These Utah soccer players — including a young mom — hope to win the U.S.’s fifth gold medal at the Deaflympics

Taegan Frandsen Ferrin excuses herself. Roughly 30 seconds later, she returns to the Zoom interview and places her 7-month-old daughter Nora in her lap.

A couple days later, Ferrin, of Centerville, Utah, and baby Nora would be in Tokyo.

“Not many 7-month-olds have a passport, but this one does,” Ferrin said.

There, Ferrin will suit up with fellow Utahns Sophie Post and Payton DeGraw for the U.S. deaf women’s national soccer team at the 2025 Deaflympics. The U.S. plays its first game of the tournament on Friday against host country Japan.

Ferrin, Post and DeGraw are tasked with helping the U.S. secure its record fifth gold medal and defending the team’s unbeaten streak. The team has won 40 games and tied just once since its inception in 2005 — and that tie ended with a win in a penal