Sam Mewis, a United States women’s national soccer team legend who played a key role in their 2019 World Cup victory, retired at 31 years old due to a persistent knee injury. On Jan. 19, Mewis posted a statement on social media announcing her retirement from the game. She promised to someday talk more about her journey and the struggles she has faced throughout her career because of the injury. In her post, she also announced that although her playing days are now over, she will still be involved in the game. Mewis is set to join the Men in Blazers Media Network to head their women’s soccer coverage. The podcast, dubbed “The Women’s Game,” will follow American, European and international women’s soccer.
Nicknamed the “Tower of Power” for her 6-foot frame that made her the tallest player in USWNT history, Mewis started her soccer career at a young age along with her older sister Kristen. They both played for various youth clubs including the Scorpions Soccer Club, as well as the U-17 and U-20 U.S. national teams. In high school, Mewis played for her school’s squad, where she recorded 77 goals and 34 assists on top of winning multiple awards. She was named the Gatorade Massachusetts Girls Soccer Player of the Year twice and won the ESPN RISE All-American award. In college, she played soccer for the UCLA Bruins, where she was named to the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team in her first year. She led the Bruins to their first NCAA Championship as well as the Pac-12 Championship during her junior year.
Her professional club career started in 2013 when she played for the Pali Blue of the W-League, with whom she won the western conference title in 2014. In 2015, she was selected fourth overall by the Western New York Flash in the National Women’s Soccer League entry draft. In 2017, the Flash was sold to new ownership, moved to North Carolina and rebranded as the North Carolina Courage, and Mewis continued playing for them until 2020. She also briefly played for Manchester City FC during the 2020-2021 season. In 2021, she rejoined the Courage, only to be traded to the Kansas City Current in November 2021 in exchange for another player and the No. 3 overall pick in the 2022 NWSL draft. Mewis only played two games for the Current during the March 2022 Challenge Cup after recovering from the arthroscopic surgery she had following the 2021 Olympics and was not able to play the rest of the season. In January 2023, she had a second knee surgery where cartilage donor grafts had to be placed in her knee. This caused her to miss the entire 2023 NWSL season and eventually marked the end of her career.
Mewis’ career with the USWNT started in 2014 when she was named on the roster for friendlies against Canada and Russia after previously playing for the U-17 and U-20 teams. Her official debut came in a 1-0 loss against Sweden in the 2014 Algarve Cup. In 2015, she was on the Women’s World Cup squad and was named an alternate on the 2016 Olympics roster, even after helping the U.S. win the SheBelieves Cup earlier that year. In 2017, Mewis gained more consistency with the team as one of three players who appeared in all the U.S. games that year. Since then, she has been a consistent member of the team, except for when she missed a few months in 2018 because of a knee injury. Throughout her career with the Stars and Stripes, she made 83 appearances, totaling 24 goals and 10 assists.
During her career, Mewis also won multiple individual awards in addition to team trophies. From 2017 to 2019 with the North Carolina Courage, she won three consecutive NWSL Shields, a title won by the team that finishes at the top of the NWSL at the end of the regular season-equivalent to the Commissioner’s Cup, and two consecutive NWSL Championships. With Manchester City FC, she won the delayed 2019–2020 Women’s FA Cup, scoring goals both in the semifinal against Arsenal and in the final against Everton. Internationally, Mewis won the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, the 2018 CONCACAF Women’s Championship, the 2016 and 2020 CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament, the 2016 and 2020 SheBelieves Cups, the 2018 Tournament of Nations and an Olympic bronze medal in 2020. In 2020, Mewis was voted U.S. Soccer Female Player of the Year and in 2017 she was named to the NWSL Best XI. After the 2020-2021 season, she was nominated to the FA WSL PFA Team of the Year.