Top 50 Cal Pros: No. 5 -- Alex Morgan, Soccer Royalty

We are counting down Cal’s top 50 athletes based on their careers as post-collegiate professionals. Their performance as Golden Bears is not factored into the rankings.

5. ALEX MORGAN

Years at Cal: 2007 to 2010

Sport: Soccer

Pro teams: U.S. Women’s National Team, Western New York Flash, Seattle Sounders Women, Portland Thorns, Orlando Pride, Lyon, Tottenham Hotspur, San Diego Wave FC

Age: 36

Hometown: She was born in San Dimas, California, and grew up in Diamond Bar, California

Why we ranked her here: Alex Morgan was ranked as the world’s eighth best women’s soccer player of alltime by The Sporting News in September 2024. She was ranked the fourth-best American female soccer player of alltime by MSN in February 2025. Morgan scored 123 international goals for the U.S. Women’s National Team, and that ranks eighth alltime among all women’s soccer players and ranks fifth among Americans. She scored nine goals in World Cup play and five in the Olympics. Morgan played in four World Cups for the United States (2011, 2015, 2019, 2023), and won two World Cup titles (2015, 2019). She participated in three Olympics (2012, 2016, 2020) and won two Olympic medals, one gold (2012) and one bronze (2020). She was the youngest player of the United States’ 2011 World Cup squad at age 22. Morgan was named U.S. Soccer Female Athlete of the Year in 2012 and 2018. Shortly after graduating from Cal, Morgan was the No. 1 overall draft pick of the 2011 Women’s Professional Soccer league, by the Western New York Flash. She made her pro debut with the Flash and helped that team win the league championship. That was the first of seven club teams Morgan played for, including two European teams, Lyon (OL Lyonnes of France) and Tottenham Hotspur (England). Morgan joined the San Diego Wave FC, a National Women’s Soccer League expansion team, in 2022, and she received the NWSL’s Golden Boot that year as the league’s leading goal-scorer. She scored 15 goals in 17 games and led the team to a first-place finish in the regular season. She was a starter for the most of the USWNT’s 2024 matches but was not selected for the U.S. Olympic team. On September 5, 2024, Morgan announced her retirement from competitive soccer, saying her September 8 game for San Diego Wave FC would be her final game. Her final match was the first women's sporting event in history to be broadcast on multiple TV channels and streaming services in the United States. It was shown on ESPN2, ESPN+, CBS Sports Network and Amazon Prime Video.

Alex Morgan while at Cal | Photo by Richard Ersted, courtesy oif Cal Athletics

At Cal: Morgan was an All-American and four-time All-Pac-10 selection while at Cal. She was the Golden Bears’ leading scorer in each of her four seasons at Cal, and she matched her season high with 14 goals in 2010 despite missing about half the season while playing for the U.S. Women’s National Team. She finished with 45 career goals and 106 career points, both of which rank third in Cal history. She scored three goals in a game five times. In her junior season, Morgan became the first Cal player to be one of three finalists for the Hermann Trophy, which goes to the nation’s top women’s collegiate soccer player. She was one of four soccer finalists for the 2010-11 Honda Sports Award, given to the top college female athletes in a number of sports.

Other: In May 2025, Morgan became a minority owner of the San Diego Waves FC . . . Morgan graduated from Cal one semester early, with a degree in Political Economy. . . . Morgan is married to former Cal men’s soccer player Servando Carrasco and they have two children. . . . In July 2015, Morgan was one of three players, along with Portland Thorns teammates Christine Sinclair and Steph Catley, to become the first female athletes to appear on the cover of an EA Sports FIFA video game. . . . Morgan was featured in Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit edition in 2012, 2014 and 2019. . .. Morgan and WNBA star Diana Taurasi received the Icon Award at the 2025 ESPYs in “recognition of their incredible careers and significant impact on the world of sports.”

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