Tessa Dellaroze

Tessa Dellaroze arrives at Chicago Stars FC in 2026 off the back of a college career that ended with a national title. At North Carolina, she was part of the Tar Heels side that won the NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Tournament in 2024, having already collected an ACC Championship with the team in 2022. Her form at that level earned her a Fourth-team All-American nod in 2024 and Third-team All-ACC honours in both 2022 and 2024.

Before Chicago, the defender's path through the professional game had been unsettled. She started out at Racing Louisville, where she spent three seasons from 2022 to 2024, before a move last year to Pittsburgh Riveters SC — a return, in effect, to the city where she was born. The switch to Chicago Stars FC this year gives her a fresh NWSL platform, and she takes the number 34 shirt there.

International recognition has come at youth level. Dellaroze made eight appearances for the United States under-20 side between 2023 and 2024, adding to a single under-16 cap back in 2020 — a run through the youth pathway that tracks the same period in which she was establishing herself as a regular at North Carolina.