100 hot women 2012

Synopsis

In 2009, Alex Morgan became the youngest member of the U.S. women's national soccer team, and competed in the 2011 FIFA World Cup. She was the first overall pick in the 2011 Women's Professional Soccer draft, and landed a spot on the U.S. Olympic women's soccer team in 2012. At the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, held in London, Morgan won her first Olympic medal, a gold, with the American team. The team beat Japan, 2-1, in a match watched by nearly 80,300—the largest soccer crowd in Olympics history.

Early Life

Alex Morgan was a multisport athlete growing up, but she didn't start playing organized soccer until she was 14 years old. She attended Diamond Bar High School, where she was a three-time all-league pick and was named an NSCAA All-American. After high school, Morgan went to the University of California at Berkeley, where she led the Golden Bears to the NCAA Tournament in each of her four years (and to the second round twice). In 2008, she helped the United States get to the championship of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, scoring the winning goal in the final against North Korea—named the Goal of the Tournament and second-best Goal of the Year by FIFA.
At the end of her Berkeley career, in the fall of 2010, she was tied for third on the school’s list of all-time scorers, with 45 goals, and she was third in points (107). (She missed numerous Berkeley games in her senior year to play games for the national team, or she likely would have finished at number one on both lists.) She was named to the All-Pac-10 team four times and was a three-time Pac-10 All-Academic honorable mention selection.

Olympic Medalist

In 2011, Alex Morgan was drafted first overall in the 2011 Women's Professional Soccer draft by the Western New York Flash. That same year, she was on the U.S. women's national team in the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup. The youngest player on the team, she scored her first World Cup goal in the semifinal match against France, and the team went on to the finals (only to lose to Japan in a shootout).

Once the WPS league suspended play at the end of the 2011 season, Morgan joined the Seattle Sounders Women of the United Soccer Leagues W-League, along with other U.S. national team members like Hope Solo, Sydney Leroux, Stephanie Cox and Megan Rapinoe.
In 2012, Morgan landed a spot on the U.S. Olympic women's soccer team. At the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, held in London, Morgan won her first Olympic medal, a gold, with the American team. The team beat Japan, 2-1, in a revengeful match watched by nearly 80,300—the largest soccer crowd in Olympics history. The victory marked the fourth of five Olympic titles won by the American women's squad since women's soccer was first included in the Olympics (1996).