Leah Klenke

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Leah Michelle Klenke (born June 21, 2004) is an American professional soccer defender for the Houston Dash in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). She played college soccer for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish from 2022 to 2025, appearing in 78 games and scoring 5 goals. In 2025 she earned first-team All-American honors.

Klenke grew up in Houston, Texas, and attended Saint Agnes Academy, a Dominican girls’ school where she played soccer, track and cross country. She helped her teams win state titles in all three sports and excelled in middle- and long-distance events. She also played club soccer for the Albion Hurricanes in ECNL.

At Notre Dame, Klenke was recruited as a left wingback but was also used as a center back by head coach Nate Norman. She started 78 games for the Irish, contributing five goals. In her freshman year (2022), she helped Notre Dame lead the ACC in shutouts and reach the NCAA tournament quarterfinals, earning ACC all-freshman honors and a TopDrawerSoccer ranking as the seventh-best freshman in the country.

In 2023 she led Notre Dame with 10 assists, ranking fourth in the ACC in assists and earning second-team All-ACC. After missing about a month for the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, she returned to help the Irish reach the NCAA tournament quarterfinals and earned first-team All-ACC honors as a junior. In 2025 she again helped Notre Dame finish high in the ACC standings and reach the program’s first ACC tournament final; she was named first-team All-ACC and first-team All-American as Notre Dame earned the overall top seed in the NCAA tournament, though the team was upset in the second round.

Klenke signed with the Houston Dash on January 8, 2026, on a three-year contract, beginning her professional career.

Internationally, Klenke has represented the United States at the youth level. She trained with the U-14 team in 2018 and later joined a combined U-18/U-19 camp in 2023. She played for the U-20 national team at the 2023 CONCACAF U-20 Championship, helping the team qualify for the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup. In Colombia 2024, she appeared in every match as a substitute at right back for Gisele Thompson, and the U-20s finished third. She also converted a penalty kick in the shootout against Germany in the quarterfinals.