Cyera Hintzen played soccer at the University of Texas for Coach Ange Kelly from 2016 through 2019. The forward is tied for sixth in program history in goals scored. She twice earned All-Big 12 Conference First Team and USCA All-American honors before the Utah Royals selected her 31st overall in the 2020 NWSL Draft.

Hintzen played professionally in the Urvalsdeild kvenna (Iceland) and the A-League (Australia) before returning to the U.S. where she now plays for the USL Super League’s Dallas Trinity FC. Raising Her Game Director Rush Olson interviewed her after a training session to get her perspective on multiple aspects of the docuseries. We were curious whether her experience with the UT program matched what we had heard from players on the 2023 squad we’d interviewed for RHG. We also covered the 2024 NWSL Draft and discussed that as part of the player pathway. She had a unique experience with the process, so we wanted to hear about that and the way her pro career unfolded afterward.

Here’s a transcript of the interview, lightly edited for clarity. You can watch the whole interview on video as well and stream the docuseries for free on Victory+.

Rush: We wanted to talk to Cyera (Hintzen) because we did this docuseries called “Raising Her Game” that charts the path of women’s sports and soccer in this country and also through the eyes of the University of Texas program, and Cyera is one of the most decorated players to ever come out of the Longhorn program. And so let’s start with that. What was it about that program that prepared you to eventually become what you are now, which is a professional soccer player?

Cyera: Yeah, honestly I think Ange (Kelly) and the staff. I mean, and Texas as a whole. They just expect everyone to just put their best foot forward and compete for titles, compete for championships. So that’s kind of like ingrained in you and we all just competed to make each other better every single day. And I think the belief also that the coaching staff had in me I think also led to all of that that came from college.

Rush: I think about Ange and what I know now about her and her coaching style and I feel like that sort of belief in her players is key. What did she do to make you feel confident or whatever it was about yourself and probably maybe not just on the pitch but off?

Cyera: I think she had an eye that, like, she could tell if something was off or maybe I wasn’t feeling my best and she would just pull me in her office and just have that conversation with me, not as my coach but as a person and I think that helped uplift me at times when I needed it and so I really appreciate her doing that.

Rush: So you mentioned the culture at Texas and certainly one of the things that’s amazing there is that soccer’s not the only good sport. They’ve got a lot of sports there that are pretty good. Cyera’s current team plays in the Cotton Bowl, Dallas Trinity FC. They have a big football game that’s played there, the American code, not the association code. what did you see at UT about how that sport, American football, coexisted with the other sports especially the women’s sports?

Cyera: Obviously at times it (soccer) can be overshadowed. I mean that’s also what Texas is very known for, our football program, but I think also the benefit of that is a lot of resources that we got that helped us, built things that we needed as for resources to be better on the field, which I think we see that now with the last classes winning three big titles. And just also the support from the players and staff, too. It wasn’t just kind of like football and us or everyone else. It was that mutual support, too, on and off the field.

Rush: So playing for Dallas Trinity FC – not Cyera’s first pro team. You’ve had other opportunities as well, in Australia, Iceland. What have you seen of how the landscape of women’s pro soccer opportunities has changed since even when you started in in Austin?

Cyera: It’s changed a lot. When I graduated, specifically in America with the NWSL, there were nine teams and now I think with the expansion coming up there’s going to be like 15 or 16 (16 teams by 2026), which is huge. I graduated in 2020. so they’re making progress really fast and yeah, the only option was, if you weren’t here, to go overseas and so it’s nice that the opportunity is just growing and growing so fast and specifically with this league (USL Super League), we don’t all have to just go overseas and be away from everyone for so long. There’s more opportunity for us here in America and I just see it growing so much and so big so fast and I’m really excited to see where it’s going.

Rush: One thing I wanted to ask you about along those lines – one thing that we did in this docuseries is we covered the NWSL Draft and we will never cover a draft again. It’s not because we misbehaved. It’s because they’re never going to have one again. Tell me what your draft experience was like and how that, you know, is different now?

Cyera: It’s kind of crazy that they don’t have it anymore. Honestly, I was at home. I didn’t really know what to expect. My senior year, my numbers weren’t like the same as before. But it was really exciting. I was just almost a little bit shocked, but I was just with my best friend in my living room and at UT and I got the phone call and I was like really shocked and really happy, but it was a really good experience.

Rush: It ended up being a tough experience, too, because it was right at COVID and so Cyera didn’t get to play initially and then the team that drafted you folded. This was the Utah (Royals) team, which, how did you deal with that?

Cyera: Yeah, that was hard. I mean, because when we got out there, COVID had just hit. People were going crazy in the grocery stores, like that kind of whole thing, and so all of us were a little bit kind of starting to freak out and we didn’t know what was happening and then when we got the call that all rookies were being sent home. We didn’t really know what we were going to do. We were meeting on Zoom to work out. It was so bizarre and then the team folded and so I really didn’t know what I wanted to do. I was potentially thinking not to play soccer anymore and then I was on vacation with my family and I got a call to go to Iceland and we just talked about it and my dad was like “I think you should take it.” And so I did and here I am still playing now.

Rush: That story doesn’t mirror everybody else, because that’s the Hawaii-to-Iceland connection, but I think the fact that there are these opportunities that you were able to play there. Now you’re playing here back in the States is pretty neat.

Cyera: Yeah, it’s awesome to be here with in front of my family and my friends, especially (since) I was gone for so long and so many months at a time. You don’t see anyone close to you unless they can visit and so just to be here and be playing in front of them and, you know, if things aren’t going well or things are going well you have that support off the field and that’s huge.