One of the finest female athletes to come out of Minnesota in recent memory -- with full props to UConn hoopster Paige Bueckers -- Dahlien was voted Ms. Soccer and Miss Track in Minnesota as a high school senior in 2021. She was hotly recruited in both sports but chose to focus on soccer in college (even though collegiate track is not off the table down the road). She played in 26 games as a freshman for the Tar Heels but started just five while scoring four goals with three assists, and she calls her rookie year a great learning experience.
“It was a bit of a roller coaster,” she said. “Coming to UNC, which is such a great program, I didn’t expect to play a ton, but you always still want to make an impact. The start of the season was hard for me, I wasn’t playing much, but once I started getting my feet under me, I started a few games, then I went back to being a game changer (reserve). So, I had different roles, but it helped me to learn about adversity. Coming out of Minnesota, I started every game, played almost every minute, but it was great to have to earn minutes. It was a fun season. We lost the National Championship, but I got to do some things I had dreamed about like playing for an ACC championship and an NCAA championship, and now we want more.”
At 5-foot-9, she possesses true speed that unfurls into a graceful and powerful stride, honed on the track where she was the Minnesota state champion in the 100, 200 and 400 meters as a junior. As a senior, she won the 200 meters and long jump state titles and came within tenths of a second of repeating her triple in the sprints. Pair that kind of height and athleticism with an aesthetic skill set and Dahlien has been nothing but trouble for defenses in the Dominican Republic.
