved July 17, 2025.
    22. ↑ "Gotham FC Signs Boade, Duran as National Team Replacement Players". Gotham FC . July 14, 2025. Retrieved July 17, 2025.
    23. ↑ "Defender Kayla Duran Agrees to Contract Extension". Gotham FC . August 8, 2025. Retrieved August 9, 2025.
    24. ↑ "Gotham FC Withstands Red Card in Draw vs. Washington". Gotham FC . August 9, 2025. Retrieved August 9, 2025.
    25. ↑ "Gotham FC Opens Title Defense with Win Over CF Monterrey in Concacaf W Champions Cup". Gotham FC . Retrieved August 23, 2025.
    26. ↑ "Gotham FC Second-Half Goals Secure Another Concacaf W Champions Cup Group Stage Victory". Gotham FC. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
    27. ↑ "Gotham FC Stays Perfect in Concacaf W Champions Cup Group Stage". Gotham FC. September 16, 2025. Retrieved September 17, 2025.
    28. ↑ Herman, Howard (April 10, 2025). "Bruins call Riley Duran, whose family is from Adams, up to NHL club". The Berkshire Eagle. Retrieved July 17, 2025.
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