Head coach of the U.S. Women’s National Team Jill Ellis named her final roster for the 2016 Summer Olympics and two of Colorado’s own, Mallory Pugh (Real Colorado) and Lindsey Horan (Portland Thorns FC), will be traveling down to Rio to help win America another gold.
Pugh is the second youngest women’s soccer Olympian in U.S. history. She is only 18 years old, a month older than the youngest women’s soccer Olympian, Cindy Parlow. If she scores in the Olympics this year, she will be the youngest U.S. player to score in the competition ever, since Parlow never found the net in 1996.
Pugh leads the USA in assists this year with seven, and is the only amateur player on the roster. The other 17 women are professional players, including Horan. Pugh graduated from Mountain Vista High School in Highlands Ranch, Colorado last spring.
The average number of caps heading into the final Olympic send-off is 77. Pugh has already earned her first 13 caps this year, playing in every game but one in 2016.
Coach Ellis is excited about this year’s roster and is hoping to see her girls up on the top of the podium.
“As a coach in the Olympic Games, you want to put together a group capable of reaching the top of the podium, while also being mindful of getting players prepared for the next World Cup,” Ellis said. “And I think we’ve done that.”
(Featured image via cdn.trend.network)