Dallas Trinity hometown player and University of Texas alumni Cyera Hintzen scored the first goal in our 10-minute comeback and had the game-winning assist against Lexington FC. Before the season started, we sat down with Hintzen to learn more about her journey and why she wanted to return to Dallas to continue her professional career.
Q: What has your soccer journey been like up until this point?
A: I started playing when I was four, and I was actually really bad and I was going to get cut from my first team, and then I played in my first season and I scored 20 goals so then I kept playing. I started playing because of my older sister because she always played and that made me want to start playing. I played for FC Dallas from my first soccer team when I was eight up until I was in 8th grade then I switched to Sting soccer club, and then I went to the University of Texas and I played there from 2016-2019 and then I graduated right when Covid started and I was drafted by Utah (rest of team name) in 2020 and then they folded and I was actually going to stop playing soccer. And then I was on vacation in Hawaii and I got a call to go and play in Iceland and I said yes and I played for Valur FC and I played there for two years and we won the league twice and their Icelandic cup. After that, I played for Perth Glory in Australia for two seasons. Now I am here at Dallas Trinity.
Q: What made you want to play for Dallas Trinity FC?
A: When I played in Iceland and Australia they were back-to-back seasons so I would only have two weeks off and that caught up with me. I really wanted to be back in America in general. Then I heard that this team was a possibility it was really cool and have something like this, especially in Dallas because it is such a big soccer hub so the thought of people being able to look up to this us and know that soccer does not have to be over when you graduate college. I thought it was a good opportunity to come home.
Q: What was your family’s reaction when they found out you were going to be back in Dallas?
My family was so excited, both of my grandparents live here so they were super excited that they could see me play because only my parents had been able to travel so far to see me play when I was abroad. Everyone was super excited that they would be able to see me play and see me play with my friends that they knew from youth soccer growing up.
Q: What are you most excited about for this season?
A: I am most excited about playing with and playing against a lot of the girls I grew up playing with. All of us being able to come back and play with or against each other is really cool. Another thing I am excited about is the fans, being able to see all of the little kids get excited and inspired to have a professional women’s team to look up to.
