Tessa Dellarose

Tessa Elise Dellarose (born April 2, 2004) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder or defender for Chicago Stars FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). She played college soccer for the North Carolina Tar Heels, winning the national championship and earning All-American honors in 2024. She has represented the United States at the youth international level.

Early life

Dellarose was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Melinda and Ron Dellarose, and has two older siblings. Her father played college baseball at Duquesne. She sat out her senior high school season to focus on her Pittsburgh Riverhounds academy team and the youth national team. Primarily a defensive midfielder, she also played left back for the Tar Heels. She started almost every game as a freshman in 2022, earning third-team All-ACC honors, and helped the team reach the national title game, losing to UCLA.

After mostly playing off the bench as a sophomore in 2023, Dellarose returned to the starting lineup as a junior in 2024, playing the second-most field minutes on the team as co-captain. She recorded career highs with four goals and a team-joint-high seven assists, earning third-team All-ACC and fourth-team All-American honors. In the NCAA tournament, she scored the last-minute winner in the 1–0 second round win over Santa Clara and assisted Kate Faasse's golden goal from a corner kick in the quarterfinal 2–1 win against Penn State. North Carolina won 1–0 against Wake Forest in the final, winning their 23rd national title and first since 2012.

Dellarose missed five games as a senior after tearing the quadriceps tendon in her left leg over the summer before returning to the field as co-captain in 2025. Unseeded in the NCAA tournament, the Tar Heels went to the third round before losing TCU on penalties, though Dellarose made hers. She finished her college career with 89 games played, 63 started, and 6 goals. She also represented the US Women–sponsored team in the Soccer Tournament 2024. She scored the winning goal in the final game and was named the tournament's most valuable player.

Club career

Chicago Stars FC announced on January 17, 2026, that they had signed Dellarose to her first professional contract on a three-year deal. She made her professional debut in the season opener on March 15, playing 18 minutes off the bench in a 4–0 defeat to Angel City FC. The following week, she made her first start and scored her first professional goal in the 42nd minute of a 2–1 win over the Kansas City Current on March 22.

International career

Dellarose was called into training camp with the United States national under-16 team in 2020 and the under-20 team the following year. She appeared in all five games at the 2023 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship, where the United States finished runners-up.

Honors and awards

North Carolina Tar Heels NCAA Division I women's soccer tournament: 2024 Atlantic Coast Conference: 2022

Individual Fourth-team All-American: 2024 Third-team All-ACC: 2022, 2024