AUSTIN, Texas — The United States Women's National Team is one of the most iconic teams in all of sports. This week, the team is making its way through Texas, stopping in Houston and Austin for three matches. 

While the team has certainly made headlines lately, with so many of its players very vocal in their push for social change, at the end of the day, the team's biggest impact is still on the pitch. 

Representing your country in the sport you love is something most athletes can only ever dream of. Ryann Hierholzer is one of very few people who knows that feeling.

"There’s a lot of pride in wearing USA," Hierholzer said. "To hear the national anthem played on the podium there, you think about it more."

For five years, Hierholzer competed in the heptathlon for Team USA Track & Field. So when a nagging hip injury just wouldn’t go away, it wasn’t an easy decision for Hierholzer to walk away from track and field for good. 

"I struggled for a while with, 'What does life look like after athletics?'" Hierholzer said. 

These days, it looks a lot like sitting on her kitchen floor with her two kids, Shilo who is 3, and Brooks who is almost a year. 

On top of becoming a mom to these two, Hierholzer started her own business as a health and wellness coach.

"I’m not in this career because I’m an expert. I’m in this career because I’m working through it every day also," she smiled and said.

But even with all that going on, Hierholzer could never quite shake her desire to compete. 

"You're like, 'Okay, well, it’s over for me as far as sports go,'" she said. 

As it turns out, it wasn’t over. 

Hierholzer rediscovered her love for the sport she played growing up when she discovered FC Austin Elite, a semi-pro women’s soccer team.

"It’s been so much fun to engage first of all with teammates like that again in a competitive setting, and I just didn’t think I was going to have that opportunity again," said Hierholzer.

Team GM, Danny Woodfill, said he started the team seven years ago for that exact reason.

"We taught our boys that they can grow up to be anything, and they can be baseball players and they can be football players," Woodfill said. "But when it comes to women, literally we teach them that they can go to college and play sports. So at 21 or 22, they have maximized what they think they can do, and honestly they’re not even at the beginning of their peak as an athlete."

Woodfill said semi-pro teams, like the Elite, are proof of progress.  

"I think we’re starting to see respect for women athletes Hierholzer and especially women soccer players Hierholzer because of these changes," he said. "And I think the USWNT is the driver for those changes."

As a young girl, Hierholzer idolized the women’s national team. 

"Once at a doctor’s office — this is a funny story — they has asked me, 'Are these your parents with you?' and I said, 'No, Mia Hamm is my mom'," Hierholzer laughed. 

As an adult, Hierholzer said the team continues to inspire her, simply by taking the field. 

"There’s plenty of moms on that team," Hierholzer said. 

Meanwhile, this mom is just grateful to have the space to play. 

"Every day that I get to come out here and play, and every day that I get to compete in a soccer game. That’s just a bonus for me," said Hierholzer. "I know fun is such a bland word, but that’s what it is."

And she hopes the space will continue to grow, to allow more women to take back their dreams.