Being one of 88 student-athletes named to the 2024 SEC Soccer Preseason Watchlist, Kentucky’s Grace Phillpotts’ last two collegiate seasons at Kentucky were indicative of her rightful place on the list.

Now, with her college days behind her, soccer has become a career in which she will transition into professionally.

At the beginning of the calendar year, the defender signed a contract to play with Brooklyn FC in New York in the rapidly developing USL Super league. 

Although a rapid transition, having graduated on Dec. 20 and signing her professional contract in the middle of January, Phillpotts is grateful for the opportunity to join the Division-One professional women’s soccer league. 

“It’s exciting to join such an evolving league that’s growing basically every day,” Phillpotts said. “You can already see the strides that they’re making, so I’m just excited to be a part of it and watch it grow continually.”

Prior to playing for Kentucky, DePaul hosted Phillpotts, where she earned Big East All-Freshman Team honors in 2020 to start her collegiate career. She followed it with a sophomore year where she started all 18 matches for the Blue Demons and a junior year with 12 starts and 16 total appearances. 

Phillpotts followed her three seasons with DePaul by entering the transfer portal and joining Kentucky under Head Coach Troy Fabiano’s guidance, who joined the Wildcats at a low-point following the conclusion of their 2021 season.

In 2021, the Cats ended the year with an overall record of 7-10-2 and an SEC record of 1-9. In Fabiano’s inaugural season, they ended their 2022 campaign with an overall record of 7-9-2 and an SEC record of 0-8-2.

Transferring for the 2023 season, Phillpotts knowingly took the risk to join the still-rebuilding Kentucky team and her first season in Lexington was ultimately historic for the Wildcats. 

“It was definitely a risk because Troy had just gotten there the season before, but my cousin actually played for him at UW-Milwaukee. I had only heard good things,” she said. “I had a lot of trust in Troy, and our results and stats are evident to what he was able to do to the program, and we were able to flip it around in one to two seasons. So, you just have to, as a collective, agree as to what your goal is going to be and train every day to achieve that goal. Troy’s mindset was always to get 1% better every day, so I think that’s what we did.”

A player made to see game action, Phillpotts held down the Wildcats’ backline where she started all 40 games during her senior year and fifth-year. 

To complement all of the action for the defender, her first year with Kentucky brought her numerous achievements including Second Team All-SEC, United Soccer Coaches Third Team All-Southeast Region and SEC First Year Academic Honor Roll. 

The Wildcats’ 2023 season was comparatively a vast turn around once Phillpotts joined the squad, where they went 9-4-6 overall and 3-3-4 in the SEC. 

Their 2024 season, however, was truly special. 

Seeded as a No. 5 in the NCAA Tournament, the Cats’ incredible run in the season came to a halt versus No. 4 seed Notre Dame, ending with a record of 11-5-5 overall and 3-3-4 in the SEC.

The double-digit wins were the first for the team in a decade, and it went undefeated at the Bell Soccer Complex, going 9-0-4. 

Logging a career-high 1,799 minutes, Phillpotts helped carry the team to its success, where she scored her first career goal, tied her career-best four assists and earned a career-high six points for the Cats.

“I’m definitely grateful for my whole collegiate career. I learned so much. I spent three seasons at DePaul, and, while we didn’t have as much success, I learned a lot,” Phillpotts said. “I think I just grew to realize it wasn’t the right fit for me, so I took the chance of entering the portal, and I had my fifth year because of Covid, so I knew I would have a guaranteed two seasons left. And then really grateful that Troy Fabiano reached out in the portal. [I’ve] always dreamed of playing in a power five conference. So, going there, I was able to develop as a person and a player.”

With college in the rearview following her running out of eligibility, Phillpotts was determined to keep her dreams alive. Insert Brooklyn FC.

Brooklyn FC was announced on Feb. 9, 2024, as an inaugural team in the USL Super League after confirmation from the U.S. Soccer Federation’s (USSF) approval of its Division-One sanctioning application. Following the European calendar, Its inaugural season kicked off in August 2024 and Phillpotts will join for the back half of the season in the Spring.

“The end goal was to play professionally, and [Troy] was just so supportive throughout my whole time being there,” Phillpotts said. “If I ever did have a rough practice or a rough week, I thought he was always there to remind me of the end goal and what I had to do to achieve that. So, I was always really grateful for his support.”

Brooklyn FC, sitting firmly in first place in the USL Super League, hasn’t lost a match in its last eight tries and, after traveling to Italy during the Winter Intermission, has started the spring 0-0-2, including a recent 0-0 draw back in the Bluegrass against Lexington SC.

The squad is set to end its three-match road stint at Dallas Trinity FC on Sunday, March 9, before kicking off its home Spring season on March 15 against Fort Lauderdale United FC.

“Whether it’s a good or bad thing, I’ve never really considered anything else,” Phillpotts said of her career journey. “I’ve always wanted to play soccer as long as possible, so [I’m] grateful that dream came true.”