Ryan Williams heard the names being called one by one as she filled up her shopping cart.
Classes had just started back up at TCU, and she stopped at the grocery store on the way home. She turned her phone to the 2018 NWSL College Draft on YouTube.
The Cherry Creek High School graduate and Centennial native’s career as a Horned Frog was done, but she felt strongly that her time as a soccer player was not over. She entered her name into the draft on a whim, expecting that her next destination would be overseas. She tuned in anyway.
As the draft entered its fourth and final round, her phone began to buzz.
“My coach texted me saying, ‘Are you watching? I think you might go,’ and I started getting all these texts,” Williams told The Denver Post. She rushed home and pulled up the live stream again. And as soon as she turned it back on, the North Carolina Courage chose her with the 40th and final pick.
“One of my roommates was on the couch with me, not really paying attention, and then I said to her, ‘I just got drafted.’ And we just started screaming.”
Seven long years later, almost to the day, the soon-to-be 29-year-old received her first call-up to the U.S. women’s national team, at any level.
The honor came not long after Williams signed a contract extension with the Courage through the 2027 season. Not bad for a player who played in only six games in her first three seasons in the league.
“(I just tried to) enjoy it, look back and be like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m proud of myself for coming this far,’” Williams said. “I’m proud of the work I’ve done, the patience I’ve had and the determination I’ve had.”
When Ms. Irrelevant showed up in North Carolina, there was very little room to fit into. Three of the Courage’s four starting defenders made the cut for their national teams — two from the U.S. and one from Australia. The other spent time on youth national teams.
The team had just come off a 16-7-1 season that ended with a loss to the Portland Thorns in the 2017 NWSL Championship.
She then made just six appearances (four starts) while her team won three trophies — back-to-back NWSL titles and the 2018 Women’s International Challenge Cup — in her first two years in the league.
Still, there was value in being primarily a practice squad player. Williams routinely pushed the starters to their limits and learned plenty training with the best club in the league. But things became stagnant. She hadn’t broken into a regular role, and the COVID-19 pandemic stole the 2020 season, her third in the league.
Williams desperately wanted to get better. A new team would have been able to offer more available minutes, but she couldn’t bring herself to leave North Carolina. By that time, her teammates and WakeMed Soccer Park were home.
“I think it’s so easy to tell players and give the advice to be patient, but when it’s you, I think it’s really difficult to sit, be patient and keep working,” Williams said. “You don’t really know when and if your time is going to come.”
In 2021, her usage spiked to the tune of 17 appearances, mostly as a sub. Though she racked up only 341 minutes, she provided two assists, both off the bench.
The turning point, she said, was a pair of 90-minute performances in 2022, when she felt her work, patience and full reserve of trust from coaches came to a head.
“I felt overly prepared for those moments,” Williams said. “The whole time, I was itching to get on the field and play and get minutes. … At a certain point, I felt so confident and I felt so ready that I was like, ‘I feel like this is overdue.’ I didn’t even feel that nervous.”
In 2023, Williams started every NWSL game she played and more than doubled her minutes. She recorded career highs in basically every defensive stat imaginable. Then in 2024, she only got better, with league highs for defenders in tackles (55) and interceptions (53) while playing all but 12 minutes of the entire season.
Now, she’s finally got her due.
Not many almost-29-year-olds get the call to join the USWNT for the first time. Nor do many fourth-round picks.
“There is a lightness to it. The coaching staff really emphasized that they want you to have fun and to be you; we all play this game because we love it, so don’t be too stressed,” Williams said of her first USWNT camp. “Don’t feel so much pressure that the joy is taken away. Something we’ve talked about the past few days is to have fun at practice because that’s usually when you play your best.”
Not that Williams lacked it before.
She’s found a new motivator and another new goal to chase after the camp ends: her first official minutes with the national team. This January camp had no scheduled friendlies, so she wasn’t able to cap.
“I feel so thankful and proud to be here, but I also don’t feel satisfied at all,” Williams said. “I want to be at another camp, I want to keep learning, and I want to keep getting better, and I believe in myself that I can (cap) hopefully.
“This is a huge motivation for me, and I think another coach’s perspective is really good for me because it gives me even more tangible things I need to work on. One coach’s perspective is always great, but to have four coaches’ opinions where I can take different things from each coach is really good for me.”
Much like everything else in her soccer career, if and when that cap finally comes, it will have been well worth the wait.
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