Courtesy of Connecticut College
The transition from college to adult life is rarely easy. For many students, what comes next—whether it’s graduate school, job applications, or just taking some time off—is seldom what sticks for the rest of your life. Especially for athletes, leaving organized sport often creates a gap from the training and competition that once filled their days. Many stop their sport altogether, others continue to casually train. Few continue on at an elite level, but just two years after graduating, Mya Johnson ‘24 is rekindling her love for her sport at a top level.
Johnson, a four-year starting forward for the Connecticut College women’s soccer team, recently signed with Hartford Athletic, Connecticut’s pre-professional soccer team competing in the United Soccer League (USL) W. In 2019, the Hartford Sports Group brought an expansion USL Championship Club to coincide with the renovation of the Trinity Health Stadium in Hartford (formerly Dillon Stadium).
The team was formed by local businessmen Bruce Mandell, Joe Calafiore, and Scott Schooley, and partners with brands like The Hartford and Liberty Bank. The club at first only supported a men’s team, but eventually created the AC Connecticut women of USL League Two, an affiliate of Hartford Athletic. The AC women never made the league playoffs, so in 2025 a new women’s team was announced to compete in the USL W under the Hartford Athletic name. Johnson will play in the team’s first ever season.
“We understand Hartford because we are Hartford,” the Hartford Athletic website says. “Every member has raised families, built businesses, and contributed to the community we love. We also recognize the power that soccer can have in our community as we continue the momentum.”
Johnson didn’t plan on continuing to play after college at all. When she got a job as a business developer for NorthEast Bio Labs in Hamden, CT, she planned to focus her career on something else entirely. She did, however, continue to play soccer and train in her free time. She even made sure to stay involved with the sport and got a second job as an assistant coach for her high school team in Old Lyme.
“Coming out of school I was really rushing to get a job and just kind of rushed my life a little bit,” Johnson said. “Whereas now being in that next step of my life, you don’t realize how much you want [sport] back and how much you miss playing and just playing for the love of the game and the competition of it.”
Watching her older brother play soccer growing up, Johsnon fell in love with the game at a young age and began working with coaches to develop her skills. When she got to high school, she played for the Southeast Soccer Club, winning four state championships in her four years on the team. It was her time there, she said, that made her want to get involved with the program again years later.
“I was a really good player for Old Lyme,” she said. “I had a lot of accolades that I was humbled with, so I loved playing for them, and that’s another reason that I came back and wanted to coach afterwards. The program did so much for me, so I kind of wanted to give back and give the girls an experience that I had and hopefully have them fall in love with the game as much as I did.”
It was at Southeast that Johnson was introduced to Norm Riker, president of the Southeast Club and head coach of the Connecticut College women’s program. Johnson knew what she wanted out of college—a small liberal arts school with great academics, competitive athletics, and somewhere close to home. As she neared application season, Riker simply pointed out the obvious: Conn checked all of her boxes. After touring the campus and being introduced to the team, Johnson was sold.
Riker, who would become her coach for the next five seasons, helped forge her college experience. She found the training to be challenging, and the intensity of the season inevitable. But the balance of playing in one of the most competitive conferences in the division while maintaining her freedom as a person outside of sport made it all worth it. Riker, along with the rest of the staff and team at Conn, helped Johnson start in nearly every game of her career, earning three All-NESCAC First Team honors, USC All-Region honors, and NEWISA All-New England Third Team in her fifth year. Despite battling injuries in her career, she always felt uplifted by her teammates and coaches. Her favorite memory, she said, was scoring the three goals that won a double header against Middlebury College and Williams College in her final season.
“The hill was filled and I think that was just really a moment where it was like all this work I had put in both on the field and off the field, all these people are seeing it now, and it was just such a great team win,” she said. “Even though I scored those goals, the team did so much to help with that.”
It was the family she found at Conn that would encourage her to get back into the game years later. After tackling the job market, stepping into the real world, and trying her hand at coaching, Johnson realized how much she missed the game. So, she started playing in a co-ed league in Montville after graduation. Her talents in casual play didn’t go unnoticed, and she was asked to move from co-ed to play in a men’s league. While there, an old friend from Southeast sent her tryout information for Hartford Athletic. She figured she had nothing to lose, so she tried out, and made the team.
“It was just really a sense where I kind of just tried out to play,” she said. “I missed playing, and once they kind of saw the efforts and recognized me a little bit, I really felt seen for all of the work I’ve done since I graduated.”
Hartford Athletic is just kicking off its second attempt at a pre-professional women’s team in the USL W. But Johnson said the goal is to move up to the USL Super League (USLS), a fully professional soccer league at the highest level of the United States soccer system alongside the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL). This level of competition is higher, and teams don’t have roster limits, salary caps, or draft systems. In order to transition up to the Super League, Hartford will have to prove they have the funding and the playing ability to compete.
The team, Johnson said, is young and talented, so she believes they can make the jump. As one of the oldest women there, practicing with and playing against elite college and even high school players will present a challenge.
Johsnon will have to balance work, coaching, and practice all at the same time, whereas other players still in school might have more time to devote solely to the game. Out of more than 100 women who tried out, only 25 made the roster, so Johsnon knows she must perform as a player and a leader in order to help the team take their next step forward.
“I’ll always have my degree to fall back on, so I’m kind of ready to just put myself out there and do what I love to do right now,” she said. “So this gives me a great opportunity to play again, but it could open more doors down the road hopefully, who knows?”
Regardless of the result, Johnson is happy to be playing again. Especially in a time where women’s soccer is gaining more attention, she hopes to fuel that fire through her time on the field. Watching professional women’s soccer emerge from practically nothing, she said, to now watching the NWSL and the Super League inspires her to continue to grow the sport. With the rise of club soccer, beer leagues, and pre-professional teams, access to the game has never been easier, so Johnson hopes her play will inspire others to continue their journey in sport too.
But she still has goals, even after cementing her status as one of the most dominant forwards ever at Conn.
“I’m not chasing anything anymore—not any other awards,” she said. “I’m just pushing myself to those limits and seeing how far I can go. I never really expected myself to do anything with it, and now it’s really exciting that I’m putting myself out there to do it.”
Hartford Athletic plays their first game on May 19, 2026. Until then, Johnson will be working her full time job, coaching the next generation of athletes, and practicing with her new team. If they make it to the Super League, Johnson will make the transition to being a fully professional player.
If she does that, she will become the first woman in Connecticut College history to play for a professional soccer team. Either way, she has already achieved her goal: push the women’s game forward and inspire others to push their games forward too. For now, she’s just ready to get out and play.
Very inspiring Conn alum and story!