Jenna Nighswonger has gone from Huntington Beach to soccer’s world stage
Jenna Nighswonger is living her dream, at least the first part of that dream: pulling on the jersey she’s revered since forever, stepping into a line thick with legends, bidding to be part of, well, the grandest enterprise imaginable.
And she’s killing it.
The 23-year-old soccer phenom from Huntington Beach has spent the past month showing the four-time World Cup champion U.S. women’s national team staff that she belongs, enjoying a breakout performance on the left flank — with family and friends in the stands — to aid the Americans’ thorny march to the Concacaf W Gold Cup championship.
Nighswonger’s attacking savvy, tactical intelligence and refined touch — along with a couple of goals, one of them a sizzler — played a significant role as the U.S., in its most important prep for this summer’s Olympics, bounced back from a stunning and most deserved group-stage loss to Mexico with three tactically driven triumphs, the last Sunday’s 1-0 decision over Brazil at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego for the trophy.
She’s a piece within the national team’s transition following last year’s World Cup failure to a more efficient, sophisticated and tactically diverse game model, one better suited for women’s soccer’s rapidly morphing global landscape and fueled by a new generation of hopeful stars.
The path forward is lengthy, nothing is guaranteed, and much of the work will follow the Paris Games. Nighswonger, who made her debut in December’s twin friendlies with China, plans to stick around.
“This is something I’ve dreamed and worked for my whole life ...,” she said. “The first game, I was definitely like, ‘Oh my God, this is crazy. I’m playing for the national team.’ The second game was a little bit of that, too, and I don’t think I’ve lost that all the way. I’m still so appreciative of the magnitude of the situation and playing for the national team. I’ve started to get more comfortable and more confident, which is nice. ...
“I’m growing into [the idea that I belong], but I did feel like I belonged at camp since I got there. That’s a mentality you need to have, because it is a tough, challenging environment. I think I belong here. Yeah, as much as I’m filled with so much honor to be here, I think I deserve to be here. And I’m just excited for the future.”
Her arrival was to be expected. The former Huntington Beach High talisman has played at the highest available level since before her teens. She has extensive youth national team experience, won an NCAA championship and was a first-team All-American at Florida State, and was called in straight off a Rookie-of-the-Year campaign — while adjusting to a new position with specific tactical requirements — for National Women’s Soccer League titlist NJ/NY Gotham FC.
The December friendlies gained her admission to the Gold Cup roster, and she certainly impressed at left back in several different tactical systems across four Gold Cup games, three as the starter.
“We’re really, really pleased with Jenna ...,” interim U.S. head coach Twila Kilgore said after Nighswonger’s brilliant finish in a sterling quarterfinal performance against Colombia. “She has a really good ability to read the game and play simply, and it doesn’t hurt to have a left foot. She’s capable of playing multiple positions, and I would expect at some point in her career that she’ll play multiple positions for us.”
Longtime U.S. standout Alex Morgan praises her teammate’s “wicked shot, great cross” and knack for getting “herself in the right positions,” adding that “Jenna really excites me.”
None of this surprises Huntington Beach girls’ soccer head coach Raul Ruiz, who worked with Nighswonger in her freshman and sophomore years before her focus turned to her development in Costa Mesa-based youth powerhouse Slammers FC. He used her primarily as a playmaker and flank attacker, and she provided 23 goals and 29 assists.
“She was a difference maker,” he said. “She was a version of [Leo] Messi. She scored some goals that just left us with a ‘Wow!’ ... Players like her are hard to come by, and when they come your way, you just have to embrace it and enjoy it.”
Nighswonger enjoyed her time as an Oiler. Most important for her was playing alongside her best friend, Anna Carleton.
“That was this opportunity that I never thought I would have, because we played for different club levels, we were different ages,” she said. “Having that opportunity is something I’ll never forget. We still talk about games and how much fun it was playing together. High school soccer helped me create these memories that I’m just going to carry with me for so long.”
Nighswonger rejoined Gotham just ahead of Friday’s NWSL Challenge Cup final against the San Diego Wave, with the regular season starting the following weekend. The national team has two games in April and two more in June, and then off to Paris.
She hopes to make the trip.
“I’ve dreamed of playing in the Olympics and the World Cup,” she said. “It would be incredible to represent my country on a stage like that, and represent myself. That’s something I’m definitely working toward in these next couple of months.”
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