Olympic soccer: 5 issues it is 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 group is beneath some extent of strain, it may be stated that nobody is beneath larger strain than goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher.

The excellent news for the People 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 the only option for the U.S. girls in aim? Earlier than the group kicks off Thursday in opposition to Zambia (3 p.m. ET, Peacock) listed here are 5 issues it is 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. group is “Uncle”

You’d suspect it’s as a result of she’s one of many oldest gamers on the group, however in accordance with her teammates its as a result of she was all the time keen 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 stated she grew to “embrace it,” so right here we’re.

She has an equivalent twin sister

Naeher is one among three women born to folks, John and Donna Lynn. Her twin sister named Amanda additionally performed soccer in school at Division III Messiah College in Central Pennsylvania, not removed from the place Naeher performed Huge 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 People 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 group have led to clear sheets when Naeher is in aim (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.

Photograph by Karen Hickey/ISI Images/Getty Pictures

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 Crimson Stars.