Five things to know about U.S. Olympic women’s soccer goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher

She is the last bastion between elation and potential misery.

Every member of the U.S. Olympic women’s soccer team is under some level of pressure, but it’s fair to say no one is under more pressure than goalkeeper Alyssa Naher.

The good news for the U.S. was that teammate Mallory Swanson said,A person who pays great attention to detail.”

But who is she? And why is she the perfect choice for the U.S. women’s goalkeeping position? Here are five things to know about Naher, the U.S.’ final line of defense for an Olympic gold medal before the team takes on Zambia on Thursday (3 p.m. ET, Peacock).

Her nickname on the U.S. team is “Uncle”

You’d think it’s because she’s the oldest player on the team, but her teammates say it’s because she was like a favorite uncle, always willing to jump over to help anyone. Why her nickname isn’t “Auntie” is a mystery, but uncle remains, and Naeher said she’s come to “embrace it,” and thus it became.

She has an identical twin sister.

Naher is one of three sisters born to parents John and Donna Lynn. Her twin sister Amanda also played soccer at Division III Messiah University in central Pennsylvania, not far from where Naher played Big Ten soccer as a goalkeeper for Penn State. She also has a sister, Abigail, who completed the Triple-A Naher trio.

She’s already an Olympic medalist.

It was Neiger who led the United States in 2021 to a bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Technically, it was a team effort, as Neiger made three incredible saves in the quarterfinal penalty shootout against the Netherlands to lead the U.S. to the semifinals, but was injured in the semifinal against Canada, who ultimately won the gold medal.

She’s the queen of shutouts

With Naeher in goal, nearly two-thirds of her 106 appearances with the senior women’s national team have ended with a clean sheet (64). This marks the first time in nearly a decade since Naeher recorded her first clean sheet in her first appearance for the U.S. national team in a win against Argentina in Brazil on Dec. 18, 2014.

Photo: Karen Hickey/ISI Photos/Getty Images

She has played in two U.S. women’s professional leagues.

Naeher began her professional career with the Boston Breakers in 2010, a now defunct women’s professional soccer team. She was deployed to the German women’s league and remained there after the WPSL folded in 2012. She returned to the United States to play for the Breakers again, but as part of the newly formed National Women’s Soccer League prior to the 2014 season. She has spent the final nine years of her career as a goalkeeper for the Chicago Red Stars of the NWSL.