Mia Justus is officially a Royal after she signed a three-year contract with the team. The 5â9 Texas Longhorn goalkeeper was signed by the Utah Royals, who added her to the 2025 season roster on a three-year contract through 2027.
College Career
Mia, the SEC Tournament Most Valuable Player of the Year, will increase the depth of the Utah Royals roster by working hand in hand with Mandy Haught and Cristina Roque in the goalkeeper position. As a senior, she had an outstanding year full of accomplishments, which included:
- SEC Player of the WeekÂ
- SEC All-Tournament Team
- All SEC Third team – GK
- SEC Preseason Watchlist
- Top Drawer Soccer Postseason Top 100 (ranked 83.)
Her junior year was filled with honorable mentions and awards based on her dominance in making exceptional saves and commanding ability as a goalkeeper while with the Longhorns. She played her freshman and sophomore years at Florida State University, where she had an outstanding performance and a career-high five-goal save in a game against Notre Dame.Â
US U20 Team
Mia was invited to the 2022 U20 National Team training camp for the FIFA U20 Womenâs World Cup. She made the starting roster for the Costa Rica games. Despite the US team failing to get out of group stages, her experience at the games was key to growth in her career.Â
Family Influence
The twenty-year-old goalkeeper is a cousin of the US Menâs National Team Goalkeeping legend Tim Howard. She has talked of his continued support towards her soccer career. He has played a great role in mentoring and grooming her to be a great goalkeeper.Â
Other College SigningsÂ
With the elimination of the NWSL Draft, under the new CBA, players out of college are directly signed by teams instead of selection.Â
Some of the signings so far include:
- Macey Hodge from Mississippi State University signed a two-year contract with a team option in 2027 with Angel City.
- Trinity Byars from Texas Longhorns signed with the San Diego Wave. She was the first college athlete to sign with a team under the new CBA.Â
- Lilly Reale signed a three-year contract with NJ/NY Gotham FC. She played at UCLA for her college career.
- Sarah Schupansky also signed with the NJ/NY Gotham FC after completing her college career at the University of Pittsburgh.Â
