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Thank You, And Goodbye Alex Morgan

Cassidy Burry
The opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not reflect the views of Her Campus.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Pace chapter.

On Sept. 8, legendary and remarkable soccer player Alex Morgan played her final game with San Diego Wave against North Carolina Courage at Snapdragon Stadium. 13 minutes after the game started, she jogged to midfield, handed her armband off to goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan, and hugged her teammates goodbye. While receiving a standing ovation from all 26,516 fans, and having her name chanted throughout the whole stadium, including by the opposing team, she walked off the pitch for one final time, boots in hand, and tears in her eyes. 

 The love and admiration shown to Morgan was truly breathtaking. In a speech made after the game, she stated that she left everything on the field and is excited to hang up her boots and grow her family. 

 On Sept. 5, Morgan announced her retirement after 15 years via a video posted to her Instagram. Like many other fans, I was heartbroken. I have rewatched her retirement speech, and am brought to tears everytime. The rawness in her speech, and her love and admiration for the game could be felt through whatever screen you were watching it on. Although she knew this was her last season, she didn’t anticipate it would end so soon. That was until she found out she was once again pregnant, and knew that it was time. 

Morgan truly gave her all to the game after dedicating almost two decades of her life to changing the sport and paving the way for all the future women to come. The institution that is the NWSL (National Women’s Soccer League) has been forever changed for the better. Morgan was a part of the uphill battle of securing equal pay for the women’s soccer team. Although credited to Megan Rapinoe and Hope Solo, who were actually terminated for this, Morgan was one of the five original people who filed an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint for workplace discrimination, calling attention to the clear disparity in salary between the men’s and women’s teams. This issue was especially apparent as the women’s team was actually surpassing the men’s team in terms of views and wins, yet they were not compensated for this.

Morgan is a two-time World Cup Champion, winning back-to-back in the 2015 and 2019 World Cups. She was awarded the Silver Boot for her six goals and three assists after the 2019 World Cup Championship. After scoring five goals in the game against Thailand, she tied the USA’s single-game scoring record. She is a three-time Olympian, with both gold and bronze medals to show. She won the Golden Boot as the league’s top scorer after playing her best season in 2022, scoring 15 goals in just 17 regular season games with the San Diego Wave. Morgan is also credited with scoring one of the most important goals in the USWNT’s qualifying history in a game against Italy in 2010.

Growing up as an avid soccer player, I looked up to Morgan so much. I read countless papers and biographies written about her and the other USWNT teams throughout my middle school experience. I would watch her games and be in awe of her movements and skill. It was otherworldly. I will always be dumbfounded by the skill she and the other USWNT players have. The contributions they’ve made to the sport as a whole will live on forever. Although the game will continue to evolve and grow, Morgan will always be missed. For one final time: thank you Alex Morgan for all that you’ve done; you will never be forgotten.

Cassidy Burry is originally from northern California and is a current sophomore at Pace University. She is majoring in Communications and Media, with a minor in digital storytelling and journalism, and french studies. This is her second year as a member of Her Campus Pace. Throughout her childhood she has collected various magazines, and Vogue in particular has been a great inspiration in her decision to pursue journalism. Cassidy also writes articles for a nonprofit, SisterLove, based in Atlanta, Georgia. They are the first women’s HIV, sexual, and reproductive justice organization in the southeastern United States. She feels honored to help advocate and educate people on the importance of reproductive and health care rights. These rights are extremely important to Cassidy, and ones she will not stop fighting for. Cassidy loves spending time with kids. Over the summer she is a summer camp counselor, at Camp Winnarainbow. Before that she worked at a school program. That involved taking kids, ages four through seven, to different parks, beaches, and other locations native to northern California. They would focus on teaching the kids the importance of the environment and how to leave it better than we found it. They regularly would clean up the beaches and parks they visited. Cassidy has always had a love for her community and giving back. She spent a large majority of her time in high school volunteering at a kitchen and garden that grew and produced meals for chronically ill people and their family. In her free time she works part time as a barista at a local bakery. Cassidy has a deep love for music ranging from all genres. She was actually named after the song “Cassidy '' by the Grateful Dead. She has found that being named after that legendary band has brought meaningful connections to her everyday life. For the majority of her childhood she played competitive soccer. And now that she is no longer playing herself, she looks forward to the Women’s World Cup every four years. She hopes that women in sports will gain more recognition in the future, and will not be seen as second to men’s sport.