Maya Alexandria Hayes (born March 26, 1992) is an American

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

coach and former player, who is currently the assistant coach for the

Minnesota Golden Gophers women's soccer The Minnesota Golden Gophers women's soccer team represent the University of Minnesota in the Big Ten Conference of NCAA Division I soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two t ...

team. Hayes last played in 2017 as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for

Sky Blue FC Gotham Football Club is an American professional soccer team based in the New York metropolitan area that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Founded in 2006 as Jersey Sky Blue, the team was known as Sky Blue FC from 2008 un ...

of the

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a women's professional Association football, soccer league and the highest level of the United States soccer league system#Women's leagues, United States soccer league system (alongside the USL Supe ...

. A United States youth international, Hayes won 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 teams and marked the first hosting of a FIFA women's tournament in the co ...

in Japan.

Early life

Hayes was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

to Irene Smith and Derek Hayes. She has four siblings. Hayes attended

Newark Academy Newark Academy is a coeducational private day school located in Livingston, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, serving students in sixth through twelfth grades. It was the first school in New Jersey to offer the International Ba ...

, a private school located in

Livingston, New Jersey Livingston is a township (New Jersey), township in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 31,330, its highest United States census, decennial co ...

. She grew up in

West Orange, New Jersey West Orange is a suburban Township (New Jersey), township in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 48,843, an increase of 2,636 (+5.7%) from t ...

College career

Hayes attended

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsyl ...

from 2010 to 2013 where she played for the Nittany Lions. In 2011, she scored 31 goals, earned 70 points, and led the nation in goals and points. She set a new Penn State and

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

record for points in a single season. Hayes finished her Penn State career having scored 71 goals in 89 matches, the third-most in program history. In January 2020, she was named to TopDrawerSoccer.com's best XI of the 2010s.

Club career

Hayes was selected by

in the first round (sixth overall pick) of the

2014 NWSL College Draft The 2014 NWSL College Draft was the second annual meeting of National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) franchises to select eligible college players. It was held on January 17, 2014, at the NSCAA Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was ope ...

. A few weeks later, the team signed her. In 2018, it was announced that she had made the decision to sit out the

2018 NWSL season The 2018 National Women's Soccer League season was the sixth season of the National Women's Soccer League, the top division of women's soccer in the United States. Including the NWSL's two professional predecessors, Women's Professional Soccer (2 ...

to pursue graduate studies at

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 26,800 undergraduate students, over 6,100 post-graduate students, and a tota ...

. She does not consider this an official retirement.

International career

Hayes previously played for the United States under-18 women's national soccer team. She competed for the United States at the

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

and 2012 FIFA Under-20 Women's World Cup tournaments. On August 20, 2012, at

Hiroshima Big Arch The , known under current sponsorship as , is a multi-purpose stadium in Hiroshima, Japan. It used mostly for association football matches and also for athletics. The venue was the home of J.League club Sanfrecce Hiroshima through the 2023 se ...

, she scored a

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 Wick ...

in a 4–0 win against Ghana, in the first match played by the United States at the 2012 FIFA Under-20 Women's World Cup; the first goal was an own goal by Ghanaian Linda Addai. Three days later, at the same venue, in the second match against China, she scored a 36th-minute equalizer goal to tie the game at 1-1, which was also the final score. In their last match in

Group D Group D may refer to: * FIA Group D - International Formula racing cars: ** Formula Two ** Formula Three ** Formula 3000 * One of six or eight groups of four teams competing at the FIFA World Cup ** 2022 FIFA World Cup Group D ** 2018 FIFA Worl ...

, the United States team conceded a 0–3 loss to Germany; and advanced to the second stage based on goal difference, with all goals scored by Hayes besides one aforementioned own goal. With no further goal from Hayes in the

knock-out stage A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

, the United States team won the 2012 Japan FIFA Under-20 Women's World Cup tournament with two goals from Kealia Ohai and one goal each from

Vanessa DiBernardo Vanessa Sue DiBernardo (born May 15, 1992) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for Kansas City Current of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). She previously played for and captained the Chicago Red Stars. I ...

and

Morgan Brian Morgan Paige Gautrat (; born February 26, 1993) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for the Orlando Pride of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). She first appeared for the United States national team during ...

References

External links

Maya Hayes
profile at