Alex Morgan

Born: July 2, 1989 (age 23), Diamond Bar, California, United States
Height: 5' 8" (1.73 m)
Weight: 137 lbs (62 kg)
Salary: 70,000 USD (2012)
Books: Saving the Team
Education: Diamond Bar High School, University of California, Berkeley


Alexandra Patricia "Alex" Morgan (born July 2, 1989) is an American soccer player and and Olympic Gold medalist. She is a forward for National Women's Soccer League club Portland Thorns FC and the U.S. Women's National Team. Morgan was drafted number one overall in the 2011 WPS Draft by the Western New York Flash. She was the youngest player on the USA's roster at the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup. At the 2012 London Olympics, her game-winning goal in the 123rd minute against Canada was Morgan's team-high 20th in 2012, becoming only the sixth and youngest U.S. player to do so in a single year. Morgan finished 2012 with 28 goals and 21 assists, joining Mia Hamm as the only American women to score 20 goals and 20 assists in the same calendar year, and was named U.S. Soccer Female Athlete of the Year.

Morgan has a deal with Simon & Schuster to write The Kicks, a middle-grade book series about four soccer-playing girls. In May 2013, the first book in the series, Saving the Team (ISBN 1442485701), debuted at number seven on the The New York Times Best Seller list for Children's Middle Grade.

Early life and collegiate career

Morgan was born in Diamond Bar,California, the daughter of Pamela S. (née Jeske) and Michael T. Morgan. She was a multisport athlete growing up, but did not begin playing club-team soccer until she was 14, several years later than most players who go on to reach the elite levels of the sport. Within three years she was called into the U-17 and U-20 national team. She attended Diamond Bar High School, where she was a three-time all-league pick and was named an NSCAA All-American.

Morgan is third all-time in goals scored (45) and points (107) for the Golden Bears. She graduated from UC Berkeley one semester early, with a degree in Political Economy.

After being named a candidate for the Hermann Trophy Watch list in her junior year, Morgan became the first California player to ever be named one of the top-three Hermann Trophy finalists. She was also one of four finalists for the Honda Sports Award, given to the best overall candidate in each sport.

As a freshman at the University of California, Berkeley, Morgan was the leading scorer. Her last goal of her freshman season came against Stanford in the second round of the 2007 NCAA Tournament, tying the game at 1–1 with less than two minutes left in regulation time and forcing the Cardinal into overtime and then to penalty kicks. Despite continued absences due to U.S. national team commitments (2008 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup and then the senior team) throughout her collegiate career, she still led the team in scoring and to the NCAA Tournament in each of her four years, advancing to the second round twice.

International career

Alex Morgan of the United States Women's National Soccer Team in Frisco, Texas
Due to an anterior cruciate ligament injury that slowed her progress in 2007, Morgan was not called up to train with the United States under-20 women's national soccer team until April 2008. Her first appearance for the U-20s came at the 2008 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship in Puebla, Mexico, where she scored her first international goal against Cuba.

She has been capped by the senior national team, first appearing as a substitute in a match versus Mexico in March 2010, and scored her first international goal after coming on as a substitute against China, which salvaged a 1–1 draw in October 2010. Her most important goal to date came a month later in a crucial road game against Italy. After entering the match in the 86th minute, she scored in the fourth minute of added time to give the United States a 1–0 victory over Italy in the first leg of a playoff to qualify for the final spot for the Women's World Cup.

Morgan was named to the United States U-20 women's national team that competed in the 2008 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup in Chile, scoring a total of four goals in the tournament against France, Argentina and North Korea. Morgan's fourth goal of the tournament was a match-winner that gave the U.S. a gold medal, which subsequently voted the best goal of the tournament, and later FIFA's second-best goal of the year. Morgan's performance on the field earned her the Bronze Shoe as the tournament's third-highest scorer and the Silver Ball as the tournament's second-best player behind teammate Sydney Leroux.