What Alyssa Naeher Changed for U.S. Women's Goalkeepers
Alyssa Naeher ranks No. 56 on this list because she changed what the United States could expect from the goalkeeper who followed Hope Solo. In the 2019 Women's World Cup she saved Steph Houghton's penalty in the semifinal and shut out the Netherlands in the final. At the 2024 Olympics she shut out Brazil in the gold-medal match. Later goalkeepers for the United States are measured against those saves.
Alyssa Michele Naeher was born in Bridgeport, Conn., on April 20, 1988, and grew up in Seymour. U.S. Soccer lists her height as 5 feet 9 inches. She played at Christian Heritage School, then at Penn State, where she was a first-team All-American in 2007 and 2008. She learned the position in college, which is where most American women's players were still developed. The longer account of that path is on the page about how women's goalkeeping evolved. This page is about the standard she set once she had the United States shirt.
From Seymour to the starting job
In 2008 she was the starting goalkeeper for the United States under-20 team that won the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup in Chile. U.S. Soccer says she earned the Golden Glove as the best goalkeeper at that tournament.
Her senior debut was Dec. 18, 2014, against Argentina in Brasilia. U.S. Soccer records that match as her first appearance and her first shutout. The United States won 7-0, and she played all 90 minutes. Hope Solo was still the goalkeeper for the biggest matches. That career is on the Hope Solo page. Naeher was on the roster for the 2015 World Cup in Canada and did not play. Solo played every minute, and the United States won. Naeher was Solo's backup again at the 2016 Olympics in Rio. After Rio, U.S. Soccer suspended Solo, and Solo did not earn another cap. U.S. Soccer's player profile says Naeher became the starting goalkeeper in 2017.
She kept playing for clubs while leagues folded and a new league started. The Boston Breakers selected her with the 11th pick in the 2010 Women's Professional Soccer draft, and she was the first goalkeeper taken. After that league ended, she played for Turbine Potsdam in Germany. U.S. Soccer records that Potsdam won the 2011-12 Frauen-Bundesliga. She returned to the Boston Breakers when the National Women's Soccer League opened, and she was the NWSL Goalkeeper of the Year in 2014. On Nov. 22, 2015, Boston traded her to the Chicago Red Stars. She was Chicago's starting goalkeeper from 2016. The club was later renamed Chicago Stars FC. U.S. Soccer notes that early in the 2023 season she became the league's all-time leader in saves and in appearances by a goalkeeper.
At the 2018 Concacaf Women's Championship she played in four of the five matches and recorded four shutouts. The United States beat Canada 2-0 in the final. She was already the starter before France.
The 2019 World Cup
On May 2, 2019, U.S. Soccer named her to the World Cup roster as the starting goalkeeper. She started the opening match on June 11 against Thailand. Briana Scurry started the 1999 and 2003 Women's World Cups. Hope Solo was the starter in 2007, 2011, and 2015. Naeher was the goalkeeper after both of them, and she played every minute of all seven matches. U.S. Soccer says she was the only United States player to do that. She allowed three goals and recorded four shutouts.
The three group matches were shutouts: 13-0 against Thailand, 3-0 against Chile, and 2-0 against Sweden. In the quarterfinal on June 28, the United States beat France 2-1. U.S. Soccer's match report says she made four saves.
The semifinal was July 2, 2019, against England at Stade de Lyon. Christen Press scored in the 10th minute, Ellen White equalized in the 19th, and Alex Morgan put the United States ahead in the 31st. The score stayed 2-1. A video review awarded England a penalty. U.S. Soccer records that Naeher saved Steph Houghton's kick in the 84th minute. The Associated Press reported that it was the first penalty save by a United States goalkeeper in regulation at a Women's World Cup. The United States reached the final.
The final was July 7, 2019, in Lyon. The United States beat the Netherlands 2-0. Megan Rapinoe scored a penalty in the 61st minute, and Rose Lavelle scored in the 69th. Naeher made one save and kept the shutout. U.S. Soccer says that shutout made her the fifth goalkeeper to record a shutout in a Women's World Cup final. She had played every minute of a World Cup the United States won, and the penalty save is why the semifinal stayed 2-1.
The Tokyo Olympics
The 2020 Olympics were played in 2021. In the quarterfinal against the Netherlands, the reigning European champions, she saved a penalty from Lieke Martens in the 81st minute and saved two more kicks in the shootout. U.S. Soccer says those three saves led the United States into the semifinal.
On Aug. 2, 2021, in Kashima, Japan, Canada won the semifinal 1-0. Naeher hyperextended her right knee and sustained a bone contusion. The Associated Press reported that Adrianna Franch replaced her in the 30th minute, and that an MRI showed no ligament damage. Naeher did not play the bronze-medal match on Aug. 5. Franch started, and the United States beat Australia 4-3. The team won the bronze medal. The quarterfinal saves stayed on Naeher's record after the injury.
The 2023 World Cup
She started again at the 2023 Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. In the round of 16 on Aug. 6, 2023, in Melbourne, the United States and Sweden finished 0-0 after extra time. Sweden won the shootout 5-4. Naeher scored the penalty she took, and she saved one of Sweden's kicks. On the last kick she got a hand to Lina Hurtig's shot, and the ball still crossed the goal line. Goal-line technology showed that the whole ball had crossed. The United States was out of the tournament.
The 2019 save and the 2023 loss are the same job with two results. She stopped a World Cup penalty in Lyon. In Melbourne the decisive kick still went in. Both results stay in the record.
The 2024 Gold Cup and Olympic gold in Paris
On March 3, 2024, at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, she earned her 100th cap in a 3-0 win against Colombia at the Concacaf W Gold Cup. U.S. Soccer said she became the third United States goalkeeper to reach 100 caps, after Briana Scurry and Hope Solo. Scurry's career is on the Scurry page. The match was also a shutout.
On March 6, 2024, in San Diego, the semifinal against Canada finished 2-2. In the shootout she saved three penalties and scored one herself. The Associated Press reported the saves and the kick she scored. The United States then beat Brazil 1-0 in the final on March 10. FIFA says she won the tournament Golden Glove and a place on the Best XI.
At the Paris Olympics, ESPN reported that she played every minute. In the semifinal against Germany on Aug. 6, 2024, in Lyon, the United States won 1-0 in extra time. Sophia Smith scored. Match reports listed seven saves. In the 118th minute she jumped and kicked away a header from Laura Freigang with her left foot. The Associated Press reported that stop. In the gold-medal match on Aug. 10, the United States beat Brazil 1-0. Mallory Swanson scored. The Associated Press reported a one-handed save by Naeher in stoppage time. FIFA says she kept four shutouts in the tournament, three of them in the quarterfinal, the semifinal, and the final, and that no goalkeeper at the tournament kept more.
ESPN reported that the shutout against Brazil made her the first goalkeeper in women's soccer to record a shutout in both a World Cup final and an Olympic final. FIFA named her The Best Women's Goalkeeper for 2024. She was the first American to win that award.
Retirement from the national team
On Nov. 25, 2024, she announced that the next two matches would be her last for the national team. On Nov. 30 the United States drew 0-0 with England at Wembley Stadium. On Dec. 3, in The Hague, the United States beat the Netherlands 2-1. Lynn Williams scored in the 71st minute. The Associated Press reported that Naeher made two critical saves and finished the match with six saves. The AP gave her final totals as 115 games, 111 starts, 89 wins, and 69 shutouts. U.S. Soccer's player page lists the same 115 appearances and 69 shutouts.
On Jan. 18, 2025, U.S. Soccer named her Female Player of the Year for 2024. ESPN reported that she was the second goalkeeper to win the award since it began in 1985. Hope Solo had won it in 2009. On Oct. 26, 2025, the national team honored her before a 3-1 win against Portugal. She kept playing for Chicago Stars FC after she left the national team.
The 115 appearances run from the debut in Brasilia through the win in The Hague. Later goalkeepers for the United States are measured against the Houghton save, the World Cup final shutout, and the Olympic final shutout.
The palm on the gloves she wore
The palms on the gloves she wore for the Houghton penalty were foam latex, and a modern goalkeeper palm is still foam latex. That palm is the catch surface. The penalty save in Lyon was a hold on that foam. Moisture on that foam activates grip by sealing the micro-pores. Water fills the pores, blocks air through the backside, and the foam sucks onto the ball. Sweat is not clean water. When the moisture evaporates, salt from sweat stays in the pores and keeps drawing the natural moisture out of the latex. Dirt packs in with the salt. The palm can still look whole while the ball slides off it. Why those pores create suction is in how latex foam grips the ball.
People hear the word balm and think of lip balm. KEEPER BALM is a compound of organic, natural ingredients that is safer than most lip balms, and it was made for grip on the foam palms of goalkeeper gloves. KEEPER BALM is a compound of humectants. Those humectants keep the natural moisture in the latex, and they restore the natural moisture to latex that has dried out. Restoring that moisture restores the pliability that is already in foam latex. The difference between this grip product and a cream for skin is in what KEEPER BALM is.
If the foam is still on the palm, wash the gloves, let them air-dry, and apply KEEPER BALM. Wash the dirt and the salt out with a lukewarm rinse, and squeeze the palms gently. Do not dunk the gloves. A soak leaves grit and water in the foam. That packs the pores instead of emptying them. Air-dry the pair away from a radiator, a dryer, and a hot car. Then apply a thin layer of KEEPER BALM to the clean, dry palms. The steps are in how to care for goalkeeper gloves. The same order, for foam that has dried out, is in how to restore grip on dried goalkeeper gloves.
KEEPER BALM is for foam palms that can still take grip maintenance. If a goalkeeper cannot use KEEPER BALM because of the condition of their glove palms, then Glove Glu is an option. Replace the pair when that is the right call.
Pros use it too, and KEEPER BALM keeps goalkeeper gloves gripping like new for the life of the gloves.
The part other goalkeepers can copy is that she was in goal for the whole tournament when the match still needed a save. She saved Houghton's penalty in the 2019 semifinal, shut out the Netherlands in the World Cup final, and shut out Brazil in the Olympic final. If the foam is still on the palms, wash the gloves, let them dry, and apply KEEPER BALM before the next session.