Samantha June Mewis (born October 9, 1992) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for Kansas City Current of the

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. It is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federati ...

(NWSL), as well as the

United States national team The United States national team or Team USA may refer to any of a number of sports team representing the United States in international competitions. Olympic teams Additionally, these teams may compete in other international competitions such as ...

. She played

college soccer College soccer is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. It is very prominent in United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and as well as in South Africa and Philippines, the Philippines. Th ...

for the

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pac-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) ...

. Her club career started in 2013 when she signed with Pali Blues of the W-League and she has since won three NWSL Championship titles with Western New York Flash and North Carolina Courage.

Early life

Born in

Weymouth, Massachusetts ("To Work Is to Conquer") , image_map = Norfolk County Massachusetts incorporated and unincorporated areas Weymouth highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250px , map_caption = Location in Norfolk County in Massa ...

, to Robert and Melissa Mewis, Samantha grew up in

Hanson, Massachusetts Hanson is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. Part of Greater Boston, Hanson is located 20 miles (32 km) south of Boston and is one of the inland towns of the South Shore. The population was 10,639 at the 2020 census. ...

, where she attended

Whitman-Hanson Regional High School Whitman-Hanson Regional High School is a public high school located in Hanson, Massachusetts, United States. The school serves students in grades 9-12 from the towns of Whitman, Massachusetts and Hanson, Massachusetts. It is part of the Whitman-Han ...

and played on the soccer team, tallying 77 goals and 34 assists during her time there. She grew up with her older sister Kristie, playing soccer for numerous youth teams, including club team, Scorpions SC, as well as the under-17 and under-20 United States national teams. Mewis earned Parade All-American honors twice during her high school years and was named the

National Soccer Coaches Association of America The United Soccer Coaches (formerly known as the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)) is an organization of American soccer coaches founded in 1941. It is the largest soccer coaches organization in the world, with more than 3 ...

national player of the year in 2010. In 2011, she was named Gatorade Massachusetts Girls Soccer Player of the Year for the second time after receiving the accolade previously for 2009–10. The same year, she was named ESPN RISE All-American after scoring 30 goals and serving 8 assists during her senior year.

UCLA Bruins

In her first year, Mewis was second on the team in scoring with six goals and seven assists, only bested by current

United States women's national soccer team The United States women's national soccer team (USWNT) represents the United States in international women's soccer. The team is the most successful in international women's soccer, winning four Women's World Cup titles (1991, 1999, 2015, an ...

member Sydney Leroux and was named to the

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Division ...

All-Freshman Team. Due to national team commitments, Sam missed the first six games of her second season, but finished the year with three goals and three assists in 16 games. In her junior year, Mewis helped

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

win the

championship on the way to its first NCAA Championship. In December 2014, she was named the winner of the 2015 Honda Award for soccer by the Collegiate Women Sports Awards (CWSA).

Club career

Pali Blues

In 2013, Mewis signed with the Pali Blues in the W-League. The team won the western conference title as well as the national championship in July 2013.

Western New York Flash, 2015–2016

Mewis was selected fourth overall by the Western New York Flash in the 2015

entry draft. She started all 20 regular-season games for the Flash, scoring 4 goals and providing 4 assists to share the top of the team scoring leaderboard with Lynn Williams. On September 9, 2015, the NWSL announced that Mewis was selected as a finalist for the NWSL Rookie of the Year Award for the 2015 season, along with Sofia Huerta and the eventual winner, Danielle Colaprico. In the 2016 season, Mewis missed several games as she was away training with the U.S. WNT in preparations for the 2016 Summer Olympics. The Western New York Flash finished fourth in the standings and qualified for the play-offs. In the semi-final, Mewis scored a goal in the 16th minute helping the Western New York Flash to upset the Shield winning Portland Thorns. In the NWSL Championship game Mewis once again scored a goal. The Championship game went to penalties, Mewis missed her penalty but the flash went on to win the Championship, winning the penalty shootout 3–2.

North Carolina Courage, 2017–2020

It was announced on January 9, 2017, that the Western New York Flash was officially sold to new ownership, moved to North Carolina, and rebranded as the North Carolina Courage. Mewis had a very successful 2017 season, as she appeared in every game for the Courage, tallying 6 goals and 3 assists. She was named to the NWSL Best XI and was a finalist for the NWSL Most Valuable Player Award. Mewis missed the beginning of the 2018 season as she was recovering from a knee injury. She appeared in 17 regular season games, as the Courage won their second consecutive NWSL Shield. In the play-offs, Mewis was in the starting line-up for the semi-final match against the

Chicago Red Stars The Chicago Red Stars are a professional women's soccer club based in Bridgeview, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. A founding member of the Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) league, they have played in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) ...

and scored a goal in the 86th minute. North Carolina won 2–0 and advanced to their second straight championship game. She played all 90 minutes in the NWSL Championship game as the Courage defeated the

Portland Thorns The Portland Thorns FC is an American professional women's soccer team based in Portland, Oregon. Established in 2012, the team began play in 2013 in the then-eight-team National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), which receives support from the Unit ...

3–0. Mewis has now won two NWSL Championships. Due to her participation in the 2019 World Cup, Mewis only appeared in 12 regular season games for the Courage in

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

. North Carolina won the NWSL Shield for the third consecutive season. They advanced to the final after defeating Reign FC in the semi-final. Mewis scored a goal in the championship game as North Carolina defeated the

4–0 to win their second consecutive NWSL Championship. With the 2020 season affected by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

, Mewis took part in the

2020 NWSL Challenge Cup The 2020 NWSL Challenge Cup was a tournament during the 2020 National Women's Soccer League season to mark the league's return to action from the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the first professional team sports event to return to play in United States. ...

, making five appearances and scoring one goal as North Carolina topped the standings in the preliminary round but were eliminated in the first knockout round by #8 seed Portland Thorns FC.

Manchester City, 2020–2021

On August 10, 2020, Mewis signed with

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The two ...

of the English

FA WSL The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features ...

ahead of the 2020–21 season. She made her competitive debut for the club at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

on August 29 as a 68th minute substitute during a 2–0 defeat to Chelsea in the

2020 Women's FA Community Shield The 2020 Women's FA Community Shield was the ninth Women's FA Community Shield, and the first after the competition's revival following an eleven-season abeyance. As with its male equivalent, the Community Shield is an annual football match pla ...

. In total, Mewis made 32 appearances and scored 16 goals including the winner against

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

in the semi-final of the delayed 2019–20 Women's FA Cup and again in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

as Manchester City beat Everton 3–1 in extra-time to defend their title. City finished second in the league for the fourth consecutive season, this time losing out to Chelsea. Mewis was named to the FA WSL

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's English football; the Premi ...

at the end of the season.

North Carolina Courage, 2021

On May 17, 2021, Mewis rejoined North Carolina Courage.

Kansas City Current, 2022–present

On November 30, 2021, Mewis was traded to Kansas City Current in exchange for

Kiki Pickett Kiara Shaelene "Kiki" Pickett (born April 30, 1999) is an American professional soccer player who plays for North Carolina Courage in the National Women's Soccer League. She was drafted fourth overall in the 2021 NWSL Draft by Kansas City, who se ...

and the No. 3 overall pick in the

2022 NWSL Draft The 2022 NWSL Draft was the 10th annual meeting of National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) franchises to select eligible college players. It was held on December 18, 2021, and hosted remotely by CBS Sports. Format * All 12 teams of the National ...

International career

Mewis was a member of the United States under-17 team that was runner-up at the

2008 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup The 2008 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup is the first women's football U-17 World Cup in FIFA history. It was held in New Zealand from 28 October to 16 November 2008. It is the officially recognized world championship for women's under-17 national ...

in New Zealand. As her sister Kristie was also a member of the team, they were the first sisters to represent the United States at a Women's World Cup. They also played together at the

2010 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The 2010 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup was the 5th edition of the tournament. It was held in Germany, who will also host the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup a year later from 13 July to 1 August 2010. Sixteen teams, comprising representatives from al ...

. At the

2012 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The 2012 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup was the 6th edition of the tournament. The tournament was played in Japan from 19 August to 8 September, with sixteen national football soccer teams and mark the first hosting of a FIFA women's football tourna ...

, Mewis helped the team win the championship after defeating

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

1–0 in the final. On January 24, 2014, Mewis was named for the first time to the senior national team roster for friendlies against

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

. She made her debut for the team at the

2014 Algarve Cup The 2014 Algarve Cup was the 21st edition of the Algarve Cup, an invitational women's football tournament held annually in Portugal. It took place between 5–12 March 2014. Format The twelve invited teams are split into three groups that played ...

during the team's second match of the tournament, a 1–0 loss to Sweden. After a spell out of the team, Mewis was invited back to the senior team following their success at the

2015 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup was the seventh FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international soccer championship contested by the women's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament was hosted by Canada for the ...

. She continued to get regular playing time, scoring four goals in 2016 including the winning goal against Germany in the

2016 She Believes Cup The 2016 SheBelieves Cup was the inaugural edition of the SheBelieves Cup, an invitational women's football tournament held in the United States. It took place between March 3 and 9, 2016, before the 2016 Summer Olympics. Teams Squads For ...

that won the United States the trophy. Mewis was named as an alternate for the U.S. WNT for the 2016 Summer Olympics. In 2017 Mewis was one of three players to appear in every game for the U.S. WNT., she played 1,242 minutes which was second highest on the team. She scored three goals and was a finalist for 2017 U.S Female Player of the Year. Mewis suffered a knee injury in a November 2017 game against Canada, which would sideline her for the beginning of 2018, forcing her to miss the

2018 SheBelieves Cup The 2018 SheBelieves Cup was the third edition of the SheBelieves Cup, an invitational women's soccer tournament held in the United States. Featuring national teams from Germany, England, France, and hosts United States, it began on March 1 and en ...

. Mewis returned to the field for the U.S. in June 2018 in a friendly against China. In September 2018 she was named to the final 20 player roster of the

2018 CONCACAF Women's Championship The 2018 CONCACAF Women's Championship was the 10th edition of the CONCACAF Women's Championship (also known as the CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup or the CONCACAF Women's World Cup Qualifying Tournament), the quadrennial international football champio ...

. In May 2019, Mewis was named to the final 23-player roster for the

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's association football championship contested by 24 women's national teams representing member associations of FIFA. It ...

. She played in 6 out of 7 matches, including the

, and scored two goals, both as part of a 13–0 group stage victory over

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

. The United States won the 2019 World Cup after defeating the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

2–0. In 2020, Mewis played in 8 of the 9 matches for the USA, started 6 matches, and scored 4 goals. In December 2020, Mewis was named the 2020 U.S. Soccer Female Player of the Year for the first time. She is the 17th player to win the award. On January 18, 2021, Mewis scored her first career

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wi ...

for either club or country in a 4–0 friendly win against Colombia. Her sister Kristie scored the only other goal.

Personal life

Mewis' sister, Kristie, also plays for the

and plays professionally for NJ/NY Gotham FC. In late December 2018, Mewis married longtime boyfriend Pat Johnson in Boston, Massachusetts. Following the United States' win at the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, Mewis and her teammates were honored with a Ticker tape parade in New York City. Each player received a key to the city from Mayor

Bill de Blasio Bill de Blasio (; born Warren Wilhelm Jr., May 8, 1961; later Warren de Blasio-Wilhelm) is an American politician who served as the 109th mayor of New York City from 2014 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he held the office of New Yor ...

. After winning the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, Mewis revealed that while she was young, her father, Bob Mewis, would pick up side jobs to be able to afford her and her sister's soccer expenses.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list the United States's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Mewis goal.''

Honors

UCLA *

NCAA Women's Soccer Championship The NCAA Women's Soccer Championship refers to one of three championships in women's soccer organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA): * NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship, 1982–present * NCAA Division II Women's ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment ...

Western New York Flash * NWSL Champions: 2016 North Carolina Courage * NWSL Champions:

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

NWSL Shield The NWSL Shield is an annual award given to the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) team with the best regular season record as determined by the NWSL points system. The NWSL Shield has been awarded annually since 2013 and is recognized as a ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

Manchester City *

Women's FA Cup The Women's FA Challenge Cup Competition is the top annual cup tournament for women's clubs in English football. Founded in 1970, it has been named the WFA Cup, FA Women's Cup and now Women's FA Cup (Vitality Women's FA Cup for sponsorship re ...

: 2019–20 United States U20 * FIFA U20 Women's World Cup:

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship The CONCACAF Women's Under-20 Championship is an association football competition for women's national under-20 teams in the North America, Central America and Caribbean region. It serves as the qualification tournament for the FIFA U-20 Women's ...

United States *

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's international governing bo ...

* CONCACAF Women's Championship:

* CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament: 2016;

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in ...

* SheBelieves Cup: 2016;

*Tournament of Nations:

Olympic Bronze Medal An Olympic medal is awarded to successful competitors at one of the Olympic Games. There are three classes of medal to be won: gold, silver, and bronze, awarded to first, second, and third place, respectively. The granting of awards is laid ou ...

Individual * U.S. Soccer Female Player of the Year: 2020 *NWSL Best XI:

*ESPN FC Women's Rank: #1 on the 2021 list of 50 best women's soccer players * FA WSL PFA Team of the Year:

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

Honda Sports Award The Honda Sports Award is an annual award in the United States, given to the best collegiate female athlete in each of twelve sports. There are four nominees for each sport, and the twelve winners of the Honda Sports Award are automatically in th ...

2015

References

;Match reports

External links

*
US Soccer player profile

North Carolina Courage player profile

UCLA player profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mewis, Samantha 1992 births Living people United States women's international soccer players UCLA Bruins women's soccer players American women's soccer players Parade High School All-Americans (girls' soccer) Soccer players from Massachusetts Pali Blues players National Women's Soccer League players Western New York Flash players Sportspeople from Weymouth, Massachusetts Women's association football midfielders Western New York Flash draft picks United States women's under-20 international soccer players North Carolina Courage players Whitman-Hanson Regional High School alumni 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players FIFA Women's World Cup-winning players Manchester City W.F.C. players Women's Super League players American expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate women's footballers in England Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in soccer Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Kansas City Current players