Victoria Haugen

Last updated

Victoria Haugen
NC Courage vs Houston Dash (Mar 2024) 308.jpg
Haugen in 2024
Personal information
Full name Victoria Thorp Haugen [1]
Date of birth (2002-05-01) May 1, 2002 (age 23) [1]
Place of birth Fairfax, Virginia, United States
Height 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) [1]
Position(s) Center back, right back
Team information
Current team
Tampa Bay Sun
Number 20
Youth career
2014–2019 FC Virginia
College career
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
2020–2023 Virginia Tech Hokies 70 (0)
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
2023 Northern Virginia FC 6 (0)
2024 North Carolina Courage 0 (0)
2025– Tampa Bay Sun 13 (0)
International career
2018 Norway U16 5 (0)
2019 Norway U17 5 (0)
2020 Norway U18 2 (0)
2019–2020 Norway U19 8 (0)
2021 Norway U23 2 (0)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals
‡ National team caps and goals as of August 31, 2025 [2]

Victoria Thorp Haugen (born May 1, 2002) is a professional soccer player who plays as a defender for USL Super League club Tampa Bay Sun. Born in the United States, she is a former youth international for Norway. Haugen played college soccer for the Virginia Tech Hokies.

Contents

Early life and college career

Born in Fairfax, Virginia, Haugen grew up in Bristow, Virginia. [1] She began playing soccer when she was five and also participated in gymnastics until about age 12. [3] She played DA club soccer for FC Virginia, captaining the team and earning conference Best XI honors in 2019. [1] [4] She committed to Virginia Tech during her sophomore year at Patriot High School. [1] [5] She had also considered the programs at Boston College, Tennessee, Georgia, Clemson, and South Carolina. [3]

Virginia Tech Hokies

Haugen (left) marking Ally Sentnor in 2023 UNC vs VT (Sep 2023) 054 (cropped).jpg
Haugen (left) marking Ally Sentnor in 2023

Haugen played and started in 70 games for the Virginia Tech Hokies, missing only four games during her four seasons in Blacksburg. [1] In her sophomore season in 2021, she helped Virginia Tech to its first NCAA tournament match win in four years, providing an assist in the first round against Ohio State. [1] She started every game and led the team in minutes played during her junior and senior seasons. [1]

Club career

North Carolina Courage

After going undrafted in the 2024 NWSL Draft, Haugen joined the North Carolina Courage as a non-roster invitee in the 2024 preseason. [6] [7] In June, she played for the Courage–sponsored team at the Soccer Tournament at WakeMed Soccer Park, helping reach the US$1 million final. [8] On July 16, she signed her first professional contract with the Courage, a national team replacement deal for the length of the 2024 Paris Olympics. [7] On August 27, one week after being waived, she re-signed with the team for the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup. [9]

Tampa Bay Sun

On February 6, 2025, USL Super League club Tampa Bay Sun announced that the club had signed Haugen ahead of the spring portion of the league's inaugural season. [10] She made her professional debut two days later, starting and playing the full 2–2 draw against Fort Lauderdale United. [11] On May 10, she scored her professional goal and assisted Cecilie Fløe in a 3–0 win against Lexington. [12] On June 14, she started and played 87 minutes in the inaugural USL Super League final, which Tampa Bay won 1–0 over Fort Lauderdale United through an extra-time goal by Cecilie Fløe. [13]

International career

Haugen has United States and Norwegian citizenship. She began representing Norway in youth international matches at the under-16 level. [3] [14] In October 2019, she was invited to training camp with the United States under-18 team but chose instead to join the Norway under-19 team for 2020 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship qualification. She appeared in all three matches and helped hold all three opponents scoreless as Norway topped its qualification group, but the subsequent rounds of the tournament would be cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [1] [3] In January 2020, she captained the Norway under-18 team in a friendly tournament held in the United States. [15] She debuted for the Norway under-23 team in a friendly in October 2021. [16] [17]

Personal life

Haugen is the oldest of three children born to a Norwegian father and an American mother. Her father, Nils, played semi-professional soccer in his home country before moving to the United States at age 21, while her mother, Micki, played field hockey in college at Radford. [1] [3] Haugen often visited Norway with her family in the summer growing up. [3]

Honors

Tampa Bay Sun

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Victoria Haugen". Virginia Tech Hokies . Retrieved July 16, 2024.
  2. Victoria Haugen at the Norwegian Football Federation (in Norwegian)
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Rist, Hugh (April 13, 2020). "Patriot senior Victoria Haugen raises profile playing for Norway's youth national soccer teams". InsideNoVa.com. Archived from the original on June 19, 2021.
  4. "USSF announces Boys/Girls DA season awards". United States Soccer Federation. July 22, 2019. Retrieved June 9, 2025 via TopDrawerSoccer .
  5. Shealer, Sheldon (January 29, 2018). "Recruiting Roundup: Jan. 29-Feb. 4". TopDrawerSoccer . Retrieved June 9, 2025.
  6. "NWSL Announces Initial Draft-Eligible List". TopDrawerSoccer . December 22, 2023. Retrieved June 9, 2025.
  7. 1 2 "Courage sign Victoria Haugen to National Team Replacement contract". North Carolina Courage. July 16, 2024. Retrieved July 16, 2024.
  8. "Haugen impresses during The Soccer Tournament". Virginia Tech Hokies. June 13, 2024. Retrieved July 16, 2024.
  9. "Haugen and McCutcheon signed to replacement contracts". North Carolina Courage. August 27, 2024. Retrieved August 31, 2024.
    "Replacement contracts of Victoria Haugen and Maya McCutcheon waived". North Carolina Courage. August 27, 2024. Retrieved June 9, 2025.
  10. Tampa Bay Sun FC [@TampaBaySunFC] (February 6, 2025). "Victoria Haugen is ready to #DefendTheBay!" (Tweet). Retrieved February 6, 2025 via Twitter.
  11. "Sun Fight Back with Two Late-Match Goals to Pull Off Draw vs. Cross-State Rivals". Tampa Bay Sun FC. February 8, 2025. Retrieved June 9, 2025.
  12. Victoria Haugen at Soccerway OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  13. "Tampa Bay Sun FC 1–0 Fort Lauderdale United FC". USL Super League. June 14, 2025. Retrieved June 14, 2025.
  14. Berg Ould-Saada, Arilas (June 14, 2021). "Victoria Haugen: Stjernen som ble kuppet fra USA" . Verdens Gang (in Norwegian). Retrieved July 16, 2024.
  15. Meisingset Solheim, Håkon (January 29, 2020). "J18-landslaget tapte for USA: - Det er brutalt, men mye god læring" (in Norwegian). Norwegian Football Federation . Retrieved July 16, 2024.
  16. "Victoria Haugen debuts for Norwegian U-23 National Team". Virginia Tech Hokies. October 26, 2021. Retrieved July 16, 2024.
  17. Berge, Andreas Kristoffer (December 10, 2021). "Victoria Haugen: Amerikaneren på Norge" . Sportskollektivet (in Norwegian). Retrieved July 16, 2024.
  18. "Tampa Bay Sun crowned inaugural USL Super League champions with 1–0 win against Fort Lauderdale United". USL Super League. June 14, 2025. Archived from the original on June 15, 2025. Retrieved June 14, 2025.