There’s a U.S. women’s national team Olympic gold medalist you may have never heard of.
In fact, she’s never even made an appearance for the team. This young defender just helped the Orlando Pride clinch its first National Women’s Soccer League Shield. Coaches, teammates, and analysts agree, the future of U.S. soccer is Emily Sams.
“It was incredible,” Sams says of the USWNT’s gold medal run at the 2024 Olympics. “To be on the national team has been my goal from the start, and although I didn’t get a cap, I got a medal. If you had asked me earlier this year if I thought I was going to the Olympics and getting a medal, I would have said probably not!”
What stood out most to Sams was the energy around the USWNT this summer. Under new head coach Emma Hayes, Sams got the experience of a lifetime, settled into the environment, and picked up a gold medal along the way.
“Of course, I don’t have the experience from prior camps, but I’ve heard and picked up from the girls that the team chemistry and bonding was a lot better than it had been in a while,” Sams says. “I think that’s a huge credit to Emma. She came in and wanted that to be the focus from the start, getting the team to be together.”
Although Sams didn’t see any field time during the Olympics, it is clear that the 25-year-old defender is just getting started, and while she might be the future, she’s also not afraid of being the first.
Sams became the first player to sign with the NWSL before even entering the draft, and once picked up by the Pride via the 2023 NWSL college draft, the Idaho native broke records, playing the most minutes of all the rookies in the NWSL (1,977) and leading all rookies in total blocks (18) and total clearances (73). Now, she’s helped lead the stingiest defense in the league to its first Shield win in club history.
“I absolutely think [Sams] is the future of this Pride back line and I think she’s going to work her way into this national team back line,”Darian Jenkins, NWSL soccer analyst and former Orlando Pride forward, says. “She has such quality on the ball, is a brilliant one-v-onedefender, and then you see her getting up into the attack and scoring some bangers. We haven’t seen the full potential of this player just yet.”
Pride in herself, Pride in her team
When Sams was picked up by Orlando, the team was still in a time of transition. Haley Carter had recently been appointed as the team’s general manager and just a few months prior, Seb Hines signed on to be the club’s head coach, removing an interim tag that he held after taking over coaching duties in 2022. In ’23, Orlando would just miss out on a playoff berth due to goal differential, but falling short sparked a fire in the club to make a statement in ’24, ensuring no one left them out of the conversation.
“Huge credit to Seb, who had a vision for the team from day one, and also huge props to Haley,” Sams says of the team’s Shield-clinching season. “To be a part of this team now, to have this incredible season, one thing I’m so grateful for is how well we all get along together. I don’t take that for granted.”
Through the leadership of Hines and Carter, Sams has been able to commit herself to her individual game, and bring her all every day for her teammates—a group of bought-in and committed individuals who want to play for one another, and play to win.
While Orlando has dazzled the league through the goalscoring abilities of Marta and Barbara Banda, it’s the club’s back line that has ensured the opposition never even stands a chance. The Pride leads the league in shutouts with 12 clean sheets, which Sams credits to the exemplary season of goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse, along with a deep roster of defenders who are ready to step up when needed.
Sams has spent most of her time on the back line in a center-back pairing with Kylie Strom. The two have formed a great relationship, play a similar style, and according to Sams, have been a huge part of Orlando’s defensive success.
“If you watch the film, you see people springing back to stop counter attacks, throwing their body on the line,” Sams says. “There’s been a lot of changes [in the back four] throughout the season, but I think we all have the same goal: to keep the balls out of the net. I think we’ve done great with that.”
Sams might have a team-first mentality, but the stat sheet shows how crucial she’s been this season and how much she has grown since her rookie year. In addition to the league-leading shutouts, Sams has scored a goal and notched an assist, and boasts 151 recoveries going into the second to last matchday of the season, fourth most of any defender.
“Emily has been monumental for us this year in the blackline along with all of our [defenders], including [Moorhouse],” Morgan Gautrat, a two-time World Cup winner and Sams’s Pride teammate says. “It’s been one of the best defensive performances from a team, record-breaking. It’s been awesome to see and I’ve been really impressed with her and how much she’s grown, and if she’s grown this much in such a short time, the sky’s the limit for her.”
Through consistent playing time and quality coaching, Sams has seen herself grow from one season to the next and has even felt more comfortable stepping into a leadership role on the field.
“The beginning of my rookie year was a little bit tough, we lost the first game 4–0 and I made some mistakes in that game that led to some of their goals,” Sames recalls. “I think we lost the first three games. Seb has believed in me from the beginning and the whole coaching staff wanted me to come to Orlando, which gave me the confidence that they were going to invest in me.”
Orlando’s next era
The Pride, a 2016 expansion team, has seen its fair share of ups and downs. The Florida side has consistently found themselves at or near the bottom of the table, even with stars like Alex Morgan, Ali Kriegerand Sydney Leroux on previous rosters. In its short history, the team has seen a changeover in the head coaching position, including three in the last four seasons. Hines has brought stability to the role, allowing the players, and Sams, to thrive.
“[Sams] has been instrumental, and I think everyone can see how far she’s come from the day we signed her last year to where she’s at right now,” Hines says. “She should take a lot of confidence in her performances but also getting her first call-up and going away with the U.S. national team and being in that environment goes a long way. Credit to her because she’s put a lot of work into her craft and we’re just so pleased to have her here.”
For Sams, Hines’s past playing experience as a defender has been essential to her rapid and consistent growth in the league. His extensive playing and coaching résumé combined with his passion for the game has given his players a steady hand and a vision for what the Pride can strive to be.
“From the beginning, Hines acknowledged the narrative that everyone wants to play Orlando because it’s an easy three points,” Sams says. “We have that chip on our shoulders partially because he led us in that way to make us become the place where teams hate coming. He’s instilled that mindset in us from the beginning and now it’s coming true.”
With consistent winning came something else the Pride has lacked—attendance. In recent years, the players have mostly taken the field to a near-empty stadium. Inter&Co Stadium in Orlando seats approximately 25,500 people, but in 2022, Orlando ranked dead last in league attendance, only slightly improving in ’23, but still filling under 25% of seats. On Sept. 28, the club hit an attendance record with a crowd of 17,087, requiring the Pride to open the upper level of the stadium.
“To see people up there, it’s a huge help,” Sams says. “A couple of weeks ago when we had a rain delay, people came earlier than the game kicked off, but as we’re going out to warm up, the stadium is almost full! The energy from the crowd, even from the start of warmups, was incredible.”
With the Shield clinched, the team is turning its sights on a coveted NWSL championship, but Sams will have one more stop before she gets there. The defender recently received a call-up to the USWNT for a set of friendlies against Iceland and Argentina later this month. Although it’s not her first call up, she will be looking for her first game appearance.
“There’s such a great history behind the team,” Sams says. “I just want to be a part of that and help in any way that I can.”
This article was originally published on www.si.com as With an Olympic Gold and an NWSL Shield, Emily Sams Is the Future of U.S. Soccer.
