Dahlien was raised in Edina, Minnesota.[1] She played for Edina Soccer Club before high school, when she joined Minnesota Thunder Academy, the state's only team in the Elite Clubs National League, and was named an All-American in 2020–21.[3][4] She attended Edina High School, where she recorded 92 career goals and 43 assists and was named all-state three times. She scored 37 goals in her senior year in 2021, helping lead her team to the state semifinals.[1][5]
Dahlien also starred in track and field in high school, coming second at the state championship in the 100, 200, and 400 meters as a freshman; sweeping the 100, 200, and 400 meters as a junior; and winning the 200 meters and long jump as a senior, narrowly coming second in the 100 and 400 meters.[5][6] Following her senior year, she was named the Star Tribune Female Athlete of the Year.[5] She committed to the University of North Carolina for soccer in August 2020 and considered additionally joining the track team.[7][8]
North Carolina Tar Heels
Dahlien scored four goals with three assists despite making only five starts for the North Carolina Tar Heels as a freshman in 2022, being named to the Atlantic Coast Conference all-freshman team. She scored a brace against BYU in the third round of the NCAA championship, where the Tar Heels finished the season as national runners-up.[3] She became part of the regular starting lineup in her junior year in 2024. Despite missing a month for the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, she earned All-ACC third-team honors and made a team-joint-high seven assists, scored two goals, and drew six out of the team's ten penalties.[9][10] In the semifinals of the NCAA tournament, she drew a penalty for North Carolina's first goal and scored the third goal in a 3–0 win against Duke.[11] North Carolina went on to defeat Wake Forest 1–0 in the final, winning the program's 23rd national title and first since 2012.[12]
Club career
Seattle Reign
Seattle Reign FC announced on January 8, 2025, that they had signed Dahlien to a three-year contract.[13]
Dahlien appeared off the bench in every game at the U-20 Women's World Cup.[15] She scored in both of the team's group stage wins over Morocco and Paraguay.[16] In the quarterfinals, trailing Germany 2–0, the United States came back in the last moments of regulation with a goal from Jordynn Dudley and an own goal forced by Ally Sentnor in the 90+8th and 90+9th minutes—the latter off Dahlien's deflected cross; they advanced in a penalty shootout.[17] Following a semifinal defeat to eventual champions North Korea, Dahlien forced a 119th-minute own goal in a 2–1 extra-time win over the Netherlands, helping the United States finish the tournament in third place, its best result since 2012.[15] She was called up by Emma Hayes into Futures Camp, practicing alongside the senior national team, in January 2025.[18]
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