National Women’s Soccer League players Ali Krieger and Ashlyn Harris are engaged and are celebrating their decade-long relationship with a wedding, according to People.
The romance between them started when the two met while playing for the U.S. National Team in 2010.
“We became really close friends, and we just hung out, we clicked, and we had so much in common,” Harris tells People. “We always sat next to each other on the bus and on flights, and we kind of just talked about our dreams and our hopes and what we wanted to do one day when we grew up. Because at the time, we were kids.”
“The rest has kind of been history,” she says. “Here we are nine years later, and we’re going to be getting married this year.”
Krieger and Harris both now play for the Orlando Pride, Krieger as a defender and Harris as a goalkeeper. This is the first time they have publicly confirmed their romantic relationship.
“We wanted to be professional and make sure that we showed up every day and did our job and it wasn’t just because we were together, it was because we love what we do, and we’re really good at what we do,” Krieger tells People. “And that was most important for us.”
On September 15, just days after they finished playing for the season, Harris and Krieger were enjoying a picnic and watching the sunset on Clearwater Beach. That’s when Harris asked Krieger to marry her.
“It was just us and this beautiful scenery, and I was just like … she was making me laugh, she wanted me to take pictures, and here I am. This is what I’m gonna be doing the rest of my life. It just all froze and I was like, ‘this is it,'” Harris says.
The two are planning for a wedding ceremony at the end of the year in Florida.