Coming off a historic year for club and with the U.S. Women’s National Team, forward Alex Morgan has been named as one of five finalists for the 2022 BioSteel U.S. Soccer Female Player of Year.
For the second year in a row, fans will have the opportunity to vote on select Player of the Year Awards, with the fan vote comprising 15% of the total vote. Nominees for all awards are selected by U.S. Soccer’s technical staff. Voting for the awards starts Thursday, Dec. 15 at 11:00 a.m. ET and closes on Dec. 22 at 11:59 p.m. ET. The winners will be announced in the weeks that follow.
- VOTE NOW: Fan Voting for Player of the Year Awards
Making the case for Alex Morgan for Player of the Year:
- Her first USWNT event this year came in June’s preparation for the Concacaf W Championship. She ended up playing a key role in the tournament while helping the USA qualify for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup and the 2024 Paris Olympics.
- Her two goals vs. Haiti to open the CWC were crucial in kickstarting the USA’s qualifying campaign, and she also scored the game-winner in the championship match, converting a clutch penalty kick for the USA’s 1-0 win over Canada.
- Morgan added another goal against Nigeria later in the year and finished 2022 with four goals and one assist, with the assist coming against Germany at the end of the year. Her four goals gave her 119 for her career and 12 as a mom, one short of tying Joy Fawcett’s record for most goals scored as a mom in USWNT history.
- In the USA’s final match of the year, a 2-1 win vs. Germany on Nov. 13, she earned her 200th cap, becoming just the 13th player in U.S. history to reach that milestone.
- Morgan put together the best season of her club career for the expansion side San Diego Wave FC. The 33-year-old Morgan scored a career-high 15 regular season goals to win the NWSL Golden Boot, and she was named to the NWSL Best XI First Team.
- Morgan played in 19 matches for the Wave, starting 18, and played 1,647 minutes. She also had three and was an NWSL MVP finalist while helping the Wave to a third-place finish in the regular season standings in their first year of existence.
.@alexmorgan13 is in the form of her life.pic.twitter.com/npiuymDlMp
— San Diego Wave FC (@sandiegowavefc) September 10, 2022
- Of her 16 total goals - 15 during the regular season and one in the NWSL quarterfinals - 13 were with her left foot, two with her right and one with her head.
This is Morgan’s seventh career nomination for Female Player of the year and her first since 2019. Horan was also a finalist for Female Player of the Year in 2012, 2013, 2016, 2017 and 2018. Morgan won U.S. Soccer Female Player of the Year honors in both 2012 and 2018.