US women’s World Cup winners Ashlyn Harris and Ali Krieger are engaged
Ashlyn Harris and Ali Krieger had never revealed they were a couple. (alikrieger/instagram)
World Cup-winning US footballers Ashlyn Harris and Ali Krieger have got engaged.
The lesbian couple, who play together for Orlando Pride and the American national team, told People that Harris proposed in September.
Harris surprised Krieger while the pair enjoyed a picnic on Florida’s Clearwater Beach after the final match of their season. As the two posed for a selfie against the sunset, Harris held up a ring.
The women reportedly plan to tie the knot at a ceremony in Florida near the end of the year.
Ashlyn Harris and Ali Krieger both play for the US team and Orlando Pride. (alikrieger/instagram)
Krieger said she was glad Harris took the step, but that she wasn’t expecting it.
“It was a really good time because I felt really on the same page with her, and really excited about our future and talking about our future plans with kids, and family, and things like that,” she explained.
“It just was a really good time. I was really surprised because it just seemed like another weekend getaway for us. I wasn’t really thinking about it at all!”
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bqs0Grkl7GK/
Harris recalled: “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.’”
Ashlyn Harris and Ali Krieger reveal they’re together
Harris, 33, and Krieger, 34, had not previously revealed they were in a relationship.
Despite this, fans have long speculated about the pair, even blessing them with a couple name—”Krashlyn”—and writing hundreds of pieces of fan fiction about them.
Krieger said: “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.
“I feel like it’s a massive weight off of my shoulders.”
— Ashlyn Harris
“And that was most important for us.”
But Harris explained that over time, they had become “more and more confident within and ourselves and then clearly within our relationship.”
“We were like, now is the right time… and I feel like it’s a massive weight off of my shoulders.
“Finally, after all these years, I just feel like I don’t have to hide anything or feel like I’m not living up to the community I’m in.”
Ashlyn Harris and Ali Krieger explain what first attracted them to each other
The footballers, who won the 2015 Women’s World Cup, first met in 2010.
Harris remembered how the two “became really close friends, and we just hung out, we clicked, and we had so much in common.
“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.”
Krieger, who plays in defence, said it was the “creativity and ambition” of Harris that attracted her to the goalkeeper.
“I find that so attractive, and the way that she makes me a better person. I think that I’m very quiet and reserved,” she said.
“Since being with Ash, I really feel like I’ve blossomed into the woman that I want to be.”
— Ali Krieger
“Since being with Ash, I really feel like I’ve blossomed into the woman that I want to be, and she’s helped me become the woman I am.”
Harris explained that she fell for Krieger’s independence and assertiveness—as well as her eyes.
“It was her big, beautiful brown eyes,” said Harris. “She has these unbelievable tiger eyes.
“I just felt like every time she was talking, I wasn’t even paying attention to what she was saying.”
