Alexandra Morgan Carrasco (born Alexandra Patricia Morgan; July 2, 1989) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a striker and captain for San Diego Wave FC of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL).In 2018, Morgan won the US Soccer’s Female Player of the Year award. She was nominated alongside Julie Ertz, Tobin Heath, Lindsey Horan and Megan Rapinoe.
On July 2, 2019, Morgan became the first woman to score a world cup goal on her birthday, in a 2−1 win over England to reach the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup Final. In the final on July 7, Morgan helped win a penalty that Megan Rapinoe later converted to open the scoring, as the United States defeated the Netherlands 2–0. Morgan was awarded the tournament’s Silver Boot; finishing as the joint-top scorer with six goals but losing out to Megan Rapinoe on a fewest minutes tiebreaker. She was named to the bench in the opening friendly of the Victory Tour against Ireland but was unused before being ruled out for the rest with a season-ending ankle injury.
Due to pregnancy, Morgan missed the 2020 CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying Championship and the 2020 SheBelieves Cup. With club and international soccer severely disrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic, Morgan made her national team comeback and first appearance under new head coach Vlatko Andonovski on November 27, 2020, in a friendly against the Netherlands, 509 days since her last appearance against the same opposition in the 2019 World Cup final. In February 2021, she was named to the 2021 SheBelieves Cup roster. In June 2021, Morgan was named in the 18-player United States Women’s soccer team roster for the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Ahead of two abroad friendlies vs Australia in November 2021, USWNT head coach Vlatko Andonovski opted to leave a core group of veteran players off his 22-player roster, which included Morgan. He cited that he needed to give roster spots to younger players to award them valuable minutes ahead of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. As a result of this decision, Morgan subsequently was not included in the 23-player roster for the 2022 SheBelieves Cup in February. On June 13, 2022, Morgan was recalled to the national team ahead of two friendlies vs Colombia and the 2022 CONCACAF W Championship.
Morgan helped the team win their third consecutive CONCACAF title and directly qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics, scoring the game-winner on a penalty kick in a 1-0 victory over Canada in the final. She also helped the United States clinch qualification for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup scoring twice in the team’s opening match against Haiti on July 4, and being in the squad for the team’s 5-0 win over Jamaica on July 7.
She was named to the tournament’s best XI and was awarded the golden ball as the tournament’s best player.
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