Ashley Hatch
Ashley Hatch is a professional soccer player and claimed the 2021 Golden Boot in the National Women’s Soccer League. The Boot is awarded to the league’s top goal scorer; during the 2021 season Hatch scored 10 goals. She finished fourth of five finalists for the NWSL’s Most Valuable Player award. She plays for the Washington Spirit.
She was drafted by the North Carolina Courage as the second overall pick in the 2017 National Women’s Soccer League draft. That year she took home Rookie of the Year honors. While at Brigham Young University, she was an All-American and a finalist for the 2016 Hermann Trophy Award, which recognizes the top player in women’s college soccer.
She has played twice with the United States Women’s National Team. In June 2022, she was a substitute for the U.S. national team against Colombia.
Hatch is from Gilbert, Arizona. She married Jeff Van Buren in the Gilbert Arizona Temple in 2019. In April 2022, she took several of her teammates to the Washington D.C. Temple open house. She had been serving on the temple open house’s sports and culture committee — using her platform as a local athlete to get the word out about the public temple tours. “I didn’t realize how vulnerable I would feel bringing my teammates to the temple . . . but I really enjoyed it,” she said. “They were all so great to come and support me.”[1]