Harvard-Westlake senior Alyssa Thompson, Alex Morgan highlight USWNT roster
Harvard-Westlake senior Alyssa Thompson has been called back to the women’s national team for a pair of November friendlies against Germany. Thompson, who turns 18 next week, made her senior international debut against England in October. She is the first player born in 2004 to play for the U.S.
Also named to the team was San Diego Wave forward Alex Morgan, who led the NWSL with a career-high 15 goals this season; Sophia Smith, the league MVP who scored the winning goal in Portland’s victory in the NWSL championship game Saturday; Megan Rapinoe and Rose Lavelle of the OL Reign; and San Diego’s Naomi Girma, the league’s top rookie and top defender in 2022.
The roster includes the top four scorers in NWSL in Morgan, Smith, the Chicago Red Stars’ Mallory Pugh and the Washington Spirit’s Ashley Hatch. .
“These are the kinds of games that help our World Cup preparation,” U.S. coach Vlatko Andovoski said in a statement.
After a month playing for the USA U20 women’s soccer team, Alyssa Thompson was back on campus last Monday being a normal student.
The U.S., winner of the last two World Cups, will face Vietnam, the Netherlands and the winner of a playoff involving Cameroon, Thailand and Portugal in group play of next summer’s World Cup in Australia/New Zealand.
Germany made it to the final of July’s European Championships before losing to England, its only lost in the last 10 games. The U.S., meanwhile, scored just once in back-to-back losses to England and Spain in early October, losing consecutive games for the first time since 2017. The U.S. was missing Morgan and midfielder Sam Mewis for those games; both will be back for the matches with Germany, Nov. 10 in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., and Nov. 13 in Harrison, N.J., the final games of the year for the U.S.
The U.S., with four titles, and Germany, with two, are the only countries to have won the Women’s World Cup multiple times.
Thompson, who played 23 minutes off the bench against England and Spain, had a goal and an assist for the U.S. and the U-20 World Cup last August. Younger sister Gisele, also a Harvard-Westlake student, played for the U.S. in the U-17 World Cup.
Alyssa and Gisele Thompson are soccer stars at Harvard-Westlake who have reached an NIL agreement with Nike, the first high school athletes to do so.
The roster:
Goalkeepers: Adrianna Franch (Kansas City Current), Casey Murphy (North Carolina Courage), Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Red Stars)
Defenders: Alana Cook (OL Reign), Crystal Dunn (Portland Thorns FC), Emily Fox (Racing Louisville FC), Naomi Girma (San Diego Wave FC), Sofia Huerta (OL Reign), Hailie Mace (Kansas City Current), Becky Sauerbrunn (Portland Thorns FC)
Midfielders: Sam Coffey (Portland Thorns FC), Lindsey Horan (Olympique Lyon), Taylor Kornieck (San Diego Wave FC), Rose Lavelle (OL Reign), Kristie Mewis (NJ/NY Gotham FC), Ashley Sanchez (Washington Spirit), Andi Sullivan (Washington Spirit)
Forwards: Ashley Hatch (Washington Spirit), Alex Morgan (San Diego Wave FC), Mallory Pugh (Chicago Red Stars), Megan Rapinoe (OL Reign), Trinity Rodman (Washington Spirit), Sophia Smith (Portland Thorns FC), Alyssa Thompson (Harvard-Westlake)
