K. Rader

Kat Rader arrived at Houston Dash from Duke, and within her rookie season she had already established herself as a key player. By July 2026 she had scored six goals in fifteen appearances, a franchise rookie scoring record, and she followed it with NWSL Rookie of the Month for May and a place on the NWSL Best XI in September.

Her college run at Duke carried her there. As a freshman in 2022 she scored 12 goals and added 5 assists in 23 games, enough for ACC Freshman of the Year and second-team All-ACC. She kept producing in 2023 with 7 goals and 2 assists, again making the second All-ACC team. Then, in 2024, a fractured ankle and torn ligaments cost her the entire season. She came back in 2025 and posted her best numbers yet: 12 goals and 12 assists in 22 games, earning First-team All-American honours and another second-team All-ACC nod. She left Duke with 32 career goals, seventh in the programme's history.

She was part of the side that won the CONCACAF Girls' U-15 Championship in 2018, then moved through the U-16 and U-20 age groups, collecting 8 caps and 4 goals for the U-20s and reaching the final of the 2023 CONCACAF WU-20 Championship. She joined the U-23 squad in 2026.

Rader signed with Houston Dash in January 2026 on a three-year deal and made her professional debut that March, wearing number 22.