It's important for girls to feel strong and powerful even when they're playing sports.
I'm very organized. I have my day-to-day schedule, every 15 minutes, written out.
The hardest thing to do is to fail and keep pushing at the same time.
When you've learned to love yourself, you get all the things that come with that. Friends, passion, success.
When I was able to better live in the moment that I was in, I think that it really freed me.
I'm a dreamer, and I'm a perfectionist, and I love excellence, and that's hardwired in me. But when I was young, I lived in a space for a long time where I only felt insufficient.
For a long time growing up, I thought that everything happens for a reason and it's kind of already written. But as I've grown and learned various things, I think that the most important moment is the one that you're in, and that's the only moment that matters, that you can really control. The future is unknown, and the past is history.
I try to practice mindfulness at all times, including the times where I'm nervous and I'm stressed.
I kind of felt like I was never good enough. I always wanted more.
I was in front of the goal so much at Stanford. I still amassed a lot of goals, but there were so many opportunities that I wasn't scoring.
We want more opportunities for women's players throughout the world.
I don't really own a lot of makeup. Usually, though, I don't leave the house without mascara. That is so essential for me. I love playing with lip color, too. I'm just really basic.
I think that a lot of women experience that balance between feeling insecure about and appreciative for their bodies. I definitely have.
There's a lot that's out of your control. But the one thing that you can control is your work ethic.
With yoga, it works every part of the body and increases range of motion. People think you get super flexible and you lose your power in sport. I'm getting back to normal because I'm so wound up and tight.
I'm grateful for all of our fans because at the end of the day, they give us purpose.
I always want to keep my skin clean when I get up in the morning, and I use sunscreen before I go out to the field.
I would like to fight as hard as I possibly can in each and every game and win or lose, leave it at that, and move forward. I know in my heart that that is the mindset I need to be a successful and happy athlete.
The tremendous honor of playing on the world stage is even more rewarding when I am able to use my accomplishments to help others.
We stress out over things we can't control. So if something is a stressor, you can just simply take the power away from it by focusing on something else.
My first year with Gothenburg was the most carefree because I was playing on a middle-of-the-table team in Sweden. It was a lot less of the global attention.
I find the ball, and I think, 'Where's the ball going, and where do I need to go?' It just puts me back in the game, and it's the simplest thing, but it's become sort of like my soccer mantra. I simply use the ball as my focus point and move back into position, and the distracting thoughts disappear, and I'm right back in the game.
The American professional schedule gives players a six-month off-season, so many of us have become pickup regulars while training without an organized team.
If I couldn't get to the national team, I wanted to get as much as I could out of soccer, and I think moving abroad was my opportunity to do that. I think that, in turn, playing with that freedom and that spirit allowed me to play a lot better. I escalated my game quickly just by being happy.
I've always preferred a 4-3-3. It's a more fluid and dynamic system, and I think it plays to my strengths better.
I think sharing your experiences with younger players is something that's hugely valuable for your team, for your program. It kind of gives me a sense of self outside of just connecting your passes, scoring your goals - it's being a part of the larger picture.
When I went to Sweden, I sort of found out who I was.
I think my most happy and carefree state was 2012 because I really did say, 'Forget everything. I'm going to play for myself.'
Everyone, especially athletes and fans everywhere, need to make sunscreen and sun protection a priority.
The speed of life that top American athletes have is boom-boom-boom, and I'm a lot slower. I look before I cross, you know?
While I don't know if I exist in the land of the elite, I'm definitely on the battlefield with restlessness.
I think, a lot of my career and my life before I went to Sweden, I felt like I was trying to be someone else.
My mom is just authentically herself all the time. She loves herself. She loves her sense of humor. She brings people in when she talks. She brings people in when she laughs. Watching her, I think that that's when I first learned and was encouraged to be myself and to sort of love and live in that way.
I meditate daily, and I think it's sort of a life skill.
In Sweden, if a player has the ball, and you're running across the line of vision, you would never call for the ball. In the United States, if you're open, you're screaming.
I remember, playing in college especially, I cried in almost every game I played. I just felt so much stress and pressure that I was letting everyone down if I didn't score a goal or win the game. I carried that weight with me into every game.
I've stayed away from the actual L.A. scene for most of my life.
When I'm home, I like to plan out all of my workout routines and all of my eating for the whole week.
On game days, I do yoga as just a really short routine. It's more to warm up and to calm down in the morning.
Of course I have other passions and other interests, but soccer's always my priority.
No hidden talents, but I have a lot of hobbies. Acrylic painting - I got a whole set, and I light candles at night and sit there and paint and look out on Lake Michigan.
As a professional athlete, part of my job is to make sure I'm consuming high quality nutrients.
I'm so excited to be a Coppertone brand ambassador because as an athlete, taking care of my body is a huge part of my job, and sunscreen is a vital part of that.
When I started playing in Sweden, there was nobody watching. No one knew who I was, so I was just playing for the love of the game. And after my first season, my coach came up to me and said, 'Of all the people you're the one who smiles the most on the field,' and that was the biggest compliment I ever received.
I always want to take on the giants.
Stanford's an amazing, amazing school. It was an extraordinary soccer program.
I've always felt like my job is to protect my sister. Even growing up, on the playground, when my sister was too shy, I would speak for her... I even had dreams where I had to save her, growing up, all the time - like, she was falling, and I had to save her.
I encourage all players to work to be their best, which includes looking for opportunities beyond the playing field.
Winning and losing isn't what's important. The attempt at success and getting to your best self is what matters.
