Samantha Grace Coffey (born December 31, 1998) is an American professional

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 ...

player who plays as a

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

for the

Portland Thorns Portland Thorns FC is an American professional soccer team based in Portland, Oregon, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Established in 2012, the team began play in 2013 in the then-eight-team NWSL, which received supp ...

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 ...

(NWSL), which she

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

s, and 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 ...

. Coffey played

college soccer College soccer, called college football in some countries, is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. While it is most widespread in the United States, it is also prominent in Japan, South Kore ...

for the

Boston College Eagles The Boston College Eagles are the athletic teams that represent Boston College, located in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level ( Football Bowl Subdivis ...

and the

Penn State Nittany Lions The Penn State Nittany Lions are the athletic teams of Pennsylvania State University, except for the women's basketball team, known as the Penn State Lady Lions basketball, Lady Lions. The school colors are navy blue and white. The school mascot ...

and was drafted by the Thorns in the first round of the

2021 NWSL Draft The 2021 NWSL Draft was the ninth annual meeting of National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) franchises to select eligible college players. It was held on January 13, 2021. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was the first NWSL Draft to be held virtua ...

. She won the

2022 NWSL Championship The 2022 National Women's Soccer League season was the tenth 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 ...

in her rookie season with the Thorns. She has been named in the

NWSL Best XI NWSL Best XI and Second XI are annual awards presented to the best and second-best eleven players in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). the teams of the season awards are voted on by players (40%), owners/general managers/coaches (25%), ...

two times. Coffey made her senior debut for the United States in 2022. She won the gold medal with the national team at the

2024 Paris Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

Early career

Youth

Coffey played youth club soccer for Match-Fit Academy and New York Soccer Club, where she was a five-time "region 1 team" honoree and named an

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

n. In high school, she played for the

Masters School The Masters School (colloquially known as Masters), is a private, coeducational boarding school and day college preparatory school located in Dobbs Ferry, New York. Its campus is located north of New York City in the Hudson Valley in Westch ...

, located in Dobbs Ferry, where she was selected as team

MVP MVP most commonly refers to: * Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition * Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering MVP may also refer to: ...

all four years and was a team

for two seasons. She was named the league player of the year three times, and scored 100 goals in high school.

Boston College

Coffey began her

career with the

in 2017. She led the team in assists and points as a freshman, and was selected to the All- ACC third team and freshman team. She was her team's co-rookie of the year, and was the Boston College Freshman Scholar Athlete of the Year. As a sophomore in 2018, she helped the team reach the first round of the 2018 NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Tournament, their first appearance since 2015. She was the team leader in both goals and assists, and was a semi-finalist for the

Hermann Trophy The Hermann Trophy is awarded annually by the Missouri Athletic Club to the United States's top men's and women's college soccer players. History In 1967, Bob Hermann, the president of the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) and th ...

. She was a

United Soccer Coaches 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 ...

first-team

n, was included in the All-ACC first team, and was selected as the ACC midfielder of the year. In both years she was also included in the All-ACC Academic Team. During her two seasons at the school, she started all 40 games, scoring 17 goals and recording 24 assists.

Penn State

In December 2018, it was announced that Coffey would transfer to

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 ...

to play for the

Nittany Lions The Penn State Nittany Lions are the athletic teams of Pennsylvania State University, except for the women's basketball team, known as the Penn State Lady Lions basketball, Lady Lions. The school colors are navy blue and white. The school mascot ...

starting in the 2019 season. She enrolled in classes at the school in January 2019. In her junior season in 2019, she scored 11 goals and recorded 10 assists, ranking second in the

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 ...

with her 32 points. She helped the team to win the 2019 Big Ten Women's Soccer Tournament, in which she scored an equalizing penalty goal in the final against

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

to send the game to extra time. The team advanced to the round of 16 of the

2019 NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Tournament The 2019 NCAA Division I women's soccer tournament (also known as the 2019 Women's College Cup) was the 38th annual single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of NCAA Division I women's collegiate soccer. The semifinals an ...

before losing 2–0 to eventual champions

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

. During her senior 2020–21 season, which was postponed to spring semester due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Coffey scored 6 goals and recorded 12 assists in 16 matches for the team as a

. Penn State were eliminated in the round of 16 of the 2020 NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Tournament, losing to eventual runner-up

Florida State Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

. As the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

granted all student-athletes another year of eligibility due to the pandemic, Coffey played her fifth college season in 2021 as a graduate student. She recorded 8 goals and 8 assists in 21 games, with the team losing in the round of 16 of the 2021 NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Tournament to

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

. In all three seasons, Coffey was included in the All-Big Ten and All-North Region first teams. She was included in the

Scholar All-America Second Team in 2019, and the

CoSIDA College Sports Communicators (CSC) is a membership association for all strategic, creative and digital professionals working in intercollegiate athletics across all levels for colleges, universities and conferences across the United States and Cana ...

Academic All-America First-Team in 2020–21. She was selected as the Big Ten Midfielder of the Year in 2020–21, and in the same season was included in the

Senior CLASS Award The Senior CLASS Award is awarded to the most outstanding senior student-athlete in 10 NCAA Division I sports. An acronym for "Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School," the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete ...

First Team All-America. In 2019 and 2020, she was also included in the CoSIDA Academic All-District first team. Coffey made 62 appearances during her three seasons at Penn State, scoring 25 goals and recording 30 assists. She finished her collegiate career with 42 goals and 54 assists in 102 appearances, becoming the 50th player in

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

to tally 40 goals and 40 assists.

Club career

Portland Thorns FC

After the

granted all student-athletes another year of eligibility due to the effects of the

, Coffey decided not to enter herself into the

as she was uncertain about her future. Nevertheless, she was still entered into the draft, and was selected by

Portland Thorns FC Portland Thorns FC is an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Portland, Oregon, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Established in 2012, the team began play in 2013 in the then-eight-team NWSL ...

with the 12th overall pick in the second round. However, she ultimately decided to play an additional year of college soccer with Penn State. On January 7, 2022, the Portland Thorns signed Coffey to a two-year contract. She made her debut for the team in the

2022 NWSL Challenge Cup The 2022 NWSL Challenge Cup was a league cup competition that took place during the 2022 National Women's Soccer League season. It was the third iteration of the NWSL Challenge Cup tournament. In the 2022 championship game, the North Carolina C ...

on March 18, 2022, playing the full match in a 1–1 away draw against

OL Reign Seattle Reign FC is an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Seattle, Washington, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Founded in 2012, it is one of eight inaugural members of the NWSL. Since J ...

. She made her

NWSL 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 ...

regular season debut on April 30, 2022, playing the full match in a 3–0 home win over the

Kansas City Current The Kansas City Current are an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Kansas City, Missouri, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). It was founded as an NWSL expansion, expansion team in 2021 NWSL ...

. She quickly became a regular starter, starting in 26 games in 2022 (20 regular season, 4 Challenge Cup, and 2 playoff). She helped the Thorns win the

NWSL Championship The NWSL Championship is the annual championship game of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), the top-flight women's soccer league in the United States. It is the culmination of the NWSL playoffs, which is contested by the teams with the ...

that year, was nominated for

NWSL Rookie of the Year The NWSL Rookie of the Year award is presented annually to the best rookie in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Erika Tymrak (2013), an alumna of the Florida Gators women's soccer, Florida Gators, won the first Rookie of the Year award ...

, and was on the 2022 NWSL Best XI First Team. Coffey was named Portland's

in the 2025 season. In June 2025, it was revealed that in March 2024, Coffey had signed a contract extension through the 2027 season.

International career

Youth

Coffey was a member of the United States youth squads on the under-18, under-19, and under-20 levels. With the under-18 team, she attended six training camps and played in two international tournaments. At the under-20 level, she was included in the U.S. squad for the

2018 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship The 2018 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship was the 9th edition of the CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship, the biennial international youth association football, football championship organised by CONCACAF for the women's under-20 national teams ...

, held in Trinidad and Tobago. The team finished as runners-up after losing the final on penalties to

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. However, the team still qualified for the

2018 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The 2018 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup was the ninth edition of the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, the biennial international women's youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its i ...

in France, though Coffey was not selected as a squad member.

Senior

In June 2022, Coffey earned her first call-up to the United States women's national team for two

friendlies An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the playe ...

against

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. Despite being uncapped, Coffey was later added as an injury replacement for

Ashley Hatch Ashley Marie Hatch (born May 25, 1995) is an American professional association football, soccer player who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for the Washington Spirit of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and the United St ...

after the group stage of the

2022 CONCACAF W Championship The 2022 CONCACAF W Championship was the 11th edition of the CONCACAF W Championship, the quadrennial international Women's association football, women's football championship contested by the senior List of women's national association football t ...

, but was not called on to play. She earned her first cap, and first start, in a friendly against Nigeria on Sept. 6, 2022, and played three further matches that year. She was called up again for friendly matches in September 2023 but did not play. She scored her first international goal in a friendly against

China PR China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the second-most populous country after India, representing 17.4% of the world population. China spans the e ...

on December 5, 2023. She scored a second international goal, again against China, on May 31, 2025. Coffey was selected to the 18-player roster for the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

in France. She started and played the full game in five of the six games the US played in, missing one because of yellow card accumulation. Her play included the gold medal game against

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, which the United States won 1–0 on a goal from

Mallory Swanson Mallory Diane Swanson (; born April 29, 1998) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a forward for the Chicago Stars FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and the United States women's national soccer team (USWNT). Aft ...

Personal life

Coffey 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 Wayne Coffey, a

sportswriter Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism has its roots in coverage of horse racing and boxing in the early 1800s, mainly targeted towards elites, and into t ...

who previously worked for the ''

New York Daily News The ''Daily News'' is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson in New York City as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in Tabloid (newspaper format ...

'', and Denise Willi. She grew up in

Sleepy Hollow, New York Sleepy Hollow is a village in the town of Mount Pleasant, New York, Mount Pleasant in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York, United States. The village is located on the east bank of the Hudson River, about ...

, and attended the

. She earned her

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...

from

at the end of 2020, and began pursuing her graduate degree at the school afterwards. Her sister

Alex Alex is a given name. Similar names are Alexander, Alexandra, Alexey or Alexis. People Multiple * Alex Brown (disambiguation), multiple people * Alex Cook (disambiguation), multiple people * Alex Forsyth (disambiguation), multiple people * Al ...

is a sportswriter who previously wrote for ''

The Athletic ''The Athletic'' is a subscription-based sports journalism department of ''The New York Times''. It provides national and local coverage in 47 North American cities as well as the United Kingdom. ''The Athletic'' also covers national stories ...

'' and currently covers the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. The Phillies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has ...

as beat reporter for ''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', often referred to simply as ''The Inquirer'', is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded on June 1, 1829, ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is the third-longest continuously operating da ...

''.

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honors

;Penn State Nittany Lions *

Big Ten Women's Soccer Tournament The Big Ten women's soccer tournament is the conference championship tournament in soccer for the Big Ten Conference. The tournament is single-elimination format and seeding is based on regular season records. The top four highest-seeded teams hos ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

;Portland Thorns FC *

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

;United States U20 *

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 ...

runner-up:

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

;United States *

Summer Olympic Games The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The 1896 Summer Olympics, inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, ...

Gold Medal:

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

CONCACAF Women's Championship The CONCACAF W Championship is a women's association football competition for national teams organized by the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) that often serves as the qualifying competition ...

CONCACAF W Gold Cup The CONCACAF W Gold Cup is an international women's football competition contested by the senior women's national teams of the member associations of CONCACAF, the regional governing body of North America, Central America, and the Caribbean. ...

SheBelieves Cup The SheBelieves Cup is an invitational women's association football, women's soccer tournament held in different cities in the United States in late February or early March. In its first three years (2016, 2017, and 2018), it was contested by t ...

Individual *

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

Midfielder of the Year: 2018 *

Midfielder of the Year: 2020 *

NWSL Rookie of the Month The National Women's Soccer League Rookie of the Month is a monthly women's association football, women's soccer award given to individual players in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) participating in their first season as a professional. ...

: June 2022 * NWSL Best XI of the Month: June 2022, Sept./Oct. 2022, June 2023, August 2023, Sept./Oct. 2023, May 2024 *

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

References

;Match reports

External links

*
Sam Coffey
at

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Coffey, Sam 1998 births Living people Soccer players from New York City People from Sleepy Hollow, New York Women's association football midfielders American women's soccer players United States women's under-20 international soccer players United States women's international soccer players Boston College Eagles women's soccer players Penn State Nittany Lions women's soccer players Portland Thorns FC players National Women's Soccer League players Portland Thorns FC draft picks United States women's youth international soccer players 21st-century American sportswomen The Masters School alumni Footballers at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in soccer Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics

Early career

Youth

Boston College

Penn State

Club career

Portland Thorns FC

International career

Youth

Senior

Personal life

Career statistics

Club

International

Honors

See also

References

External links