Lauren Barnes grew up in Upland, California. She was a four-year starter on UCLA’s Women’s Soccer team, which competed in the NCAA Tournament Final Four three years in a row. Lauren received multiple individual accolades during her college career including First team Pac 10 selection, was a two time UCLA defender MVP, and a UCLA team MVP.

Lauren has also been a member of the US Women’s National Soccer team since 2007 and has competed at the U16, U20, U23 and full team levels. Most recently, in 2016 Lauren was in camp with the full women’s national team during the SheBelieves Cup where they were crowned champions.

Lauren is now in her fifth year playing professional soccer. She is currently in her 4th season with the Seattle Reign FC. The team won the National Women’s Soccer League Shield two years in a row (2014, 2015) and Lauren has earned team honors for Defender of the Year and NWSL Best XI team (2015).

Lauren also has experience playing overseas in the Australian W-League with Melbourne Victory. Lauren is passionate about travel, the outdoors, and giving back to her community. In February 2016, she traveled to Ethiopia with an organization called Water 1st to help build clean water systems for rural communities.