The Next Great American Soccer Star?

When this year began, almost no one, and certainly not Mallory Pugh herself, thought she would make the eighteen-woman roster for the U.S. Olympic team in Rio de Janeiro. At the start of 2016, Pugh hadn’t even trained with the senior squad, much less played in a game for the team that has won three straight gold medals, is the defending Women’s World Cup champion, and holds the world’s top ranking. Pugh, when 2016 began, was seventeen years old.