Arms stretched out wide, Jaedyn Shaw beamed as she danced to the edge of the pitch, leaping into the arms of her teammates on the U.S. women’s national team. A familiar San Diego crowd boomed as the teenager basked in the glory of her first USWNT goal, which came just three days after her debut with the team in October 2023. It was a storybook start to the San Diego Wave star’s international career, but it also marked a watershed moment in Shaw’s meteoric rise.
Less than a year after her inaugural USWNT cap and goal, Shaw is heading to her first Olympic Games at just 19 years old. She’s long dreamed of representing Team USA on the world stage—and Shaw enters Paris not merely as a member of new coach Emma Hayes’s roster, but as the team’s 2024 leading goalscorer.
