CHICAGO (Jan. 17, 2025) – Forward Ally Sentnor, one of the top players in the USA’s Youth National Teams program over the past few years who earned her first USWNT caps at the end of last year, has been voted the 2024 U.S. Soccer Young Female Player of the Year.
The U.S. Soccer Young Female Player of the Year was first awarded in 1998 to current U.S. Soccer President Cindy Parlow Cone.
“The words that come to mind are grateful and humbled,” said Sentnor, who hails from Hanson, Mass., the same hometown as Kristie Mewis, the 2008 winner of this award. “To see the list of players who have won this before shows me the opportunities that are ahead. I know there is so much work to do for myself and my generation, but we’ve had amazing role models in the players from the past and the veteran players who are on the team now. I’m so excited about the next steps that (U.S. WNT head coach) Emma (Hayes) is taking with National Team and I’m going to work as hard as I can to try to earn more opportunities to be with this special group of players.”
Sentnor was the #1 pick in the 2024 NWSL Draft and had a solid rookie season with the Utah Royals. She received her first senior USWNT call-up for the USA’s two matches in Europe to end the 2024 schedule and earned her first senior team cap in front of 78,346 fans at Wembley Stadium in the USA’s 0-0 draw with England on Nov. 30. She earned her second cap on Dec. 3 in a 2-1 win over the Netherlands in The Hague.
One of the most decorated players in recent U.S. Women’s National Team history, having scored for the USA at almost every youth level, the 20-year-old captained the USA to third place at the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Colombia. It was the USA’s best finish at the FIFA U-20 WWC since 2012, when the USA won the tournament.
In Colombia, Sentnor scored three times – against Paraguay, Mexico and in the Third-Place Match against the Netherlands. She also scored the dramatic tying goal in the waning seconds of the quarterfinal match against Germany (it was later ruled an own goal). In that Germany match, the USA was down 2-0 in the third minute of the seven allotted minutes stoppage time before scoring in the 97th and 98th minutes to tie the game in one of the greatest comebacks in U.S. history. After a scoreless overtime, Sentnor then nailed the USA’s opening penalty in the victorious shootout.
Said Sentnor after that match, which will be forever known as “The Miracle of Cali”: “This team is something special…you could see the heart, the grit, and everyone just putting it on the line. The players on the bench, the players on the field, the fans chanting USA. That was one of the craziest matches I’ve ever played in my life. I’m just so happy that we cemented this in U.S. Soccer history. We’re just trying to follow in the footsteps of the full team, make them proud, make U.S. Soccer proud and make our country proud.”
She won the Bronze Ball in Colombia as the third-best player in the tournament. She also scored in the 2022 FIFA U-20 WWC and finished her U-20 career with 12 goals in 23 caps.
A nominee for NWSL Rookie of the Year, she had three goals and four assists for Utah in 2024 while playing 1,866 minutes in 21 matches, all of them starts. She also played two games in the NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup and scored in both, against Tijuana and the Portland Thorns. Sentnor was named the NWSL Rookie of the Month and Player of the Month for July of 2024 and is only the second player to win both awards in the same month.
Sentnor wins the U.S. Soccer Young Female Player of the Year award after her fourth and final nomination. Players can win this award only one time. She is the ninth player from the University of North Carolina to win the award.
For the third time, fans were able to vote for the Young Player of the Year Award with those votes weighted at 15% of the total. Of the five finalists for the Young Female Player of the Year Award, Sentnor garnered 55.8% of the overall tabulated votes followed by her U-20 WWC teammate and Kansas City Current midfielder Claire Hutton (30.1%).
Votes for U.S. Soccer Female Player of the Year and Young Female Player of the Year Awards are collected from respective National Team coaches, National Team players who earned a cap in 2024, members of the U.S. Soccer Board of Directors, U.S. Soccer Athletes’ Council, National Women’s Soccer League head coaches and select media members and administrators.
Twenty-four of the 27 U.S. Soccer Young Female Player of the Year winners have earned caps with the full USWNT and 19 of them have gone on to play in a FIFA Women’s World Cup. The 2024 U.S. Olympic Women’s Soccer Team had seven former winners of this award on the roster.
The all-time winners for the U.S. Soccer Young Female Player of the Year are below.
| YEAR | PLAYER |
|---|---|
| 1998 | Cindy Parlow |
| 1999 | Lorrie Fair |
| 2000 | Aly Wagner |
| 2001 | Aleisha Cramer |
| 2002 | Lindsay Tarpley |
| 2003 | Cat Reddick |
| 2004 | Heather O'Reilly |
| 2005 | Lori Chalupny |
| 2006 | Danesha Adams |
| 2007 | Lauren Cheney |
| 2008 | Kristie Mewis |
| 2009 | Tobin Heath |
| 2010 | Bianca Henninger |
| 2011 | Sydney Leroux |
| 2012 | Julie Johnston |
| 2013 | Lindsey Horan |
| 2014 | Morgan Brian |
| 2015 | Mallory Pugh |
| 2016 | Ashley Sanchez |
| 2017 | Sophia Smith |
| 2018 | Tierna Davidson |
| 2019 | Brianna Pinto |
| 2020 | Naomi Girma |
| 2021 | Trinity Rodman |
| 2022 | Jaedyn Shaw |
| 2023 | Olivia Moultrie |
| 2024 | Ally Sentnor |