Reference articles on history, science, culture and more
Encyclopedia

Trinity Byars

American soccer player (born 2003)

Image credit is listed at the end of this article.

Trinity Paula Byars (born January 29, 2003) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a forward for San Diego Wave FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). She played college soccer for the Texas Longhorns, earning All-American honors twice. She represented the United States at the 2018 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup and the 2022 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup.

01Early life

Byars was born and raised in the Dallas suburb of Richardson, Texas, one of five siblings born to Agatha and Charles Byars. One of her sisters, Tatyana, played for the Texas Longhorns soccer team for one season. Byars began playing soccer when she was four and joined Solar SC alongside future Longhorns teammate Lexi Missimo at age five. They led the team to win the USYS national under-13 championship in 2016 and the USSDA under-16/17 championship in 2019. Considered two of the top recruits of the class of 2021, they both committed to Texas when they were in seventh grade. Byars had offers to go pro out of high school from foreign clubs including Atlético Madrid, having trained with Atlético and Manchester City in the summer of 2019. She attended June Shelton School in Dallas, where she played basketball and ran track.

02College career

Byars led the Texas Longhorns with 12 goals as a freshman in 2021, earning Big 12 Conference all-freshman and All-Big 12 second-team honors. She led the Big 12 Conference with 17 goals as a sophomore in 2022, helping the Longhorns win the conference regular-season title, and was named the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year, first-team All-Big 12, and first-team United Soccer Coaches All-American. She scored 18 goals as a junior in 2023, as the Longhorns won the Big 12 tournament, and was named first-team All-Big 12 and second-team All-American. She scored her 47th career goal during the NCAA tournament in 2023, passing Kelly McDonald for the program scoring record (and was surpassed by Missimo one year later). She scored five goals in five games as a senior in 2024 before suffering a season-ending knee injury. She ended her college career with 52 goals and 36 assists in 71 games.

03Club career

San Diego Wave FC announced on November 7, 2024, that the club had signed Byars to her first professional contract on a two-year deal through 2026, with the option for another year. She was the first NCAA player signed after the abolition of the annual NWSL Draft. Because of her ACL injury at Texas, she spent most of her rookie season on the season-ending injury list. Following her recovery, Byars made the bench for the Wave's regular-season finale on November 2, 2025. The following week, she made her professional debut as an extra-time substitute for Dudinha in the playoff quarterfinals against the Portland Thorns, logging 19 minutes in the 1-0 extra-time loss.

Byars made her NWSL regular-season debut on April 25, 2026, in a 3-2 win over expansion team Denver Summit. On May 15, she made her first start and scored her first professional goal to open a 2-1 victory over the Washington Spirit. On July 9, having scored four goals in the last five games, she signed a new three-year contract with the Wave through 2028. The following month, Byars posted a performance against the Utah Royals in which she scored two goals and assisted the remaining two in a 4-2 Wave victory.

04International career

Byars began training with the United States youth national team at the under-14 level in 2016. After playing in a friendly tournament for the under-16 team, she was the youngest player included on the under-17 roster at the 2018 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup. For her club performance, she was nominated for U.S. Soccer Young Female Player of the Year in 2019. She helped the under-20 team win the 2022 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship and 2022 Sud Ladies Cup, where she was the tournament's top scorer. She started all three games for the United States at the 2022 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, assisting on a goal against Ghana. She played friendlies for the under-23 team in 2023.

05Career statistics

As of July 18, 2026
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League Playoffs Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
San Diego Wave FC 2025 NWSL 0 0 1 0 1 0
2026 11 6 , 11 6
Career total 11 6 1 0 12 6

06Honors and awards

Texas Longhorns

United States U-20

Individual

Watch videos about Trinity ByarsExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Trinity Byars, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

Images, from Wikimedia Commons:

Fathomly is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Wikimedia Foundation. Spotted a problem? Tell us.