Ryan Gareis
By Naperville Magazine
April 2026 View more Spotlight
By Jeff Banowetz
This Naperville native is now back home with the Chicago Stars
It’s not often that a professional athlete gets to compete for their hometown team, so it’s a dream come true for Ryan Gareis.
The 27-year-old Naperville native grew up rooting for the Chicago Red Stars (now the Chicago Stars Football Club, part of the National Women’s Soccer League), which played its home games for several years at Benedictine University in Lisle. Gareis, who played soccer at Neuqua Valley High School, signed a three-year contract this offseason with the Stars. “Representing my hometown means everything, and I’m ready to give my everything to this team, this club, and this community,” she says.
After high school, Gareis played for the University of South Carolina, where she scored 15 goals across 100 games during her college career. She was selected 44th overall in the 2021 NWSL Draft by the Houston Dash and played for them through the 2025 season. After a strong rookie season, she took a break in 2024 for the birth of her son, Crew. Just four months after Crew’s birth, she returned to the field for the Dash.
Gareis has the support of a partner who knows what it’s like to be a professional athlete—her fiancé, 11-year NBA veteran Pat Connaughton, played for years with the Milwaukee Bucks before being traded to the Charlotte Hornets in 2005. Balancing the travel schedules with the demands of their almost-2-year-old son isn’t easy, but Gareis wouldn’t have it any other way.
Q: How did you start in soccer?
A: My parents put me in every sport possible. In the first [soccer] game I ever played, I went home, and the next morning, my mom said, ‘OK, time to get ready for soccer practice.’ I was like, ‘Nope, I already played the game. I’m done.’ I thought that’s how it worked. But it wasn’t long before I fell in love with it.
Q: What was one of your first soccer teams?
A: Blue Fire, with coach Kevin [McBride], was very instrumental for me. I showed up at the first practice wearing jean shorts and without a soccer ball, so I had nowhere to go but up. He’s still one of my greatest mentors, and it is an awesome part of my development. I still like to volunteer to coach with him.
Q: How difficult was it to get back into professional-athlete shape after giving birth to your son?
A: You never know how your body’s going to respond, and I have to give huge props to the medical staff that helped me get back on the field. I learned a lot from all the amazing women athletes who came before me. I set the goal that when I came back—I would be faster, jump higher, and achieve better stats than before. So far, I’ve gotten there, and hopefully this year can really accelerate all of that.
Q: How’s the balance between being a mom and a professional soccer player?
A: It has been the most rewarding experience of my life. Truly, nothing compares to coming back to playing and being in the team environment while also having my son. Involving him in this atmosphere is like a dream to me. All the girls are so awesome. They’re so interactive with him, and for him to grow up with these role models is something that I love.
Q: Is it rough coordinating your travel schedule and Pat’s?
A: The logistics of it all are a nightmare, especially when our seasons overlap. It’s really hard to be away from each other. But you can only play professional sports for so long, and we figure we’ve got to take advantage of this window to do it.
Q: What are your aspirations with the Stars this season?
A: This is my fifth year in the league, so I want to be as much of a leader as I can and bring energy to every practice game—that’s the overarching thing I’m trying to do. But it would be awesome to score a lot of goals and a lot of assists, too.
Photos: Chicago Stars
