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 ladies’s soccer group is underneath some extent of stress, it may be mentioned that nobody is underneath higher 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 individual.”

However who’s she? And why is she the only option for the U.S. ladies in objective? Earlier than the group 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. 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 prepared to return 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 similar twin sister

Naeher is certainly one of three ladies 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 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 Individuals to the semifinals after three ridiculous saves in a quarterfinal shootout in opposition to the Netherlands however suffered an harm within the semifinal recreation in opposition to Canada, the eventual Gold Medal winners.

She’s a shutout queen

Practically two-thirds of her 106 appearances for the senior ladies’s nationwide group have led to clear sheets when Naeher is in objective (64). This stems virtually a decade as she received 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 Photographs/Getty Photographs

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

Naeher received 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 ladies’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 Pink Stars.