A Pride match is more than just a game for Vancouver Rise FC. It’s an opportunity for the club and its community to come together and celebrate the diversity and inclusivity that make the game so powerful.

Ahead of Rise FC’s upcoming Pride match, goalkeeper Morgan McAslan sat down to reflect on her journey as both a professional athlete and a gay woman and how navigating both paths shaped the player and person she is today.

Small town start

McAslan’s story begins in Waterdown, Ontario, a small town just outside Hamilton with a population of less than 25,000.  

Life there followed a predictable routine, but growing up, McAslan always felt like she didn't quite fit the mould.

“I realize it sounds pretty lame, but I always felt like I was different from my friends that were girls,” she admitted. “I couldn’t really put my finger on it, but I was always kind of a tomboy, hanging out with the boys at recess.”

In a tight-knit community with little visible diversity, sports became her outlet.

“A big part of being in school and being a part of the community was taking part in the local teams,” McAslan explained. “Playing hockey, basketball, soccer… that was just kind of the norm.”

Taking those first steps

Like many of her Rise FC teammates, McAslan’s love for soccer was sparked at home. Her father, Stuart, played collegiate soccer at Akron University and even occasionally trained with the Canadian Men’s National Team, while her mother played recreationally. Both coached her in her youth.

“When I first heard about [my father playing in college], I realized that’s something I wanted to do as well.”

By high school, McAslan had committed herself to the sport. Having converted from midfield to goalkeeper at age 12, McAslan found her home on the pitch. But off it, her quiet realization of feeling "different" began to take shape.

“In grade 11 or 12, I started noticing that maybe there is something different,” she recalled. “In the back of my head, I was thinking that maybe I’m gay, but I think I was probably too scared to confront that at a young age.”

Without visible representation around her, processing those feelings was difficult.

“I felt like I only had one or two friends at school who were just coming out at that time, and I didn’t know any gay adults that I could look up to.”

Big realizations

In 2018, McAslan stepped out of her small-town comfort zone and followed in her father’s footsteps, moving to the United States to play soccer at the University of Mississippi.

Away from home for the first time, opportunity came early for McAslan, as seven minutes into a match against Arkansas, an injury to the starting goalkeeper forced the freshman into action.

She stepped up and helped lead her team to victory, and went on to start the next seven matches, posting three consecutive clean sheets.

Yet her biggest growth was happening away from the game. Her newfound freedom began to give her the space she needed to understand herself.

“I was able to see more gay people and people exploring and experimenting with their identities,” she explained. “So I started to have more open thoughts… and have the space to try that out.”

That same year, McAslan officially came out as gay.  

Hiding her identity

Admitting it to herself, however, was only the first hurdle. Transferring to Samford University in Alabama in her sophomore year meant living and playing in a deeply conservative environment where casual homophobia was a regular presence.

“I felt very self-conscious,” she described. “I felt very aware of who I was telling my sexuality to, and I just felt like it just gave me this negative perception of being gay.”  

Despite facing the constant homophobic rhetoric, McAslan continued to shine on the field. Across her four years, the goalkeeper registered shutout after shutout for the Samford Bulldogs, earning herself various Defensive Player of the Week honours and was included in the Southern Conference All-Tournament Team, First Team and Second team on multiple occasions.  

On the pitch, McAslan was thriving. She recorded various shutouts, earned Southern Conference All-Tournament honours, and anchored Samford's defense. But hiding such a massive part of her life—including keeping a relationship secret for fear of losing playing time—took an emotional toll.

“It was really tough for me,” admitted McAslan. “I felt like, ‘Why am I giving them so much when they’re treating me and my community so poorly?’”

Standing up

By her final year at Samford, McAslan reached a turning point. When the university denied access to visiting ministries simply because they were LGBTQ+-affirming, McAslan joined a student-led protest on campus.

“In my last year, I got a little more brave,” McAslan admitted. “I wanted to push my boundaries.”

She tried starting an LGBTQ+ student-athlete group, but the school shut it down. Nevertheless, being bolder about her identity opened doors to unexpected support within her team, even if it didn’t end up being complete acceptance.

“The coaches ended up being very nice and supportive about it, and there were even multiple players on the team that were accepting too,” she remembered.

“But I would say that, even still, half the team felt like, even though they liked me, they were vocal that they didn’t like that aspect of me.”

Major setbacks

Determined to pursue a professional career in the NWSL after college, McAslan was hit with a devastating series of setbacks. Over two agonizing years, she underwent three knee surgeries, including a torn ACL and meniscus. In almost a cruel twist of fate, her torn ACL came the same week as her participation in the student protest.  

“That was definitely the hardest [period of my life],” she remembered. “I was just thinking ‘is this a sign that I shouldn’t keep going’, because I didn’t know if any club was going to take me after not playing in years.”

Luckily, she had the support from her family back home, who even thousands of kilometres away, helped her focus on her rehabilitation, and in taking small, steady steps towards reclaiming both her health and her identity.  

What dreams are made of

Her second chance came in 2024, when Rise FC Academy (then Whitecaps FC Girls Elite) brought her in for the Concacaf W Champions Cup. McAslan seized the moment, earning a roster spot for Rise FC’s inaugural Northern Super League season in 2025.

What followed seemed to have come straight out of a storybook. McAslan played every single match for Rise FC, capping off the season by making seven critical saves in the NSL Final to earn the NSL Final MVP honor and lead her team to lifting the trophy.

“It was a full-circle moment,” McAslan recalled. “I remember thinking how crazy it was, and that everything really went exactly to plan.”

“I got to do it close to my hometown near Toronto, with my whole family and friends there. With everything my journey took, it made it even more special.”

Becoming Morgan, authentically  

Her performance in the final showcased the confidence that McAslan had been building up to after facing so much adversity in her career. And it’s no coincidence that it came at a point in her life where her stability in her identity was at an all-time high.  

“I feel like I’m the most authentic version of myself,” she reflected. “I don’t think I realized how much that meant to me until I moved to Vancouver and back to Canada.”

“We have such an open-minded team and league, and there is so much room for diversity.”

Now in her second season with Rise FC, McAslan looks back on what became a seven-year journey from coming out in 2018 to fully embracing her identity in 2025. Through it all, she hopes her story serves as a reminder for anyone still trying to find their footing.

“Coming out is not something that happens overnight,” she explained. “It’s a long road of acceptance in discovering who you are and what you want from that.”

“My best advice is that people should find those spaces where they’re accepted and welcomed, and not accept less than that.”

For McAslan, Vancouver Rise FC hasn’t just become a place where she is accepted.

It’s a place where she is now celebrated.