An ode to veteran NWSL defenders
Why experienced players like Sarah Gorden and Sofia Huerta are still delivering for clubs across the league
On 27 March, Angel City captain Sarah Gorden posted a video to TikTok set to the tune of “Ordinary Girl” by Miley Cyrus—er, Hannah Montana. “How people look at me bc I’m 33 in the NWSL” reads text across the first clip, where Gorden’s face is put through a filter that adds wrinkles. The video cuts to a clip of her voguing for the camera, filter off: “Vs how I actually look, feel and move physically.”
Gorden’s TikTok comes off in good fun, but it speaks to something real: the NWSL is filling up with young players, and that leaves veterans like Gorden seeming older and older in comparison, at least on the stats sheet.
Gorden has been playing in the league since 2016, which makes her a bonafide veteran. But she’s more than a figurehead to the public and a leader in the locker room, great as she is at those roles. She’s a beast of a centre back, with the kind of pace that sends a shiver down strikers’ spines.
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