Every year produces a new crop of potential talents for the United States Women’s National Team, with Emma Hayes working to help identify and incorporate the next wave. The Under-23 squad has had a very active 2025 and 2026, which should pay dividends down the road during upcoming World Cup cycles. Taylor Huff was a high performer at the youth and collegiate levels, continuing to impress as a professional. The 24-year-old Bay FC midfielder-forward had a positive first season in the National Women’s Soccer
League and should only improve during the current campaign and beyond.
Raisedin Mansfield, Ohio, Huff was a multi-sport athlete who set regional records for the track team and also competed in volleyball, basketball, and softball. She contributed113 goals and 93 assists during her high school career, winning the Division II state title and receivingmultiple state playerof the year awards, a deluge of All-State and All-American citations, and the 2020 United Soccer Coaches National Player of the Year. Her club soccerwas spent with Internationals SC, resulting in being rated the 68th overall recruitin the country by TopDrawerSoccer and cited as an ECNL All-American and the Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year.
“She is self-driven, self-motivated,” her father (and high school head coach) toldthe Mansfield News Journal. “She has a plan and a regimen where the whole week is planned out. Actually, the whole month and even year is planned out … She has put in the work and then some … It is a dad and a coach’s dream to have her and her work ethic on the field.”
After committing as a high school freshman, Huff beganher collegiate career at the University of Tennessee and immediately adapted to the level. As a freshman, she appeared in 23 matches, starting 22, and led the squad to the conference title and the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament with 10 goalsand five assists, being named Southeastern Conference All-Freshman Team, Second Team, and Freshman of the Year. Her sophomore campaign saw her contributefive goals and seven assists, receiving All-SEC First Team and Third-Team All-American honors.
Huff then transferredto Florida State University, following her former head coach at Tennessee, who left after her freshman season. In her junior year, she started all 23 fixtures and contributed seven goals and 14 assists, receiving All-Atlantic Coast Conference Second Team, NCAA All-Tournament Team, and Second Team All-American as the Seminoles claimed the ACC and NCAA titles. Her collegiatecareer closed with 12 goals and 10 assists in 21 matches, winning the ACC Tournament Championship and being named All-ACC First Team, ACC All-Tournament Team, ACC Women’s Soccer Championship MVP, and First Team All-American.
Last winter, Huff enteredthe professional ranks and signed a three-year contract (including an option for an additional season) with Bay FC, being “given the freedom that a player like [her] thrives under.” She wasin the starting lineup to open the schedule, maintained her spot through all 26 fixtures, and scored her first goal in a 2-2 draw with the Houston Dash. Her season finishedwith four goals and one assist, as the NWSL named her Rookie of the Month for October/November and Beyond the Touchline noted her varied heatmap and high performance in the “expected threat model.”
“She is the epitome of a box-to-box midfielder, a player with exceptional stamina and the ability to cover the full length of the pitch,” wroteSchuyler Eley for the club’s official website. “The midfielder’s constant motion serves as Bay FC’s control tower and governs the team’s transitions from defense to attack. Huff has found a passion for being the playmaker and revels in the opportunity to break lines and flip the game. The club gives Huff a free role in the midfield, allowing her to move where she can impact the game most. She succeeds most by finding space, but always with structure behind it.”
This season, Huff wasin the starting lineup to start the schedule and has featured in 14 matches, contributing a goal and an assist and missing a few weeks with a foot injury. Despite servingas the team’s chief creative outlet, American Soccer Analysis notesa need to “produce elite-volume threat numbers” and “do more.” Bay FC is eight points out of the playoff picture, and there is little time to make a move up the table.
At the international level, Huff competedfor the United States in the Under-16 and Under-20 age groups. She has since been included with the Under-23 team several times, includingmultiple camps in 2025. Her most recent duty came during the April international window, playing 90 minutes in the 4-3 victory over France to claim the WU23 Friendly Finals.
Standingat five feet, eight inches tall, Huff is a hard-working two-way midfielderand forward who puts in hard work on the defensive side, looks to beat opponents off the dribble, sets the tempo, and outthinksthe opponent with an “incredibly high IQ for the game.” She is a reliable chance creator and regularly wins her aerial duels, with teammates praising her willingnessto “take a lot of initiative on the pitchand drive toward the back line.” The “talentedand savvy box-to-box playmaker” and “dynamic leader” can “set the pace in the center,” at her best when “playing freely” with “quick footwork and an aggressivestyle.” Well-rounded and dynamic, her “quick footwork and vision” enable her to “facilitate in the build-up, finish, and command under pressure.”
“I think I’ve kind of found such passion for being that playmaker,” saidHuff. “And yeah, I do like to score goals and assist in those things, but I just love breaking lines and kind of just being that person who, I guess, flips the game in a way … I like being that person who can, you know, like slow the tempo when it needs to be slow, but also like go full force, like, and kind of change it, go up and back.”
Making the jump from the Under-23 team to the senior level is no easy task, with limited spots spread across over a decade’s worth of talent. Huff has her work cut out for her but has stepped up to every challenge and performed with her trademark productivity of finishing and creating. If she misses her chance before the next World Cup or Olympic Games, her name should be on rosters during the following cycle.
