SAN DIEGO (AP) — Preventing tears, Alex Morgan waved to the gang and walked off the sphere for the final time on Sunday as she capped an impactful 15-year profession.

The 2-time Ladies’s World Cup winner introduced on Thursday she was pregnant along with her second youngster and retiring from the sport.

She began and wore the captain’s armband for the San Diego Wave in her ultimate match, taking part in for the primary 13 minutes in opposition to the North Carolina Braveness earlier than subbing out of the sport to an ovation at San Diego’s Snapdragon Stadium.

“I did all the pieces I ever needed to do and extra. With this resolution, I really feel so at peace as a result of I’m prepared to begin my household and I’m prepared to hold up the boots and permit the following era to flourish and simply relish within the highlight,” she stated afterward. “It’s an excellent feeling.”

It was her 63rd look for the Wave, commemorated by a No. 63 jersey given to Morgan in a pregame ceremony. General, it was her one hundred and fiftieth profession look in Nationwide Ladies’s Soccer League play.

Earlier than the match, the video scoreboard confirmed snippets of Morgan’s retirement video, together with highlights from her profession. Her 4-year-old daughter, Charlie, accompanied her on the sphere. She had greater than 95 relations and buddies on the recreation.

The Wave’s starters posed for a photograph imitating Morgan’s iconic ‘tea sipping’ celebration, an homage to her celebration of her go-ahead purpose to beat England within the semifinals of the 2019 World Cup in France.

Morgan’s U.S. nationwide staff profession was stuffed with accomplishments, together with World Cup titles in 2015 and 2019, and an Olympic Gold medal in 2012. In membership play, Morgan performed for the NWSL champion Portland Thorns within the league’s first yr and helped the Wave win the Protect in 2023.

Morgan performed in 224 matches for the U.S. nationwide staff, with 123 objectives (fifth on the profession checklist) and 53 assists (ninth). She was named the U.S. Soccer Participant of the Yr in 2012 and 2018.

When she subbed off, she fought again tears as she eliminated her cleats at midfield. Through the substitution, a tifo within the supporter’s part learn “For Nation, Membership, Neighborhood.”

Regardless of the almost 100-degree warmth, a crowd of 26,516 followers crammed Snapdragon for Morgan’s farewell match. Amongst them was San Diego Padres right-hander Joe Musgrove, who went to the sport straight from his begin in opposition to the San Francisco Giants.

“Twelve thousand tickets have been bought in in the future when she introduced that this was going to be her final recreation” NWSL Commissioner Jessica Berman stated. “That’s the ability of Alex Morgan.”

The North Carolina Braveness in the end gained the sport, 4-1. Morgan tried a penalty but it surely was stopped by Braveness goalkeeper Casey Murphy.

However the night time was all about celebrating a profession.

Wave coach Landon Donovan stated his daughter requested him to assist her make an indication for Morgan’s final recreation.

“That stuff is immeasurable as a result of she’s now made my daughter, who didn’t beforehand watch sports activities on the whole, fall in love with a sport, and girls’s sports activities, Donovan stated. “That’s what Alex has meant to the sport and the game. And it’s unhappy to see her go. Actually, I don’t suppose there’ll ever be one other one like her.”

Wave fan Amber Brunner attended the match along with her household, saying “My women fell in love with soccer due to her.”

Off the pitch, Morgan superior girls’s soccer in her combat for equal pay with the boys’s nationwide staff. The U.S. girls filed a lawsuit in 2019 that led to a historic settlement in 2022 that paid each the women and men equitably.

She additionally paved the best way for reforms within the NWSL, calling for the adoption of an anti-harassment coverage after a coach misconduct scandal rocked the league in 2021.

A younger fan on the recreation held an indication that stated “Thanks Alex for all your onerous work for ladies’s sports activities.”

Morgan stated she’s trying ahead to cheering on each the Wave and the U.S. nationwide staff, and persevering with her advocacy for the gamers.

“The subsequent Alex Morgan will not be solely on the market within the stands, as a result of I’m certain that there are a number of of these, however they’re there on that subject, each single weekend,” she stated. “It’s simply unbelievable what we’ve been in a position to do right here within the U.S. to actually give soccer the very best probability for folks to purchase in as a lot as we’ve purchased in.”

___

AP soccer: