Meet goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart

Nicole Barnhart is a legend in women’s football and a pioneer in professional women’s football. She is currently in her 12th yeare season in the NWSL, and at 42, she is the oldest player in the league. Prior to the formation of the NWSL, Barnhart played in the Women’s Premier Soccer League (WPSL), Women’s United Soccer Association (WUSA), and Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS). Last season, Barnhart played in a total of seven games (all competitions), playing 541 minutes. She made 26 saves, including one stoppage-time save against Angel City FC after coming on as a substitute for Aubrey Koningsbury – and one clean sheet in all competitions. She still holds the NWSL record for most clean sheets in a career (52).

Who’s your football goat?

Personally, one of my favorites in the men’s team, one of the players I liked to watch, was Peter Schmeichel, he was a Danish goalkeeper and played for Manchester United.

Women’s side GOAT, it’s so hard. There are so many options, but I feel like I have to put Marta there.

What’s your favorite pizza topping?

I’m gluten free so it’s tricky but I would say I do like prosciutto and artichokes on my pizzas.

What’s your favorite gluten-free treat?

One of the desserts that I make: I make strawberry shortcake which everybody loves. I make the sponge cake, and then I put dairy free yogurt on it and some fresh strawberries. A little bit of honey, a little bit of cinnamon, and then I make a homemade coconut whipped cream. They are really damn good.

What is your dream car?

My Volkswagen Jetta, which I drive now. (Laughs) I don’t know anything about cars.

What was your first job before you started playing football?

I feel like not many people know this about me, but I love art. I grew up in my aunt’s art studio on her farm. That was probably my favorite job outside of football, but my first “real” job was when I worked for Hallmark restocking cards in stores. I did that in high school.

What was your first football memory?

Probably U-8, young enough when we were all in goal for a little tournament. I don’t know if it was one of my first games or not, but I got the ball, went to kick it away and it went straight up in the air and came back down and I just caught it again. The referee just looked at me – he was a young referee and he had no idea what to do – and I was like ‘whatever’ and I just kept going. It got better from there.

What was your favorite subject in school?

Art and gym. I always liked them both. I liked school and always liked the art side of things. Gym was always super competitive and of course I liked competitions.

What is an essential part of your daily routine?

I don’t know if I really have a morning routine. I just wake up, drink my morning matcha, have breakfast and watch the news. Boring, but my morning routine. Other than that, I wouldn’t say I have that much routine in my day, to be honest.

Do you collect anything?

At the moment I mainly collect Disney DVDs.

What is your hidden talent?

To stay with the art trend, drawing. I don’t think many people know that I’m an artist. I also took American Sign Language (ASL) in college, so I know a little bit of sign language. I’ve forgotten a lot of it, but I know enough to get by if I had to do it.

What’s the next trip on your bucket list?

I’ve always wanted to go to Greece. One of my former college teammates, who I’m really close to, her family is from Greece. We’ve always talked about going there on vacation if I quit soccer. I need to reach out and make sure that offer still stands (laughs).

What is your favorite restaurant in the area?

I don’t eat out that much. I would say my favorite places that I go to a lot are this amazing bubble tea place called TeaDM. And in that same neighborhood there’s a little Vietnamese place called Bon Me Shack. I get food from there quite often.

What’s your favorite home-cooked meal?

I make homemade sweet potato gnocchi, which is really delicious – that has to be one.

I make some mean ribs and wings, so that would work too. I put them in the oven, grill them on both sides, let them brown a little bit, then put a baking sheet on top and steam them for a while on a lower heat. Then I take the lid off, make a homemade BBQ sauce, spread that on, and then cook it for another 20 minutes or so on a slightly higher heat. The last step is to grill them so they caramelize a little bit.

Where did you learn to cook?

I’ve loved cooking, I was always the first one to wake up in my household, so I had to learn how to survive and make food on my own. I feel like I’ve loved cooking since I was a little kid. I even have a little cooking club with the team, right now. The club started with Jordy (Jordan Baggett) and Cam (Biegalski). Now it’s kind of become a cooking club with the rookies. This year we did it with Lyza (Bosselmann), Court (Courtney Brown)her husband; Britt (Brittany Ratcliffe) came one day, and Lena (Silano) usually. I’ll host or we’ll go to someone else’s, but usually I’ll host it and show everyone how to make the meal. It’s a team effort though. We all do it. Two popular ones that we’ve done together are Kung Pow Beef with coconut rice. And one of Lena’s favorites – she always asks for it – is black bean chicken enchilada with an avocado crema.

Did you play any other sports as a child?

I played soccer, baseball, basketball, and lacrosse. I quit baseball to pursue my soccer career. It worked out well. I was actually on the All-Star teams for baseball, and they wanted to put me on higher teams, but they were like, “You have to make a decision because you can’t miss when we’re going to select you for these teams.” So I chose soccer for that reason.

I also played part of a season of lacrosse at Stanford. I wanted to play when I started but the soccer coach wouldn’t let me so I was the lacrosse manager for the first four seasons and after my fifth year of soccer eligibility I played part of a season of lacrosse. Once I started getting paid by the national team they made me give up my eligibility so I couldn’t play anymore and went back to being a manager. I was just starting to get my skills back after not touching a stick for years.

What skill have you always wanted to learn?

I’ve been trying to learn guitar for 20 years, does that count? I have two guitars. I have zero rhythm; I’ve learned all the chords, but once I have to start strumming, it goes downhill really fast. I probably haven’t touched my guitar in 10 years.