ORLANDO, Fla. (Dec. 5, 2017) – U.S. Soccer has announced the five nominees for the 2017 U.S. Soccer Female Player of the Year award, with Orlando Pride forward Alex Morgan tabbed as one of this years nominees. This year’s field also features midfielders Julie Ertz (Chicago Red Stars), Lindsey Horan (Portland Thorns FC) and Samantha Mewis (North Carolina Courage) and forward and Megan Rapinoe (Seattle Reign FC).
All five players played prominent roles during 2017 which featured a 16-game schedule and matches against seven of the other nine teams in the top-10 of the FIFA Women’s World Rankings, making this year’s slate of games the most challenging ever in the year after the World Cup/Olympic cycle.
Finishing on a hot streak, Morgan and Ertz topped the list of goal scorers for the WNT this year with seven and six goals, respectively. All their goals came in the final eight games of 2017.
Morgan, 28, joined the Pride in July on the heels of a Champions League and Division 1 Féminine title with French club Olympique Lyonnais. The 2012 U.S. Soccer Female Player of the Year winner went on to feature in 13 matches for Orlando, scoring nine goals and adding four assists and led the Pride to its first playoff appearance. Morgan scored in each of the Pride games during the month of August – a five game goal-scoring streak – which included all three of her 2017 game-winning goals. Morgan went on to be named NWSL Player of the Month for the month of August.
Read more (via Orlando City SC)