Women’s soccer is my favorite sport.
Sure, I didn’t have as illustrious a career on the turf as I did on the hardwood, but I love soccer anyway. Actually, the only thing I don’t like about the sport is that I was never good at it – shoutout to my junior varsity soccer team with that 1-7 record.
I got the chance to cover soccer this fall when I first got back to campus and football hadn’t quite hit full speed. In one 24-hour period I covered a men’s game and a women’s game. Both were victories, both took place on gorgeous summer evenings at Drake Stadium, but the women’s soccer experience was superior.
Soccer players all play with an undeniable passion that while sometimes mocked – see Cristiano Ronaldo flopping or Zinedine Zidane head-butting – is one of the reasons the sport is so attractive to spectators. Women’s soccer players in particular compete for each other – it’s a true team sport. No one person generally scores that many goals, unless you’re Carli Lloyd, and everyone on the field contributes, regardless of whether their names turn up with a lot of numbers next to them on the stat sheet.
For this reason, I was honestly disappointed with the way the UCLA women’s soccer season turned out – that team went from winning a national championship two years ago to having its first losing season in almost two decades. It was an unfortunate year that was the product of previous good fortune – six members of the 2015 graduating class currently play in the National Women’s Soccer League.
In fact, every Bruin currently active in the NWSL graduated between 2013 and 2015, which only illustrates further the talent on that 2013 national championship team. It also shows that these women knew how to play together, that so many of them got the chance to make a big impression on a national stage.
This is why I’m so excited for Mal Pugh.
Pugh made her senior U.S. Women’s National Team debut last weekend in a friendly match against Ireland – the last exhibition game for the American squad before it heads into Olympic qualifiers. Not only did she walk away from the record crowd at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego with a soccer ball memorializing her first career cap, but also a ball honoring her first career goal.
Yep. Pugh, the captain of the national U-20 team, entered the game for the legendary Alex Morgan, who was celebrating her 100th national team cap. A true passing of the torch if ever there was one. Just under 30 minutes later, Pugh headed a cross through traffic into the back of the net. Goal.
Did I mention she’s 17?
Pugh is many things: a promising emblem of the next generation of U.S. women’s soccer, a kid who gets to hang out with my favorite athletes of all time, a player bound for a career as successful as Morgan’s. She also just happens to be a UCLA commit.
The high school senior is bound for UCLA next fall, following a couple more national caps – she was named to the U.S. roster for Olympic qualifiers Tuesday. Pugh won Gatorade National Girls Soccer Player of the Year last May and is the No. 1 soccer recruit in the country. The timing couldn’t be better for UCLA women’s soccer or for Pugh. She’ll be ready to contribute right away, and while the Bruins will certainly benefit from her presence, she also has a lot to gain from a career in Westwood.
Coach Amanda Cromwell knows how to shape professional soccer players. Not only does she have nine women in the league right now, but at least a handful more will join them before Pugh arrives on campus.
Women’s soccer is my favorite sport. I have a strong feeling Mal Pugh is soon to be my favorite player.