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Alex Morgan, now a global brand, returns to Rochester Try Another
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Last SlideNext SlideAlex Morgan, far right, was a rookie on the 2011 Flash team that won the WPS Championship. She's pictured here with former WNY teammates, from left, Christine Sinclair, Ali Riley and Marta.(Photo: FILE PHOTO)Buy Photo
In the spring of 2011 Alex Morgan was a rookie forward out of the University of California-Berkeley and the No. 1 overall pick in the Women's Professional Soccer league draft by the expansion Western New York Flash. Having scored four goals in her first eight matches for the U.S. national team during her 2010 senior year, she'd just begun to make her mark on the national level. To most of the world, though, she was still just a largely anonymous 21-year-old soccer player.
My how things have changed.
Four-and-a-half years later, Morgan returns to Rochester Friday night at 7 with the Portland Thorns to face the Flash in their National Women's Soccer League regular-season final, and now she isn't just an international soccer star, Morgan is a global brand.
One celebrity website reports her net worth to be $3 million and she has endorsement deals with some heavyweight companies such as Nike and Coca-Cola. Others include EA Sports, Mondelez Brands (Chips AHoy!, Trident and Ritz crackers), Tampax, Beats by Dre and Nationwide Insurance, according to SportsBusiness Daily. She also has done pitches for Chapstick.
"She'll have more of the mainstream popularity of being the pretty girl and being able to cross over to 15- and 25-year-old men — the Mia Hamm — like qualities that touch millions," fellow U.S. soccer star and Pittsford native Abby Wambach told Sports Illustrated in 2013. "But she's not just a pretty face. So much attention on women in sports is based on looks, but Alex backs that up with even stronger athleticism. I'd absolutely compare her to David Beckham in terms of her appeal and this national team has kind of missed that element."
Alex Morgan's raw ability, trademark pink headband and cover girl looks connect with all types of fans, from little girls to young men and even Madison Avenue. The rising star was interviewed in 2011. Video by Ryan Miller
That comment was made a few months before Morgan helped Portland beat the Wambach-led Flash, 2-0, at Sahlen's Stadium a few months later to spoil Wambach's first season with the hometown Flash. Now they're both World Cup champions after the Americans' victory in Vancouver in July.
Here's another reason Morgan clicks with corporate America? When the native of Diamond Bar, California, tweets about a product, those hashtags and words go to her nearly 2.1 million Twitter followers. Just think: Before her breakout performance in the 2011 World Cup when she was just that little-known Flash rookie and U.S. national team newbie, Morgan had a mere 15,000 followers. That total soared to about 135,000 after her emergence in the 2011 World Cup. Mix in her three-goal, four-assist performance in the 2012 Olympics, when she was the set-up person for Wambach (five goals), and the Twitter total crept toward 1 million. By July of 2013, it was 1.2 million.
Injuries limited her before this year's World Cup and she had knee surgery after it, so this will be only her fourth match with Portland. Christine Sinclair and McCall Zerboni, two of her former teammates on the 2011 WPS champion Flash, also play for the Thorns. Here are five more quick facts about Morgan:
1. Thanks, Mom! The youngest of three daughters in her family, Morgan details in her biography, Breakaway, released earlier this year, how she was named."With each child my parents had an agreement. If they had a boy, my Dad would choose the name and if they had a girl, my Mom would have the honor. My Mom settled on the name Alexandra for me. I can only guess that's because my Dad had chosen the "boy name" Alexander and my Mom decided to allow him just the smallest bit of influence."
2. She's taken, guys. Morgan and her college sweetheart, Servando Carrasco, were married last New Year's Eve in Santa Barbara, California. He's 26 and a midfielder for Orlando City. It's his fourth MLS team. Carrasco was drafted in 2011 by Seattle but then traded to Houston and Sporting KC before being dealt in July to Orlando City, which not surprisingly has come up as a possible NWSL expansion city.
3. Dream big. Morgan also writes in her book about giving her mother a note when she was about 8 years old. It read: "Hi Mommy! My name is Alex and I am going to be a proffesional Athlete for soccer!" Always, Ali Cat." One misspelled word aside, she nailed it.
Image from her note around age 8. (Photo: From Breakaway (Simon & Schuster))
4. Nice gesture: Morgan missed her senior year of high school soccer after tearing her ACL. Former Webster Thomas star Brittany Houghton suffered the same fate in 2012 and after finding out about it Morgan sent the 2011 All-Greater Rochester Player of the Year a note. "You decide your destiny," she wrote to Houghton, a speedy forward like Morgan. "You need to stay positive, look ahead not back, and use the time you have now in the present to create the future you want." Morgan closed with this: "Good luck with your recovery. ... I'm rooting for you."
5. Chasing Abby: Morgan has 53 goals in 87 career appearances. That ranks ninth in U.S history. If she wants to one day catch Wambach, who has 184, she'll need to stay healthier than she has over the past year.
JDIVERON@DemocratandChronicle.com
Portland at WNY Flash
Matchup: Portland Thorns (6-8-5) at WNY Flash (5-9-5) in the National Women's Soccer League.
When/where: 7 p.m. Friday/Sahlen's Stadium, 460 Oak St.
Tickets: Start at $10. Call 454-5425.
All done: This is a rematch of the 2013 NWSL final, won 2-0 by Portland in Rochester, but both clubs did not qualify for this year's playoffs.
Visiting: Portland's roster includes U.S. national team stars Alex Morgan and Tobin Heath, Canada's Christine Sinclair (who has been injured) and another former Flash star, McCall Zerboni.
Retiring: Friday will be the final club match for Portland goalie Nadine Angerer, 36. The 2013 FIFA World Player of the Year who led Germany to two World Cups has announced her retirement.
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