Photo Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images
Alyssa Naeher is a model of consistency. No matter the stage or the team, Naeher comes to work with the same dedication and reverence to her position as she did 15 years ago.
As her list of accomplishments grows longer, so does her reticence to speak of them. But on Sunday, October 26, in East Hartford, Connecticut, just a few miles from her hometown, Naeher climbed her final mountain as a member of the U.S. women’s national team: public recognition of her many accomplishments.
Naeher’s storied professional career began in the Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) league with the Boston Breakers as the No. 11 overall pick in the 2010 WPS draft. The 2010 Breakers were a who’s who of women’s soccer legends, coached by World Cup winner Tony DiCicco. Any player would understandably be intimidated to walk into a training session with Kristine Lilly, Alex Scott and Lauren Holiday. Two-time Olympic gold medalist Leslie Osborne co-captained that Breakers side and was immediately impressed by the then-rookie keeper.
“I took Alyssa under my wing,” Osborne told The Equalizer. “I was only 27, but I saw something in her. I knew how much she could impact our team, and I knew that she was willing to do whatever it would take to help the team be successful.”
Naeher’s storied work ethic has been with her from the beginning, and Osborne saw it from Naeher’s very first training. The goalkeeper took every moment with her star-studded squad as a learning opportunity.
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