Meet Aly Wagner

Aly Wagner has stepped on the field for the U.S. Women’s National Team more than 100 times. Her successes include an Olympic gold medal, a NCAA championship and the 2002 MAC Hermann trophy. She gave Eurosport a taste of a few of her favorite things and her hopes for the National Team.

What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?

Ice cream flavor? I’m going to go with cake batter.

What’s your dream vacation?

Staying in an over water bungalow in Bora Bora with my husband.

What’s the coolest place you’ve ever been?

The coolest place I’ve been would have to be maybe Iceland or just living in Lyon, France.

What are your expectations for the return of the women’s professional league?

I definitely want to play in the league when it comes back. I think that this time around I’ll be playing better and be more experienced and more focused and will hopefully lead the team I am on.

You are a veteran on an increasingly young National Team, how do you fill that leadership role?

On the National Team I have had so many different roles; I have been a starter, I’ve been a sub, I’ve been someone who plays a lot and I’ve been someone who hasn’t played as much. I can take all those lessons and if anyone is struggling on our team I can pretty much relate to any position that they are in. I have been taking it upon myself and am just kind of excited that I can share with anyone the knowledge that I have learned throughout, you know, just kind of help comfort someone. “I’ve been there, you can push through it.” Or just help them if they are on top what it takes to stay there.

Did you play any other sports when you were growing up?

I swam, I obviously did the basketball and volleyball thing, but swimming is what I did out of school.

So why soccer?

It wasn’t necessarily a conscious decision. I didn’t like the individual sports as much and soccer is what I was playing at the club level and I just naturally put a lot of time into it. It wasn’t my parents pushing me or anything. I guess I just had a passion for it pretty much from day one.

What’s your best soccer memory?

I would have to say winning the national championship with Santa Clara and scoring the winning goal.

Do you have any superstitions or lucky charms?

I used to have a lucky sports bra, but they won’t let me wear that anymore, so I tried to get rid of all superstitions.

What do you think your legacy will be?

I would hope that the mark that we leave is that we brought the National Team to a new level in terms of playing attractive soccer, playing more possession style oriented, a little more flair. Just all around domination.

If you had one piece of advice for a young girl trying to play soccer, what would it be?

First, make sure you follow your passion; it doesn’t have to be soccer. Don’t get caught up in where you can go in soccer. Do what you love to do. If soccer is something that you love to do then just work on your own with the ball. But just love it, enjoy it while you’re young. Get your touches on the ball every day if you can, but it shouldn’t be work when you’re young.