|
|
Post by Admin on Jul 24, 2016 1:25:23 GMT
The future of the U.S. women's national team sure looks bright, and it's largely due to 18-year-old Mallory Pugh.  In the USWNT's final tune-up match before the Olympics in Rio next month, Pugh looked like the best attacking threat for the Americans against Costa Rica on Friday night. As a left winger, she was a constant menace in the USWNT's 4-0 win, dancing her way through Costa Rica's back line and finding seams to play the ball through for her teammates. As analyst Julie Foudy put it, she plays like she has ice in her veins. And well, this goal, her third for the national team, proves it — not only in the way she took it herself and beat the Costa Rican defense, but the tough angle she scored from: To be sure, Costa Rica's defending left a lot to be desired, and the talent in the Olympics should be much stronger. But even at the young age of 18, Pugh has emerged as one of the USWNT's best talents and a likely starter in Rio. She also leads the team in assists this year at seven. http://instagram.com/p/ByYDI3HldNk |
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Aug 4, 2016 1:52:15 GMT
Eighteen-year-old Mallory Pugh participated in her first senior WNT camp in January, and then made a remarkable run to earn a spot on the 2016 Olympic Team, becoming the second-youngest women's soccer Olympian in U.S. history. Twenty-four minutes. That’s all it took for Mallory Pugh, at just 17, to make her grand entrance on soccer’s global stage. Playing in her first game with the United States women’s national team on Jan. 23, Pugh came on as a substitute in the 58th minute and promptly scored her first goal on a perfectly timed header to seal a 5-0 win in a friendly with the Republic of Ireland.  Reaching milestones at a record pace is nothing new for a teenage prodigy who almost went pro right out of high school. That would have made her the first American women’s soccer player to bypass college for the National Women’s Soccer League, The nation’s top recruit eventually committed to UCLA instead. http://instagram.com/p/ByQGYnoFtYu Last month, the 18-year-old phenom was named to the scaled-down 18-person Olympic roster. Pugh is the second youngest American player ever to travel to the Olympics, just one month older than Cindy Parlow was in 1996 when the U.S. won gold at in Atlanta. “When I first got the call, I was kind of just in shock,” said Pugh, who was on a flight home with her parents to Highlands Ranch, Colo., when U.S. coach Jill Ellis called to give her the news. “I was super-excited just because I knew that all the hard work that I’ve put in over the past few months has been rewarded. And then I was like, ‘Oh gosh, this is real.’ ” |
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Aug 7, 2016 0:57:02 GMT
 Mallory Pugh is an American soccer player who will be competing in the Rio 2016 Olympics with the U.S. women’s soccer team. At the age of 18, she is one of the youngest Americans ever to compete in the Olympics. However, age is nothing but a number, as this powerhouse has the skills of a much more experienced player.  She grew up in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, practicing her soccer juggling skills in her garage, and has been a fan of the sport since she was in kindergarten. Pugh made her senior-team debut on January 23; she scored 25 minutes into the game. During that game she became the youngest American to appear in 11 years, according to The New Yorker.  Since then, she’s appeared in 14 of the “red-white-and-blues’ 15 games—including ten starts—and notched a team-high seven assists to go along with three goals,” says The New Yorker. “When I first got the call, I was kind of just in shock,” Pugh, who was on a flight home with her parents to Colorado when U.S. coach Jill Ellis called to give her the news, told the New York Post. “I was super-excited just because I knew that all the hard work that I’ve put in over the past few months has been rewarded. And then I was like, ‘Oh gosh, this is real.’ ”  When she plays in the Rio games, Pugh will be the second youngest American to compete in the history of the U.S. women’s soccer team and the second youngest player to travel to the Olympics. Cindy Parlow was a month younger in 1996. She is the next Mia Hamm. Check that. With a little luck and a whole lot of determination, the mind-bending, ankle-breaking ball skills of Pugh could make her a more dominant player than Hamm. And all Hamm did was start a soccer revolution among girls in America who dreamed of conquering the world’s most popular sport. |
|
|
|
Post by Admin on May 14, 2017 20:06:49 GMT
:format(webp)/cdn0.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/54771935/665492128.0.jpg) Mallory Pugh has announced that she’s joining the Washington Spirit, much to the surprise of the women’s soccer world. When Pugh announced three weeks ago that she’d be leaving UCLA to turn professional, this appeared to be the least likely outcome. But the Spirit refused to buy into that narrative, and as it turns out, they were right. They’ve got the player they built their entire offseason plan around acquiring. This offseason, the Spirit made a series of trades to move up to the top spot in the unattached allocation order, meaning that they’d have first dibs if a player having their salary paid by the American or Canadian federation were to enter the league without going through the draft. They were banking on Pugh or another player becoming available, which is exactly what happened. Though Pugh’s preference was to play for the Portland Thorns, the Spirit was reportedly unwilling to negotiate a trade of the No. 1 unattached allocation slot, despite Pugh negotiating with Paris Saint-Germain. Had Pugh gone to France, the Spirit would have ended up with nothing and lost an opportunity to flip Pugh’s rights for valuable assets. |
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Jun 6, 2019 18:27:32 GMT
Everyone knows how versatile Pugh is. How clever a facilitator she is. Her challenge now is consistency. Executing in every game, every training. “We always say, it’s kind of easy to get here; it’s hard to stay here,” Rapinoe says of the U.S. squad, adding later: “She’s always been the best player on every single team that she’s played on. And she’s not the best player on our team.  “Eventually she could be, and she probably will be. Definitely has that talent, but I think sort of balancing that confidence with also that humility and being able to learn and understand from the older players what it takes to be consistent is definitely challenging,” Rapinoe says. “It’s a challenging environment for everyone, much less someone who is 21 years old.” There is a maturity to Pugh that makes her seem older than she is. “She just gets it,” Rapinoe says. “She sees the bigger picture.”  Pugh is short with her words. She speaks when she has something to say. She isn’t quick to open up. She doesn’t really talk about soccer, even with those closest to her. Her national team coach sometimes forgets she’s only 21: “I don’t even see her as a young player anymore,” Jill Ellis says. Pugh has an impressive 52 caps and 15 goals. But her maturity comes in many forms. Take her social media usage for instance. “Right now, I’m off social media, and it’s been amazing,” Pugh says. She has experimented with deleting her Instagram and Twitter apps at various points, especially during big tournaments. “I think our world nowadays is just so caught up in it. It really helps me just focus on me. And just being in the moment, as cliche as it sounds, but it’s so true.” |
|
