How KC NWSL’s Rachel Corsie was able to adapt to new life, and soccer style, in America

Stepping out of her parents’ car and onto a plane at Aberdeen Airport, reality began to hit home for Rachel Corsie.

Her flight from Aberdeen, Scotland, the place where she was born and raised, was set to land in London later that day.

From there? A connecting flight to a new life in the United States.

“This is real now. There’s no turning back,” Corsie thought to herself as she waved goodbye to both her parents and a life of familiarity.

More than six years later, Corsie is the captain of Kansas City’s National Women’s Soccer League team, plying her trade in one of the top leagues in the world for women’s soccer.

She’s currently the only Scottish player in the league.

“On a personal note, I’m extremely proud to have that opportunity,” Corsie recently told The Star.

That never used to be the case, though. Since the NWSL’s inaugural season in 2013, Corsie is one of three Scots to play in the league during their career. She also hopes to not be the last Scot to do so.

Corsie had spent nearly her whole life in Scotland. After growing up in Aberdeen, her first taste of professional football came just 145 miles down the Scottish coast at Glasgow City, a team in the top division of the Scottish Women’s Premier League.

By the age of 22, she’d already played 100 games for the club and had featured and scored in the UEFA Women’s Champions League. Her talents were quickly noted by FA Women’s Super League teams in England, which led to a transfer to Notts County Ladies in the top division.

Then, in 2015, the Seattle Reign came calling.

“I think it was something that felt right at the time and I’ve just really loved it,” Corsie said.

That meant leaving behind life in Britain for a whole new culture in America. But luckily for Corsie, there was a slice of home already awaiting her in Seattle: Kim Little.

Little and Corsie grew up just 30 minutes apart in Scotland, playing against one another as kids and then with each other on the Scottish national team.

At the time of the transfer, they weren’t close, but that would quickly change.

“Our friendship really blossomed when we were both in Seattle,” Corsie said. “And obviously, that was in 2015, and over the last few years we’ve just become closer and closer. We’ve experienced a lot of highs and lows together.”

The pair lived with host families in Seattle who also happened to be friends, which helped create a type of home and family environment. The duo increasingly spent more and more time together, just the distraction Corsie needed to not let soccer envelop her whole life.

Little and Corsie only played alongside each other for two years before the former returned to England with Arsenal Women in 2017. But the friendship was established and it helped Corsie integrate into American soccer ... and life.

Even today, the two speak on the phone on a regular basis — the pair chatted just last week after Corsie signed a contract extension that will keep her in Kansas City through the 2023 season.

“I think it absolutely helped the football,” Corsie said. “But I think for me the takeaway is that I know I’ve built a friendship that’s probably going to last for life, and that’s something that is so important.”

Now in her seventh season in the NWSL, Corsie wants to step into the role that Little once provided for her, offering a slice of home and comforting presence to other Scots here in America.

She’s always telling her teammates on the Scottish national team, which she also captains, that if they want to make the jump to the NWSL she’d be more than happy to help make it happen.

The other Scot to play in the NWSL, Claire Emslie, made 11 appearances for the Orlando Pride in 2019 before transferring to Everton in the FA Women’s Super League.

“I think we’ve got some players who are playing at a really top level,” Corsie said of her Scottish teammates. “Some of those younger players have great careers ahead of them, and who knows where the game will be in five or 10 years, too.

“They’ll hopefully experience that, and I think if the NWSL keeps growing like it looks like it will, I’d love for there to be more Scots over here.”

This story was originally published August 27, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "How KC NWSL’s Rachel Corsie was able to adapt to new life, and soccer style, in America."