Mallory Swanson

Swanson scored in the 83rd minute in her first appearance, becoming the 19th USWNT player to score in her debut.

Mallory Diane Swanson (Pugh; born April 29, 1998) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a forward for the Chicago Red Stars of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), the highest division of women's professional soccer in the United States, and the United States women's national soccer team (USWNT).

At 17, she was the youngest player to debut for the national team since Heather O'Reilly in 2002.

Swanson helped Real Colorado win state titles in 2010 and 2011.

Swanson attended Mountain Vista High School in Highlands Ranch from 2012 to 2016.

In her three seasons with the team, Swanson scored 47 goals and recorded 23 assists.

As a freshman, Swanson was named to the All-Colorado Team after leading her team to a state title.

In addition, the team made it to the Elite Clubs National League finals in both 2013 and 2014.

At the U-16 level, Real Colorado won state and regional titles and became runner-up at nationals.

Swanson was named the MVP of the regional tournament that year.

She was named offensive MVP at Mountain Vista and a NSCAA Youth All-American for 2013.

During her sophomore year, despite missing more than half of her high school games due to national team commitments, she helped the team to the state semifinals.

As a junior, Swanson scored 24 goals and 12 assists in 18 games and helped the team reach the state semifinals.

She was subsequently named the 2014–15 Gatorade National Girls Soccer Player of the Year and Colorado Sports Hall of Fame 2015 High School Female Athlete of the Year.

In addition, she was named NSCAA Youth Girls National Player of the Year for 2014 and 2015.

She is the youngest player in USWNT history to reach 10 career assists, she holds the record for most assists in USWNT history before the age of 20, and in January 2016 at age 17 she was the youngest in USWNT history to be selected and play in an Olympic qualifying tournament.

After playing extensively with the U–17 and U–20 teams, Swanson first appeared for the USWNT on January 23, 2016, in an international friendly against Ireland.

That same year Swanson was part of the 18 player roster representing the United States at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

It was there that Swanson scored her first Olympic goal against Colombia, giving the United States a 2–1 lead.

Her goal also made her the youngest player to ever score a goal for the United States in an Olympic game.

In January 2016, it was reported that Swanson had turned down college in order to turn professional and play for National Women's Soccer League club Portland Thorns FC when she finished high school.

Later that week, her father said the reports were false and that Swanson would join the Bruins of the University of California, Los Angeles for the 2016 season as originally planned.

In July 2016, it was announced she delayed entrance to UCLA until January 2017, due to national team commitments for the Rio Olympics and the 2016 FIFA U–20 Women's World Cup.

On April 17, 2017, Swanson announced she would forgo her college career with UCLA after one quarter and turn professional.

She later signed with the Washington Spirit in May 2017 where she stayed for three seasons, before playing at Sky Blue FC and currently at the Chicago Red Stars.

Born in Littleton, Colorado, to Karen and Horace Pugh, Swanson was raised with her older sister Brianna in Highlands Ranch, Colorado.

Her mother was a long-distance runner and her father ran track and played football.

Growing up, Swanson considered her older sister Brianna a role model and cites her as a reason she got started in soccer.

She started playing soccer at the age of four and then followed in her sister's footsteps and played club soccer with Real Colorado in the Elite Clubs National League.

She played on the competitive team with the club at the U-11 through U-18 levels; although she started playing recreational soccer at the U-5 level.

During her last two years with the team, she often trained with the club's Boys Development Academy team.

She appeared in three non-competitive spring scrimmages in early 2017 before departing UCLA prior to starting her freshman season to pursue a professional career.

After much speculation as to where she would go when she turned pro, Swanson officially joined the Washington Spirit of the NWSL on May 13, 2017.

She made her professional debut for the Spirit on May 20, 2017, versus FC Kansas City.

Swanson scored 6 goals in her rookie season and was named a finalist for NWSL Rookie of the Year.

Swanson remained with the Spirit for the 2018 season.

She sustained a PCL sprain in her right knee on May 27, forcing her to miss 8 games.

She returned to the pitch on August 5 against Seattle Reign FC.

Swanson has represented the United States at the FIFA Women's World Cup tournament in 2019.

At 21, she was the second youngest member of the 2019 team behind 20-year-old Tierna Davidson.