Image from soccerwire.com By Ella Hardie
Staff Writer On her first game for the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team, Mallory Pugh stunned spectators and soccer fans around the world with her header-goal against Ireland on January 23, 2016. At the age of 17, the Colorado native has already accomplished things well above her years in her upcoming soccer career. “The average age of our team has declined dramatically since the World Cup,” says Alex Morgan, a forward for the USWNT. Since the United States’ victory in the summer of 2015, familiar faces, such as Abby Wambach, have retired from the game, giving other players the opportunity to shine. Mallory Pugh is one of those players. She is the youngest women’s soccer player to join the U.S. Women’s Olympic qualifying roster. Mallory was named the Gatorade National Girls Soccer Player of the Year in 2015, and has been set to play professionally since she was young, when she played for a U-14 team at the age of 13. Before joining the official roster, Pugh played for the U-20 National Team, where she made an amazing end-to-end run (and scored!) in a game against Brazil. As one of the top-scorers on the U-20 team, she was noticed by the head coach of the USWNT, Jill Ellis, who invited her to practice with the official team. For many girls pursuing soccer, Pugh is living the dream, but there is also a lot of pressure. “It's a great honor more than anything," she said. "Just to be that person that hopefully people will look up to is exciting, and it pushes me even with all the pressure." Pugh is an inspiration for many young girls, and is the future of women’s soccer. Before starting her career, she is going to attend UCLA to get an education. At UCLA in 2016 she is going to play alongside other promising players including Canadian national team midfielder Jessie Fleming, as well as U.S. youth national team players Jacey Pederson, Marley Canales, Kaiya McCullough, and Sunny Dunphy. Comments are closed.
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October 2018
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