The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Championship game win leaves fans proud
Naeher’s local roots attract viewers around the state
CHESHIRE — The way Helen Taylor remembers it, when Alyssa Naeher first played organized soccer as a little girl, “she ran straight for the goal.”
“And that was where she stayed,” said Taylor, who is 100 years old and is Naeher’s maternal grandmother.
It’s a good thing Naeher had a natural affinity for playing goalie. The 31yearold Connecticut native, who grew up in Stratford and Seymour, was in goal for a 20 shutout of the Netherlands on Sunday after having propelled the U.S. Women’s National Team into Sunday World Cup finals with spectacular saves against England in the semifinals.
Taylor was one of about three dozen members of Naeher’s family who took part in World Cup finals viewing party at Elim Park, a Cheshirebased senior citizen and rehabilitation center. Taylor has been a resident of Elim Park for seven years.
The player’s parents and twin sister, Amand, were in Lyon, France, where the game was being played. But it seemed as if almost everyone at Elim Park, whether they were family members or the several dozen residents of the facility who joined the viewing party, either had soccer jerseys with Naeher’s name on it or or some sort of clothing with red, white and blue.
And the World Cup viewing party in Cheshire was one of many held around Connecticut on Sunday, including downtown New Haven
Prior to the start of the game, the pastor of the Trinity Baptist Church, Dave DeVries, led the viewing party crowd in a pregame blessing. DeVries had baptized Naeher.
“We just want to come together and pray for her today,” DeVries said in the blessing “That she would honor you, Father, by
“I got so excited I almost jumped out of my seat.” Helen Taylor, grandmother of U.S. women’s team goalie Alyssa Naeher
what she does and says and that she would be a continual inspiration to her team and to all of America.”
DeVries wife, Barb, was Naeher’s secondgrade teacher and described her former student as “a thinker.”
“You know how some children just react when they do something?,” Barb DeVries said. “Well, Alyssa would look at what was going on, drink it all in, look at what the other children were doing and then decide if she was going to follow them or not. But she was always looking out for others.”
The first half of the game saw the two teams play to a scoreless tie. Although the United States had the majority of the scoring chances in the half, the tie score left many in Naeher’s family nervous about the poswhenever sible outcome.
“I got so excited I almost jumped out of my seat,” Taylor told her daughter, MaryLou Greer of Trumbull, who is one of Naeher’s maternal aunts.
Greer said her niece visits her grandmother her schedule permits. Naeher plays goalie for the Chicago Red Stars of the National Women’s Soccer League in addition to her work for the women’s national team
Naeher came to Elim Park late last year to celebrate
Helen Taylor’s 100th birthday, Greer said.
MaryLou Greer’s husband, Don, brought a pair of autographed goalie gloves to that Alyssa had given him to the viewing party for good luck.
“I think the U.S. controlled it (the first half ), but I think they can play better,” Don Greer said.
As if inspired by Greer’s comment, the U.S. team opened the scoring on a Megan Rapinoe penalty kick in the game’s 61st minute. Eight minutes later, Rose Lavelle added an insurance goal and U.S. defenders stymied the Dutch offense the rest of the way to give the U.S, Women’s national teal its fourth World Cup.
The enormity of the team’s achievement left Don Greer feeling a little overwhelmed.
“It’s just starting to sink in, what this must mean to her,” he said. “She’s devoted her life to this and has postponed doing a lot of things.”