The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Pugh fulfilling her potential
Early in the second half Saturday, with the U.S. women’s national soccer team already leading Nigeria by three goals in Kansas City, Kansas, Mallory Pugh collected the ball from Emily Fox near the sideline.
The space and angle was right to make a run, but if there were any doubt whether Pugh should take on defender Nicole Payne, Megan Rapinoe obliterated it.
“Go at her! Go at her!” Rapinoe shouted from outside the field of play, where the reserves were warming up.
“I was like, ‘You’re right,’ ” Pugh recalled Sunday. “That gave me the extra bit of boost that I needed. So credit to Pinoe, too.”
Pugh charged at Payne, infiltrated the box, then cut left, drawing upper-body contact and a penalty kick, which Alex Morgan converted to cap a 4-0 victory.
Last year and maybe the year before, Pugh might not have had the confidence and technical polish to create the opportunity. Once a can’tmiss talent who bypassed NCAA soccer to turn pro and join the Washington Spirit in 2017, she admits to losing her way, culminating with her omission from the 2020-21 Olympic squad.
This year, still just 24, Pugh has experienced a rebirth of sorts with the world’s top-ranked program. Heading into Tuesday’s rematch with Nigeria at Audi Field, she is second on the squad in goals with six and leads in assists with seven.
If she scores again before
April 29, she’ll become the sixth player in U.S. women’s history with 25 goals and 25 assists before age 25. The others are in the National Hall of Fame (Mia Hamm, Cindy Parlow Cone, Kristine Lilly and Tiffany Milbrett) or destined for it (Morgan).
Combined with Pugh’s production for the Chicago Red Stars in the National Women’s Soccer League, the left-sided attacker has posted 18 goals and 12 assists in 28 appearances this year.
“She is now what a lot of people expected her to be when she was 16 and 17 and 18,” U.S. coach Vlatko Andonovski said.
Pugh is Andonovski’s top choice at left wing, ahead of Rapinoe, who, at 37, remains influential but in smaller bites.
More than half the U.S. squad in Washington is between ages 22 and 26. From that group, only Pugh has gone to a World Cup (2019) or an Olympics (2016). Her 79 international matches
are tied for sixth on the current roster; her 24 goals are behind only Morgan, Rapinoe and Lindsey Horan.
There was a considerable pause in Pugh’s career, though. After becoming the youngest U.S. Olympic scorer and bursting onto the pro scene, she struggled.
“I feel like I was just a little lost,” she said. “It’s been an evolution finding my game. I feel like early on, you’d see little glimpses of it. But now I feel like it’s the confidence, the clarity that has come together to find who I am on the field.”
Injuries played a big part in Pugh’s stunted development. Every time she tried to raise her level, a hamstring or hip ailment, among other things, would set her back. Unable to perform at a high level, and falling short of elevated expectations since her teenage breakthrough, she was traded twice in the NWSL and fell on the national team depth chart.