Transgender Goalkeeper Isaac Ranson is Finally Unbound with Minnesota Aurora FC

Isaac Ranson has had a big 2026. In the past six months alone, the 22-year-old goalkeeper received his bachelor’s degree, recovered from top surgery and made history as Minnesota Aurora FC’s first openly transgender player.

Minnesota Aurora FC is a community-owned soccer club based in Eagan. Its top team competes in the USL W League, a national pre-professional league, in the Heartland division. The United Soccer League, which operates professional and pre-professional leagues in men’s and women’s soccer, requires that players register with a team that matches their sex assigned at birth, regardless of their present gender identity. As a transgender man, Ranson’s only opportunity to continue his soccer career at present is to play in women’s leagues.

“First and foremost, we believe that trans people belong in sport — period, full-stop,” says Aurora head coach Jen Larrick. “Ideally, there would be freedom to play in the league that aligns with their gender identity, but at this time, this is the league that Isaac can play in. He wants to play, and so we support him fully in playing on our team.”

Larrick first noticed Ranson while watching the West Coast Conference soccer games last fall. Ranson had an incredible season leading the Cal State Fullerton Titans’ defense, which allowed just eight goals all season, the lowest for Division 1 women’s soccer in the country. He ranked second in the nation with 13 individual shutouts and maintained the third-best goals against average nationally while playing significantly more games than the two goalkeepers ahead of him. 

Throughout his college career, he racked up 374 career saves and 31 individual shutouts, the most in program history. One thing that caught Larrick’s eye in particular about Ranson’s game is his ability to play with his feet. 

“The evolution in goalkeeping right now is you’re not just a shot stopper. When we have the ball, you’re part of the 11 players looking to play, so we look for goalkeepers who are able to play with the feet,” Larrick says. “That’s the number one thing I look for in a goalkeeper, and that characteristic stood out in Isaac’s game right away.”

Larrick reached out to Ranson about joining the Aurora following the conclusion of the NCAA soccer season. At the time, he was also in talks with a professional team, but decided to move forward with getting top surgery instead.

“I struggled with my chest every day … I was in binders every day, and it was very uncomfortable,” Ranson says. “My confidence since surgery has grown a lot. I feel more like myself, and I look more like how I feel. Even though it delays my professional career, it was worth it to me in every sense.” 

Ranson wasn’t sure how his recovery would go, but he knew he wanted to continue to play soccer. When he told Larrick about his plans to get top surgery, she told him to take his time with recovery, and she would check in on him in a couple of months. 

Ranson got top surgery at the beginning of January, and recovery kept him away from soccer for about three months. For the first month after top surgery, post-op patients are advised to avoid even raising their arms above their heads. Going from such limited mobility to practicing as a high-level goalkeeper is no easy feat, but Ranson says he felt supported by Larrick the whole time. 

“She showed support through my entire surgery process and timing, which definitely made me feel cared for,” Ranson says. “I appreciate her waiting and seeing how I would feel after surgery instead of just saying, ‘Okay, we don’t need you.’ That really means a lot.” 

Ranson made a full return to training in April, just over a month before his debut with the Aurora. At first, he struggled to find his old rhythm on the field. 

“The first week of training, I was really struggling because every time I raised my arm, my scar would feel like it was pulling apart,” Ranson says. “As a goalkeeper, you need your full range of motion, and you need to be free of any type of pain or restraint. I had a pretty big mental block with extending my arms and really committing to diving and catching balls above my head.” 

He had remembered to give himself grace, and that recovery wasn’t an instant process, and eventually the pain went away. He also struggled with a mental block regarding collecting balls with his chest, but was able to overcome that as well with the help of the Aurora coaches. He recalled with a chuckle that one of the coaches just kept hitting balls towards him until he felt comfortable taking them with his chest. It’s been a relief for him to leave these obstacles behind before starting with the Aurora, and he hopes that he is coming back stronger than ever before. 

Ranson came out publicly as a trans man back in 2024 while playing with the Titans. Everyone on his team and in his conference made him feel supported, and he felt he really blossomed both personally and on the field once he came out. 

“I’d say my best years were definitely when I was out as a trans man,” Ranson says. “On the field, I felt a lot more confident in who I was, and I felt a lot more free. Before, I was hiding, and it translated to the field. It’s really amazing [how much] my development as a player grew once I came out.” 

Of course, being a trans man in women’s sports comes with its challenges. Ranson has dealt with people speculating whether he is detransitioning or if he is on hormones and questioning why he would want to play in a women’s league. He wants to make it clear that he is following all of the rules governing women’s soccer and that, at the moment, playing in the women’s league is the best option for him. 

“Women’s sports are developing into being open to everyone for the most part. Trans women still aren’t being allowed in women’s sports, which is definitely something we still need to work on,” Ranson says. “I feel safer to play women’s sports … I feel more included. It’s just a more welcoming and inclusive space for queer people.” 

“I’m just so glad he’s here and that he feels comfortable in this space,” Larrick says. “He’s been very mature, vulnerable, honest and exactly the kind of human you want in your team environment.” 

Ranson says he has received a lot of support from fellow queer people these past few weeks, which has made him feel like he is doing something right. His hopes for this season include not only improving as a goalkeeper — he does still have professional aspirations after all — but also to be a role model to other trans and queer people in sports. 

“I would like to be someone that people can look up to if they are having a hard time being themselves,” Ranson says. “I look different than the majority of people in women’s sports, and I just want people to know that we can look like anything and identify as anything and we can still thrive in any place we are at.”