Wisconsin Soccer Central

Michele Dalton (UW) is happy to be back in the U.S. for the next chapter of her professional soccer career, if for no other reason than her friends and family won't have to use Google Translate to keep up with how she's doing.

"I think it's just nice for everybody to be able to read all the reports in English now," laughed Dalton, who spent 2013 with UMF Selfoss in Iceland and played for Swedish club Kvarnsvedens IK last year.

The 26-year-old goalkeeper has been in training camp with the Chicago Red Stars of the National Women's Soccer League looking to earn a contract.

Canadian national team starter Karina LaBlanc is the Red Stars' top keeper, but she will miss significant time this season because of the Women's World Cup. Taylor Vancil, who was LaBlanc's backup in 2014, announced her retirement last month.

For Dalton, joining the Red Stars really would be a homecoming. She's from the Chicago suburb of Mount Prospect, Ill., about 25 miles north of the team's home field at Benedictine University in Lisle.

"It's about a 30-minute drive every day," she said after the Red Stars' 1-0 victory over UW in an exhibition match March 20 at Reddan Soccer Park in Verona. "It's exciting, it's fun. It's a dream come true, honestly. ... It's nice to be home, it's nice to have the opportunity, or give the opportunity to my friends and family locally to see me play one more time again."

Dalton was the Badgers' starting keeper for three seasons – UW was 28-16-13 with her between the posts from 2009 to '11. She was the Big Ten Conference Goalkeeper of the Year as a senior, and ranks fifth in program history with 24 shutouts and sixth with a 0.879 career goals-against average.

She was hoping to start her pro career the next summer in the U.S., but Women's Professional Soccer folded in May 2012 and she ended up playing with the Philadelphia Fever in the Women's Premier Soccer League Elite League, which was a one-year refuge for many former WPS players until the NWSL started in 2013.

"I sort of set my goal to eventually come back here and never really put a date on it or a guarantee necessarily. I was just kind of going with the flow and seeing where soccer would take me," Dalton said.

The flow first took her to Selfoss, on the southern coast of Iceland. She posted five clean sheets and a 1.58 goals-against average in 17 appearances as UMF Selfoss (6-9-3) finished sixth out of 10 teams in the top-level Úrvalsdeild in 2013.

Then it was on to Borlänge in south central Sweden, where Dalton had seven shutouts and a 1.19 goals-against average for Kvarnsvedens IK – the team finished 14-8-4 and fifth out of 14 teams in the second-level Elitettan last year.

"It was an unbelievable experience and I feel so fortunate to have had the opportunities," she said of playing abroad. "There's a big question mark whenever you commit to something like that and I'm glad that I didn't let all the fears and the unknowns dictate that. And I'm glad that I went over and I had all those experiences because it's invaluable. I am traveling the world and getting paid to do what I love to do and there's no better job in the world than that, I think."

Right now, though, she's just as thrilled to be right back where she started.

"Eventually, I had a feeling I'd come back here. I always wanted to end up here, but how fortunate am I, to be not just back in the States but playing literally a half hour away from where I grew up?" she said. "It's very neat. I'm so grateful. I'm so fortunate for the opportunity. I'm just going to enjoy it. 

"I'm going to see what the summer holds this year, have some fun with it, try and get better, try and improve my game. Who knows what the future holds, be it here or overseas or wherever it takes me."

Making things even better for Dalton was the Red Stars' preseason match against the Badgers on the outskirts of Madison.

"This is one of the coolest moments of my career, to be able to come back as a pro and play against my old college mates," said Dalton, who trained with UW a few weeks earlier to prepare for training camp – just as she did the previous two years before her trips to Europe.

"I love this place. I don't mind coming back at all – I'll find any excuse that I can to come back and be a Badger. ... I feel a little bit bad that we won. I'm just glad I didn't pass it to the wrong team or something like that."

On Twitter: @MicheleDalton18