‘The Start of Something Great:’ Alex Morgan Relives Her First USWNT Goal, Talks Retirement
Soccer icon Alex Morgan will be honored at the upcoming U.S. Women’s National Team match in Chester, Pennsylvania, the site of her first-ever USWNT goal
Alex Morgan scored the first of her incredible 123 goals with the U.S. Women’s National Team almost exactly 15 years ago, on Oct. 6, 2010.
China was leading the U.S. Women’s National Team late into the match. Following a China goal kick, the U.S. won the 50-50 ball around midfield. Defender Heather Mitts played the ball forward from her position at right back. While forward Abby Wambach chased the ball down, Morgan anticipated how the play was unfolding, as a proficient forward often does. She made an overlapping run toward goal so when Wambach flicked a header into Morgan’s path, the budding star stayed composed to give herself the opportunity to score. She smashed the ball into the net.
The rest was history.
“It was one of the best moments that I can remember with the team because it was really the start of something great for me,” Morgan said. “It was a great first goal, and I’m excited to be back at that stadium and be honored in this way so many years later.”
Two Women’s World Cups and an Olympic gold medal later, Morgan will have the chance to revisit that epic beginning when the U.S. Women’s National Team returns to Pennsylvania for a friendly on Oct. 23. Prior to kickoff against Portugal at Subaru Park, Morgan will be honored for her illustrious career, and the first 2,000 fans through the gate will receive a limited-edition bobblehead.
Morgan and Wambach, the two players who combined for the iconic equalizer, would become two of the most prolific goal scorers in Women’s National Team history. Wambach will be there at the stadium on Thursday to help celebrate her former forward line running mate.
“To have the first assist ever be from Abby was very fitting because I had so many great years up top with her,” Morgan said. “She's one of my favorite people ever and one of the best players ever in the history of soccer.”
The goal was symbolic of the type of high-octane scoring prowess the two brought to the U.S. After Wambach retired in 2015 as the No. 1 goal scorer in Women’s National Team history, Morgan elevated to become the team’s primary target up top for the next several years. The pair scored a total of 307 goals combined during their international careers and individually finished top-5 in program history in scoring.
Last fall, Morgan announced her retirement from club and country, finishing her international career with 176 combined goals and assists, the fifth most all-time. The 36-year-old is one of several notable names from a star-studded class of U.S. Women’s National Team icons who have retired in the last few years including Megan Rapinoe, Julie Ertz, Becky Sauerbrunn, Meghan Klingenberg, Tobin Heath and most recently Christen Press.
“To retire around the same time and really have this be the end of an era for myself and these players that played all through the 2010s and some of the 2020s, we had a really great run,” Morgan said.
That run includes titles at the 2015 and 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, where Morgan recorded a total of seven goals across those two tournaments. Among her nine World Cup goals is the epic “tea sipping” game-winner against England on her birthday that led to her taking home the Silver Boot in 2019.
“It’s the end of an era that I'm really proud of,” she said. “I think we carried the team to where we needed to get it to, and now we feel really confident in where we've left it and with who we've left it with, and that's this next team that has already done incredibly great.”
For Morgan, retirement means a plethora of new opportunities that she’s primed to tackle with the same fearless tenacity she displayed on the pitch. As one of the most iconic female athletes in the world, Morgan takes pride in using her position to raise awareness for female athletes and champion women’s causes.
“There are a lot of things that I’m doing now on the business side that I'm really proud of,” she said. “Having the background in sports has given me so much to be able to feel like I can accomplish a lot now in the business world.”
Her venture fund, Trybe Ventures, which she runs with her husband Servando Carrasco, invests in early-stage companies focused on sports and health technology. She is also a co-founder of Togethxr, a media company that focuses on female athletes, highlighting women’s sports and creating a community for fans of women’s games.
“It's not a rinse and repeat situation,” Morgan explained when talking about looking at sports through a female lens. “You look at the demographic of the fans, you look at the companies and brands that can resonate with female athletes and the fans of female athletes are much different than the men's side. Women's sports versus men's sports are inherently different. And that goes for every sport. It doesn't matter if it's soccer, basketball, golf, lacrosse, whatever it may be.”
Morgan’s advocacy for highlighting the women’s game reflects the narrative driven by fellow industry leaders such as U.S. Women’s National Team head coach Emma Hayes and Washington Spirit majority owner Michele Kang. These thought leaders in the sport support viewing soccer through a female lens. Women’s bodies are not the same as men’s bodies; they should be studied differently and not lumped together.
“The biggest thing is conversations about it,” Morgan said. “Brands having the awareness to do that and in the studies that are being looked at, in regard to them being female-specific, it is incredibly important.”
With two children of her own, Morgan is also a fierce, vocal advocate for working mothers.
“Parental leave is a huge thing, and as we look at support for parents in the game, the things that mothers have to go through when growing a baby is different than men,” she said. “There’s a lot of things that can be looked at differently, but we're in a really good place where people now acknowledge that. We’re evolving when it comes to women's sports and looking at that from a different lens.”
While Morgan may be hanging up her boots, her business endeavors will now expand her reach into new areas of the sport. Accessibility is one opportunity for improvement, she noted. She also wants to see European-style academies develop at women’s clubs in the United States so kids have a better steppingstone to enter the game.
With everything that she’s already accomplished, the sky is the limit for Morgan, and the World Cup winner is set on accomplishing so much more. But after more than 15 years of rigorous training and constant competition, both internationally and on the club level, Morgan is also allowing herself to take a well-earned breath.
“Before retiring, I never had a weekend free – it just didn't exist as an athlete,” Morgan explained. “Now, I get to really take it slow and enjoy it. Go to my daughter's soccer game, go to the beach. Not plan anything, which is really different. Getting used to that is really nice.”
