Soccer superstar couple Ashlyn Harris and Ali Krieger announced the birth of their adopted daughter, Sloane Phillips, late last week.
Posting on Instagram on Friday, the duo shared photos from the hospital, announcing that Sloane had been born at a weight of 6 pounds and 11 ounces. While calling their daughter’s birth “the best Valentine’s Day gift we’ve ever received,” Harris said in a note to the child’s birth mother that their daughter “will be loved every single day by us, our friends and our family.”
“We promise to give her the tools to live a happy, successful life of inclusivity and support,” she wrote. “We promise to share her adoption story with her from the very beginning and celebrate every milestone! We promise to encourage her to follow her dreams no matter how big or small. We promise to be open minded and respect your wishes to have future communication and that she will always know how much you love her!”
In a separate post, Krieger called their daughter’s birth “one of the most beautiful yet stressful processes I’ve ever experienced” and added a message of love and support to her wife.
“When we first dated, we always spoke about adoption and always wanted to give a child a loving, happy and stable home,” Krieger told Harris in an Instagram caption. “I cannot wait to give her the world and be the best Mom I can be with you right by my side.”
Harris and Krieger, both 35, play for the Orlando Pride as part of the National Women’s Soccer League and were part of the U.S. Women’s National Team in 2019 when it took home the World Cup trophy. After dating since 2010, the couple announced their engagement in March of 2019 and married later that year.
Friday was the first time they’ve spoken about their decision to adopt a child, as the couple is generally tight-lipped about their personal lives. Previously, they told Allure magazine that starting a family would require one of them to scale back their work.
After finally sharing their news with the world, the National Women’s Soccer League celebrated with Harris and Krieger. “Our hearts,” the league wrote on Twitter.
Over the last decade, women’s soccer has been a particularly supportive environment for LGBTQ+ players, with numerous stars playing professionally while being open about their sexuality. At least 40 out female players competed for the 2019 World Cup, including Megan Rapinoe, Tierna Davidson, and Adrianna Franch for the U.S. team.
Krieger and Harris are not even the only power couple in women’s sports to make news this month. Rapinoe and her wife, Sue Bird of the WNBA’s Seattle Storm, were profiled by GQ as part of its February Modern Lovers issue.
“I feel really proud that we’ve infiltrated GQ,” Rapinoe told the magazine. “It affects how cool people think you are. And if people think you’re cool, then they think that what you’re doing, your sport, is more legitimate. And then that affects how sponsors see you. So that’s part of it too, for women, because we don’t get paid what the men get.”
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