The Utah Royals midfielder joins a Dallas roster that keeps turning up Princeton graduates.
Dallas Trinity FC signed midfielder Aria Nagai on loan from the NWSL’s Utah Royals FC on Friday, a deal running through December 31 and pending league and federation approval.
Nagai is the latest Princeton graduate to land in Dallas. She spent 2021 through 2023 with the Tigers before a graduate year at North Carolina, where she started all 27 matches and played every minute of the final three NCAA Tournament games on the way to the 2024 national title.
She reached the pros undrafted, joining Utah as a 2025 trialist and earning three straight salary-cap-exempt deals, with 582 minutes and eleven appearances (seven starts) as a rookie.
For two of those Princeton seasons, 2022 and 2023, Nagai shared a roster with three players who have since passed through Trinity: defender Drew Coomans, now on the fall roster after winning 2025 Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year; forward Heather MacNab, whom appeared in last weekend’s scrimmage but has not been formally announced; and goalkeeper Tyler McCamey, who kept goal for Trinity last season before signing with FC Barcelona this summer.
“Her ability in the midfield to control possession in the flow of the game will be a valuable asset in Lee Nguyen’s system,” Sporting Director Brian Corcoran said.
With just over two weeks before the USL Super League season kicks off, Trinity’s roster is starting to take shape.