Olympic soccer: 5 issues it’s best to find out about American goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher

She’s the final cease between elation and potential distress.

Whereas each member of the U.S. Olympic girls’s soccer workforce is below some extent of stress, it may be mentioned that nobody is below larger stress than goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher.

The excellent news for the Individuals is that this isn’t the primary go-around on the Olympic Video games for the 36-year-old who was described by teammate Mallory Swanson as an “extraordinarily detailed-oriented particular person.”

However who’s she? And why is she your best option for the U.S. girls in objective? Earlier than the workforce kicks off Thursday in opposition to Zambia (3 p.m. ET, Peacock) listed here are 5 issues it’s best to find out about Naeher, the ultimate line of protection in a quest for U.S. Olympic gold.

Her nickname on the U.S. workforce is “Uncle”

You’d suspect it’s as a result of she’s one of many oldest gamers on the workforce, however in keeping with her teammates its as a result of she was at all times prepared to come back over and assist whomever, kinda like your favourite uncle. Why her nickname isn’t “Auntie” is a thriller, however Uncle caught and Naeher mentioned she grew to “embrace it,” so right here we’re.

She has an an identical twin sister

Naeher is considered one of three women born to folks, John and Donna Lynn. Her twin sister named Amanda additionally performed soccer in faculty at Division III Messiah College in Central Pennsylvania, not removed from the place Naeher performed Large Ten soccer as a goalkeeper for Penn State. She additionally has a teen sister named Abigail, finishing the triple-A Naeher trio.

She’s already an Olympic medalist

It was Naeher, who led the U.S. in 2021 to a bronze medal end on the 2020 Olympics in Toyko. Technically, it was a bunch effort as Naeher led the Individuals to the semifinals after three ridiculous saves in a quarterfinal shootout in opposition to the Netherlands however suffered an harm within the semifinal sport in opposition to Canada, the eventual Gold Medal winners.

She’s a shutout queen

Practically two-thirds of her 106 appearances for the senior girls’s nationwide workforce have led to clear sheets when Naeher is in objective (64). This stems nearly a decade as she obtained her first shutout in her very first look for the U.S., in a win in opposition to Argentina in Brazil on Dec. 18, 2014.

Picture by Karen Hickey/ISI Pictures/Getty Photographs

She’s performed for 2 U.S. girls’s skilled leagues

Naeher obtained her begin within the skilled ranks with the Boston Breakers of the now-defunct Girls’s Skilled Soccer in 2010. She was despatched to play within the girls’s league in Germany and stayed there after the WPSL folded in 2012. She returned to the States to play for the Breakers once more — however as a part of the brand new Nationwide Girls’s Soccer League forward of the 2014 season. She’s performed the final 9 years of her profession because the goalkeeper for the NWSL’s Chicago Purple Stars.