This is Part 1 of a three-part series sitting down with Dallas Trinity FC’s newest arrivals ahead of Saturday’s match against Brooklyn FC at the Cotton Bowl. Part 2 features goalkeeper Tyler McCamey on Friday, and Part 3 features midfielder Heather Stainbrook on Saturday morning.
Saturday afternoon, Dallas Trinity returns from the winter break with three new faces stepping onto the Cotton Bowl pitch for the first time, wearing the maroon and gold. Lauren Flynn is chasing the championship feeling she earned twice at Florida State. Tyler McCamey wants to prove she can be more than a backup, collecting trophies from the bench. Heather Stainbrook is following a well-worn path from Washington Spirit to Dallas, the fifth loanee to make the trip in two seasons.
Each arrived for different reasons. Each carries NWSL experience, and each has something to offer Trinity. When Brooklyn FC kicks off at 4 p.m., the integration period ends, and the proving begins for the new arrivals and their new head coach, Nathan Thackeray.
The Defender Who Found Her Position
Lauren Flynn grew up as a forward. At Florida State, she played winger her first year. Then, one of the Seminoles’ center backs went pro early; they needed someone to step in, and Flynn was ready to step up. “I was just happy to be on the field. I didn’t really care where,” Flynn said. “So it took a little while to get the hang of center back. But I loved it.”
What she discovered was a completely different way of seeing the game. “Each position has a very different perspective of the game,” she said. “I think center back is all about composure. It’s about the little details and just consistency.” The switch from attacking to defending, from creating chances to preventing them, fundamentally changed how she understood soccer. “I mean, with my time, the past years at Utah, I played mostly center back, a little bit of outside back as well, I think. At this point, defense comes very naturally.”
Two national championships followed at Florida State. The 2021 title came on penalties against BYU. The 2023 championship was more dominant, a 5-1 demolition of Stanford, where Florida State’s defense allowed just one goal across six NCAA Tournament matches. Flynn earned the tournament’s Defensive Most Outstanding Player award, capping a season where she also received first-team All-American honors.
Utah drafted her 16th overall in 2024. She made nine consecutive starts for the Royals, led the team in combined tackles and interceptions, and in week 10 pulled off a goal-line clearance that denied Kansas City forward Temwa Chawinga. The league named it Impact Save of the Week. Everything was clicking. Then came the calf pain she couldn’t shake. Flynn would be diagnosed with bilateral compartment syndrome and would have to undergo two rounds of surgery.
“That was definitely the hardest part of my career so far, the time I spent away from the game and rehabbing,” Flynn said. “I think that pushed me a lot physically and mentally. I don’t know if I was expecting how hard it would be mentally, and just the transition back. It definitely took a bit longer than I had been hoping.”
The mental toll surprised her more than the physical demands. She’d prepared for rehab, for building strength back, for the grind of recovery. She wasn’t prepared for how hard it would be to watch from the sidelines, to not be part of the team in the same way, and to wonder if she’d ever feel the same on the field again. Nearly ten months passed; 292 days away from competitive soccer. When she finally returned to Utah’s lineup in April 2025, it was as an early substitute when another injury forced her back sooner than planned. Nine appearances later, the Royals released her as the NWSL season came to a close.
“But now I’m feeling back to normal, feeling really good,” Flynn said. “In the practices here, I feel like the off-season I had a good chance to let my body rest and then build a lot of strength, and I’m feeling very good now in these first few weeks with Dallas. I’m just grateful to be healthy again, to be able to play the game and not be worrying about physical stuff and just be able to focus on getting immersed with a new team, learning the new tactics.”
She landed in Dallas for the first time two weeks ago. The snow and ice have kept her inside these past few days, watching movies with teammates and getting to know everyone. But she has had time to explore Fort Worth’s Stockyards. “Kind of what I had in mind, like straight out of a Western movie,” she said. She tried barbecue, joined the team book club, and started asking for restaurant recommendations. “I’m realizing it’s very spread out,” she said of Dallas. “I’ve never been here before.”
She finished her graduate degree online in December. “This is my first season without school,” she said. “I just finished grad school online. So I really have some time on my hands now. I’m trying to learn some new hobbies, keep myself occupied. But mostly I’ve just been hanging with people on the team, and that’s been really nice, just getting to know everyone off the field.”
Playing under Thackeray was part of the draw in Dallas. She’d faced his North Carolina Courage teams and remembers how exhausting they were. “I played against Nathan in the NWSL, so I had an idea of his ideas of the game, because when we would play against North Carolina, they had a very specific way of playing,” she said. “As a defender, it was very frustrating to play against them because they kept the ball so well, and it was just so exhausting for any team playing them. And I think that style of play really excites me.”
Thackeray’s system is built on keeping possession, breaking down opponents through patient build-up, and pressing relentlessly when the ball is lost. “It’s a great way to read the game, to break down the other team, and it definitely requires a lot of thinking, a lot of technique,” Flynn said. “But I think we can definitely pull it off. So now it’s just getting everyone on the same page.”
During training, she’s been connecting with Stainbrook already. “I’m excited to play with Heather because I’ve played against her a few times when she was playing for Spirit,” Flynn said. “I think she is a very technical player, really smart with her positioning, and I think as a defender, it’s very helpful if the attacking players know where to be, and can find a pocket. We’ve already been connecting a bit at practice.”
She’s also reunited with Samar Guidry – both played in the 2022 U-20 Women’s World Cup – and she knows Lexi Missimo from national team camps. She said of her new roommate Guidry: “I think she’s a great player too, just really willing to sacrifice herself, and I think as a defender, you want people like that next to you,” Flynn said.
Trinity made the playoffs last year but lost in the first round. Flynn came here for more than that. “I think that was a big draw for me coming here, that this team is definitely capable of winning a championship, and for me, that’s the number one goal,” she said. “Regardless of anything else, is to win a championship, and do what you have to do to get there. Just keeping that in mind every day, that is the end goal, and you’re showing up every day for that reason. And I really want to win.”
Tomorrow: Part 2 features goalkeeper Tyler McCamey, who knows the difference between collecting trophies and earning them.