Megan Rapinoe kneels during anthem in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick

Soccer star Megan Rapinoe kneeled during the national anthem of Sunday's Seattle Reign-Chicago Red Stars game to show solidarity with San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

The NFL quarterback recently stirred controversy with his decision to protest police violence by remaining seated during the national anthem.

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Jessica Dolan captured an image of Rapinoe, a member of the Seattle Reign, taking a knee during the anthem before the match in Chicago.

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Speaking to American Soccer Now after the match, Rapinoe said: "It was very intentional. It was a little nod to Kaepernick and everything that he’s standing for right now."

Addressing the need for deeper conversations on race in the country, Rapinoe also compared it to her experience being gay: "Being a gay American, I know what it means to look at the flag and not have it protect all of your liberties."

She says she intends to keep kneeling during the anthem and, later, in an interaction with journalist and activist Shaun King on Twitter, she said she wanted to "keep the conversation going."

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Rapinoe, who has been a member of the Women's National Team for 10 years, including during their 2012 Olympic Gold Medal run and 2015 World Cup win, appears to be the first pro athlete outside the NFL who has refused to stand during the anthem in direct reference to Kaepernick's protest.

While Kaepernick hasn't said anything publicly about Rapinoe's protest, he did retweet her above tweet on his account.

Kaepernick's teammate Eric Reid joined him in kneeling before last week's preseason game in San Diego and the Seattle Seahawks' Jeremy Lane also remained seated during the anthem before his team's game against the Oakland Raiders.

Before his most recent game, Kaepernick met with a Green Beret and chose to kneel instead of sitting, as he did the first time he protested the anthem, because, he says:

As far as taking a knee tonight, Eric as well as myself had a long conversation with Nate Boyer, who is a military vet. And we were talking to him about how can we get the message back on track and not take away from the military, not take away from pride in our country, but keep the focus on what the issues really are. As we talked about it, we came up with taking a knee because there are issues that still need to be addressed and there was also a way to show more respect for the men and women that fight for this country.

While Kaepernick has received much criticism for his protest, he's also seen a wave of support, including from veterans who shared their support across social media.