Lulu Herndon was 8 years old the first time she ever watched Alex Morgan tear it up on the soccer field. Herndon, a first-year at Guilford College on the women’s soccer team, began her career around the same time she started to really take interest in professional women’s soccer and its stars like Morgan.
“My parents grew up playing soccer,” she said, “and I found myself slowly falling in love with the sport and the joy I felt while playing it.” Herndon said this was her biggest reason for continuing with her collegiate career at Guilford, demonstrating strength and persistence, two qualities she admires most in Morgan.
Karly Griffin, a fellow first-year at Guilford and teammate of Herndon’s, had very similar things to say. “Around age 10 is when I really started to hear about Morgan,” she said. “It was before that in the 2012 London Olympics when she began to change the game for women.”
Twelve years after leading the U.S. to Olympic gold and clinching two World Cup titles, Morgan announced her retirement from professional soccer in a heartfelt news conference earlier this September. Her announcement left fans like Herndon and Griffin in total shock. Yet, there were several factors that led up to her decision to step away from the game.
In 2009, Morgan began to shine a light on herself as she became the youngest female to ever earn a roster spot for the women’s national team. Two years later, she was drafted as the first overall pick in Women’s Professional Soccer, according to Biography. In 2012, Morgan joined the U.S. Olympic team in London, where the women pulled off the upset against Japan to bring home the gold. In the following years, Morgan went on to win two FIFA Women’s World Cups back-to-back starting in 2015.
Things started to take a turn in Morgan’s career when she learned that she would not be rostered on this year’s Summer Olympic team in Paris. She was saddened by the news, and posted on social media saying “I’m disappointed about not having the opportunity to represent our country on the Olympic stage. This will always be a tournament that is close to my heart and I take immense pride any time I put on the crest.” Despite wishing it could be her in Paris, Morgan shared her full support to the team and stated that she would be cheering them on just like the rest of Americans.
Now, Morgan and her husband are pregnant with their second child. She announced this to the world in her retirement news conference, saying the pregnancy is the biggest reason she decided to step away. When Morgan realized it was no longer safe to play, she knew it was time to hang up her cleats.
Family was now taking over her heart. “I want a big, chaotic family like I had growing up. My sisters meant everything to me. And they were the inspiration behind why I wanted to play soccer in the first place,” she said.
Morgan also shared that she started to lose sight of the way soccer had always been for her. According to an article written by the Associated Press, she said, “I just felt like it was the right time. I felt like the last couple of weeks I sort of lost a step, you know, in playing and I felt like for my body and my mind and my heart, this was the right decision at the time.”
As Morgan steps away, she leaves behind a glorious legacy. A gold medalist, World Cup champ and role model to little girls aspiring to become as good a soccer player as she is; she’s accomplished it all and left the sport in better shape than she found it. Her dedication to the game of soccer and the impact she had on the women in the sport is something that the world has not let go unnoticed, especially to players like Herndon and Griffin as they embark on their soccer journeys at Guilford College.
