PORTLAND, Ore. – “You looked 28 years-old. You looked like you've been doing this four or five years.”
That's what Portland Thorns FC head coach Mark Parsons told rookie defender Emily Sonnett after her first start against the Orlando Pride this past April, when she was tasked with marking fellow U.S. Women’s National Team forward Alex Morgan out of the game.
Since that opening day 2-1 victory, the Thorns have conceded a tied-for-the-league-low 12 goals and Sonnett, who has started in 10 of the team's 15 matches before being called up to the USWNT as an alternate to the 2016 Rio Olympics, has been a big part of that defensive success.
The Thorns selected Sonnett with the first pick in the 2016 NWSL College Draft and the Marietta, Ga. native has amply demonstrated the on-field talent that had coaches around the league clamoring to select her back in January.
Always an athlete – Sonnett recalls how when she was in middle school she routinely beat the boys at capture the flag – Sonnett has now combined that athleticism with world-class technical ability on the ball and a spatial awareness that's helped her track runners in space and allowed her to pick out her teammates with precision passes from all over the field.
These qualities helped Sonnett stand out, first as an attacking midfielder at Fellowship Christian High School – where she is the school's all-time leading scorer – and later as a defender with the University of Virginia Cavaliers.
At Fellowship Christian, Sonnett led the Paladins to the 2011 GHSA Class A state championship finals and was named the 2012 Gatorade Georgia Player of the Year after her senior season. Those performances caught the attention of University of Virginia coach Steve Swanson, who saw in Sonnett a player capable of playing anywhere on the field.
“I think Emily’s one of the best transition players I’ve ever seen,” Swanson told Charlottesville's The Daily Progress in 2015. “She can go from offense to defense and defense to offense better than most players I’ve ever coached — and that’s just her nature.”
So when injuries created a vacuum in the Cavaliers' defense during Sonnett's freshman season, Swanson moved the adaptable young recruit right into the heart of the back line.
“I said to myself, 'I'm going to embrace [this] role to help the team,'” Sonnett remembers of her mindset during that freshman season. “The transition is tough in the beginning, but finally you realize what your job is and what your role is and just go from there and help your team in fulfilling your role.”
Sonnett not only realized that role for her coach, but in her four seasons at Virginia vastly exceeded all of his – and likely her own – expectations: starting 89 games, leading the Cavaliers to the 2014 College Cup Final, earning the 2015 ACC Defensive Player of the Year Award, becoming a Hermann Trophy finalist and First-Team All-American, and winning the 2015 espnW National Player of the Year Award.
It's no wonder that Sonnett quickly earned herself a spot in the Thorns' starting line-up, caps with the U.S. Women's National Team, and the praise of her head coach. But now comes the hard part, as she tries to consistently translate the best attributes of her game – leadership, passing, composure – to the highest levels of competition.
“[It's about] taking that attacking mindset, [whether that's] going from defending and...getting into the midfield and breaking a line or whether that's the other center back going forward or me going forward, and helping the attack in [any] way and overloading a side,” she explains.
Put more simply, she says that it's “taking the attacking principles I know and putting them into the center back position going forward.”
It’s a daunting challenge, especially for a rookie professional in a new city far from home, but if history is any guide, Sonnett is more than up to the task.
