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 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

coach and former player, who is currently the assistant coach for the Minnesota Golden Gophers women's soccer 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) ** Sm ...

for Sky Blue FC 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 Federatio ...

. 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 soccer teams and mark the first hosting of a FIFA women's football tourna ...

in Japan.

Early life

Hayes was born in New York City to Irene Smith and Derek Hayes. She has four siblings. Hayes attended Newark Academy, a private school located in Livingston, New Jersey. She grew up in West Orange, New Jersey.

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 Pennsylvan ...

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 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 TopDrawerSoccer.com (TDS) is an American soccer website that is dedicated to youth soccer in the United States. Specifically, the website focuses on Academy soccer, high school soccer, and college soccer in the United States. The website was laun ...

's best XI of the 2010s.

Club career

Hayes was selected by Sky Blue FC 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 (200 ...

to pursue graduate studies at

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...

. She does not consider this an official retirement.

International career

Hayes previously played for the

United States under-18 women's national soccer team The United States U-20 women's national soccer team is a youth soccer team operated under the auspices of U.S. Soccer. Its primary role is the development of players in preparation for the senior women's national team. The team most recentl ...

. She competed for the United States at the

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

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 is the home of J. League club Sanfrecce Hiroshima. It has a capacity of ...

, she scored a hat-trick 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 World ...

, 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 ...

, the United States team won the 2012 Japan FIFA Under-20 Women's World Cup tournament with two goals from

Kealia Ohai Kealia Ohai Watt ( ; born Kealia Mae Ohai; January 31, 1992) is an American soccer player who is currently a free agent, who most recently played for the Chicago Red Stars of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) from 2020-2021. She previou ...

and one goal each from

Vanessa DiBernardo Vanessa Sue DiBernardo (born May 15, 1992) is an American 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 Chicago Red Stars. Internationally, ...

and

Morgan Brian Morgan Paige Gautrat (; born February 26, 1993) is an American soccer player who most recently played for the Kansas City Current of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), the highest division of women's professional soccer in the United St ...

Personal life

Hayes identifies as gay.

References

External links

Maya Hayes
profile at

Maya Hayes
profile at Sky Blue FC *
U.S. Soccer player profile

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hayes, Maya 1992 births Living people American women's soccer players Newark Academy alumni NJ/NY Gotham FC players National Women's Soccer League players Penn State Nittany Lions women's soccer players Sportspeople from Essex County, New Jersey Soccer players from New York City People from West Orange, New Jersey Women's association football forwards NJ/NY Gotham FC draft picks United States women's under-20 international soccer players New Jersey Wildcats players American LGBT sportspeople LGBT people from New York (state) LGBT association football players LGBT African Americans African-American women's soccer players Lesbian sportswomen 21st-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American women