Speaker 1: Welcome to good game with Sarah Spain, where we wish
Speaker 1: more people in Aspanya would comment on my name being Spain.
Speaker 1: Come mon, it's cool right See It's Tuesday, November nineteenth.
Speaker 1: Today we're talking to Washington Spirit midfielder Croyd Bethune about
Speaker 1: her incredible debut season, how she stays positive during injury rehab,
Speaker 1: taking herself on bowling dates and a safe place for
Speaker 1: her Olympic gold medal, plus travel trinkets and turkey time.
Speaker 1: It's all coming up next. Welcome back Slices, niche has
Speaker 1: your need to know today.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Sarah and NWSL Soccer News. The
Speaker 2: Washington Spirit and the Orlando Pride have punched their tickets
Speaker 2: to the league final in Kansas City. The Spirit advanced
Speaker 2: in comeback fashion yet again on their home field Saturday,
Speaker 2: going down one nil in the fifty six minute when
Speaker 2: Gotham FC's Estere Gonzalez put a header home off across
Speaker 2: from yasmine. Ryan Audifield stayed on pins and needles until
Speaker 2: the third minute of stoppage time, when hal Hirshfelt was
Speaker 2: the hero. She netted a header of her own to
Speaker 2: tie the score at one. No goals were scored an
Speaker 2: extra time and it all came down to penalty kicks.
Speaker 2: The Spirit converted on their first three, and goalkeeper Aubrey
Speaker 2: Kingsbury delivered the performance of a lifetime, saving all three
Speaker 2: of Gotham's attempts to seal the deal for Washington. And
Speaker 2: on Sunday, the Pride in the Kansas City Current put
Speaker 2: together an electric match. Debinia struck first for KC in
Speaker 2: the thirty third minute, but the advantage didn't last long.
Speaker 2: Orlando's Hayley McCutcheon answered in the forty first to tie
Speaker 2: things up going into the half. In the fifty third minute,
Speaker 2: it was Barbara Bandit time.
Speaker 3: Baby.
Speaker 1: The forward fired a.
Speaker 2: Laser of a strike into the bottom left corner that
Speaker 2: probably would have taken Kansas City's goalkeeper's hand off had
Speaker 2: she been able to make contact with it. The score
Speaker 2: stayed still at to one Pride until the eighty second minute,
Speaker 2: when Marta made her mark like only she can.
Speaker 1: The goal she.
Speaker 2: Scored can only be described as the most beautiful piece
Speaker 2: of soccer I've personally ever seen. She dropped not one,
Speaker 2: but two defenders plus the Current's goalkeeper, straight up diabolical.
Speaker 2: We'll link to the highlight in the show notes, MARTA's
Speaker 2: gold put the Pride up three to one. Kansas City
Speaker 2: made things interesting with a Vanessa de Bernardo penalty during
Speaker 2: a lengthy stoppage time, but they just ran out a runway.
Speaker 2: Orlando took the dub three to two. The NWSL final
Speaker 2: between the Spirit and the Pride takes place on Saturday
Speaker 2: at CPKC Stadium in Kansas City at eight pm Eastern.
Speaker 2: Sarah and I will be there and we hope to
Speaker 2: see some use license there too.
Speaker 1: DMV stand up. We about to get another one maybe elsewhere.
Speaker 2: In pro soccer news, we want to say a huge
Speaker 2: congratulations to west Ham FC midfielder Christy Lewis and Chelsea
Speaker 2: FC forward Sam Kerr, who announced.
Speaker 1: That they're going to be parents.
Speaker 2: The two posted a collajah photos to Instagram in which
Speaker 2: Kerr holds up an ultrasound scan and Ewis reveals her belly.
Speaker 2: The caption reads quote mwis her baby coming twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1: End quote footy and gay shit. Gotta love it. Congrats y'all.
Speaker 2: In golf news, Nellie Korda is back in her first
Speaker 2: competition in almost two months due to a minor neck injury.
Speaker 2: She won the Anica on Sunday. Corda trailed entering the
Speaker 2: final round and it took five straight birdies on the
Speaker 2: back nine to get the job done. It was the
Speaker 2: fourth time this year that she won when trailing entering
Speaker 2: the final round, and she's had a great twenty twenty
Speaker 2: four overall. Earlier this year, she tied an LPGA record
Speaker 2: with five straight victories and became the first American to
Speaker 2: win seven times in a season since Beth Daniel in
Speaker 2: nineteen ninety. In tennis News, the second semifinal of the
Speaker 2: Billy Jean King Cup is today. It'll be Great Britain
Speaker 2: versus Slovakia. Slovakia has made waves in the tournament, already
Speaker 2: upsetting the US in its opener. The winner of today's
Speaker 2: match will play in the BJK Cup Final on Wednesday.
Speaker 2: In WNBA News, the twenty twenty five draft lottery took
Speaker 2: place on Sunday and the Dallas Wings won the number
Speaker 2: one overall pick. The La Sparks will have the number
Speaker 2: two pick, followed by the Chicago Sky at three in
Speaker 2: the Washington Mystics at four. Now, this is a big
Speaker 2: win for a Dallas franchise that's in the midst of
Speaker 2: a lot of change. They've got a new GM and
Speaker 2: Kurt Miller and a head coaching vacancy to fill. Wingstar
Speaker 2: arique A Gumbuwale was pumped about the lottery win, posting
Speaker 2: on Twitter, quote, I just fell.
Speaker 1: To my knees. Thank you Lord end quote.
Speaker 2: Will the Wings select projected number one overall? Pick Page
Speaker 2: Becker's out of Yukon. We'll see when the twenty twenty
Speaker 2: five WNBA Draft goes down.
Speaker 1: On April fourteenth, more WNBA news.
Speaker 2: The Women's Basketball Hall of Fame announced it's twenty twenty
Speaker 2: five class over the weekend, and it's full of WNBA grades.
Speaker 2: Sue Bird, Sylvia Fowls, Cappy Pond Dexter, and Elena Beard
Speaker 2: all made the cut, as they should because these resumes
Speaker 2: are impeccable. Bird is a five time Olympic gold medalist
Speaker 2: and four time WNBA champ with the Seattle Storm. Fowls
Speaker 2: is a four time gold medalist, two time WNBA champ
Speaker 2: with the Minnesota Lynx and two time Finals MVP. Beard
Speaker 2: won a championship with the LA Sparks and is a
Speaker 2: two time Defensive Player of the Year. And Pondexter is
Speaker 2: an Olympic gold medalist, two time WNBA champion with the
Speaker 2: Phoenix Mercury, and Finals MVP. Congratulations to these living legends.
Speaker 2: I am so so grateful I got to grow up
Speaker 2: watching y'all hoop. In college Hoops News, Yukon head coach
Speaker 2: Gino Oriama tied Tara Vanderveer's record for total NCAA wins
Speaker 2: on Friday night. His Number two Huskies sixty nine to
Speaker 2: fifty eight win over number fifteen ranked North Carolina was
Speaker 2: the one thousand, two hundred and sixteenth of his career
Speaker 2: to go with only one hundred and sixty two losses.
Speaker 2: He's now on the precipice of setting the new record
Speaker 2: regardless of gender. He'll have his first chance to become
Speaker 2: the winningest coach in NCAA college basketball history on Wednesday
Speaker 2: when Yukon plays Fairleigh.
Speaker 1: Dickinson. Thanks me. We gotta take a break when we
Speaker 1: come back. It's Kroy Bethune. We caught up with her
Speaker 1: last week before the playoffs got underway. That's coming up next.
Speaker 1: She's an Olympic gold medalist, an attacking midfielder for the
Speaker 1: US women's national team, and the Washington Spirit of the NWSL.
Speaker 1: She played college soccer for the USC Trojans and the
Speaker 1: Georgia Bulldogs twice was named First team All American. She
Speaker 1: was selected by the Spirit third overall in the twenty
Speaker 1: twenty four NWSL draft and tied the single season assist
Speaker 1: record in this rookie season despite missing more than two
Speaker 1: months of the season to injury. She loves a fit
Speaker 1: pick and she'll beat your ass in bowling. It's Kroy Bethune.
Speaker 1: What's up, KROI?
Speaker 3: Hey, how are you?
Speaker 1: I'm good? First, congrats on an absolutely incredible rookie season,
Speaker 1: even despite the time, missed five goals, a league leading
Speaker 1: tennis sists in just seventeen appearances, four NWSL Rookie of
Speaker 1: the Month honors every single month in which you played.
Speaker 1: That's unreal. Did you have specific goals that you wrote
Speaker 1: down before the season that you look back at now
Speaker 1: and see how your sort of reality matched her expectations?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Thank you, and yeah I had a lot of
Speaker 3: goals written down. I'm big on manifestations, so I feel
Speaker 3: like whatever energy I put down, I can succeed and
Speaker 3: accomplish those goals.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I'm a big manifestation person too. I've gotten into
Speaker 1: all the sciencey side of it, of the neuroplasticity of
Speaker 1: actually training your brain to like start practicing doing the
Speaker 1: things you want to you want to do. There's a
Speaker 1: difference though, between thinking it and doing it. I think
Speaker 1: sometimes when people have these incredible accomplishments so early on,
Speaker 1: it feels almost like, what like it's hard, like legally blonde?
Speaker 1: Are you able to put in perspective? How like what
Speaker 1: you just I was just listening to Sammy Muis talking
Speaker 1: about how like I never had ten assists, not once
Speaker 1: in my career, and you just did that in your
Speaker 1: rookie season. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I mean I'm strong and like believing in myself, in
Speaker 3: the power of the tongue, like whatever you speak into positivity.
Speaker 3: I feel like I can do it. These are goals
Speaker 3: that I wanted to accomplish, and within the first half
Speaker 3: I feel like I did so looking back sometimes it
Speaker 3: seems a little unreal. But I believe that I can
Speaker 3: do it, and then actually doing it, it's it's great.
Speaker 1: To whom do you attribute that belief system? Is that
Speaker 1: someone that comes from family, from coaches, from mentors, Yeah.
Speaker 3: From my parents. My dad actually wrote this out. If
Speaker 3: you don't mind me reading it. Yeah, it's watch your
Speaker 3: thoughts they become your words. Watch your words they become actions.
Speaker 3: Your actions become habits. Habits become character. Character becomes destiny.
Speaker 3: All is thought, that is all. That's actually my screen saver. Yeah,
Speaker 3: so I'm like, I believe in that heavily.
Speaker 1: Yeah that's a favorite. That's a really good one. Okay.
Speaker 1: So you have this incredible rookie nwslc's and you also
Speaker 1: got your first taste of national team play, little thing
Speaker 1: called an Olympic gold medal. No big deal. You were
Speaker 1: elevated to the main roster at the Olympics because of
Speaker 1: an injury to Jaden Shaw, and you made your Olympic
Speaker 1: debut in the seventy ninth minute of the third group
Speaker 1: stage game against Australia. Take us back to that moment.
Speaker 1: What are the feelings? Nerves, excitement, joy.
Speaker 3: A little bit of nerves. I've been waiting for this
Speaker 3: moment for so long, so for it to actually be here,
Speaker 3: it was a little surreal. Going in as an alternate.
Speaker 3: I didn't really have any expectations of like playing or
Speaker 3: you know, actually having the chance to get out there.
Speaker 3: But stay ready so you don't have to get ready
Speaker 3: so when the opportunity came, I was excited. Before stepping
Speaker 3: on the field, the nerves kind of just dropped a
Speaker 3: little bit, and I've more so wanted to focus on
Speaker 3: performing well and helping the team out as much as
Speaker 3: I possibly could.
Speaker 1: Is there a US Women's national team player in particular
Speaker 1: that you went to for advice or maybe was helping
Speaker 1: and preparing you for this big international tournament experience at
Speaker 1: the senior level. Yeah.
Speaker 3: So Lindsay actually reached out to me before the Olympics
Speaker 3: and I think my first camp and was just like hey,
Speaker 3: like it's Lindsay, hope you're doing well. I know you're
Speaker 3: coming in the camp. Just kind of words of like
Speaker 3: encouraging words letting me know that I do belong here
Speaker 3: and if I mean anything, like she's there. That actually
Speaker 3: meant a lot for me coming from her, especially like
Speaker 3: she's the captain, she's one of the ogs and then
Speaker 3: mal at the Olympics, I feel like she kind of
Speaker 3: took me under her wing as like a big sis
Speaker 3: in the college days, like we would have a lot
Speaker 3: of comparisons and within our game, and I feel like
Speaker 3: her as a player is amazing, but getting to know
Speaker 3: her as a person like she's very well rounded, so
Speaker 3: I have a lot of respect for her just looking
Speaker 3: after me.
Speaker 1: Those are two pretty good people to take advice from,
Speaker 1: to get leadership from, you know, Lindsay hErenn got a
Speaker 1: lot of criticism during the Olympics, but when you look
Speaker 1: at the way her teammates speak about her, the way
Speaker 1: Emma Hayes spoke about her, her leadership is quite clear.
Speaker 1: Was that hard for you guys on the team to
Speaker 1: experience that dissonance between what you feel about her versus
Speaker 1: what was being said about her by some of the
Speaker 1: media or fans personally?
Speaker 3: No, I feel like everyone's always going to have something
Speaker 3: to say, no matter what, whether it's positive or negative.
Speaker 3: And we're inside the bubble, We're with her every day.
Speaker 3: We actually know who she is and how she is,
Speaker 3: so I feel like that's just people outside of the
Speaker 3: bubble chatting. But her leadership is amazing and I love
Speaker 3: how serious and focused she is and she wants to win,
Speaker 3: but she can balance still being lindsay.
Speaker 1: Yeah, where's your metal now?
Speaker 3: It's hidden, It's in a safe, it's protected.
Speaker 1: Not a sock drawer, not in the bathroom, no where. No,
Speaker 1: we're weird. Just somewhere safe. Yeah, yeah, I heard you're
Speaker 1: really into music, so I need to know if you
Speaker 1: have a go to song for pregame to get hyped.
Speaker 3: Not a song, more so like genres and artists. I'm
Speaker 3: big on old school music R and B, so I
Speaker 3: tend to listen to that on the way there, just
Speaker 3: to enjoy the vibe, like.
Speaker 1: Don L.
Speaker 3: Jones, Gat Band, Lorn Hill Erica and There's a bunch
Speaker 3: but those are a couple. Yeah. And then when I
Speaker 3: get to like the locker room, I turn on some
Speaker 3: rat some hip hop to really get me like focused
Speaker 3: and locked in, ready to go.
Speaker 1: Who are some of your fabs?
Speaker 3: Young Thug, Future, maybe young Boy? Those three really get
Speaker 3: me ants cool.
Speaker 1: I heard you like a Thursday solo date night watching
Speaker 1: live music, preferably R and B. Why solo?
Speaker 3: I feel like self love is the best love. Sometimes
Speaker 3: you just need to get away and enjoy your own company.
Speaker 3: For me, it's very soothing and rejuvenating, and I found
Speaker 3: that I enjoy being by myself sometimes, so I feel
Speaker 3: like every once in a while, just spoiling yourself is
Speaker 3: good for your energy.
Speaker 1: I like that for concerts and music sometimes too, because
Speaker 1: I hate when people try to talk to me during
Speaker 1: live music. I'm like, that's not about you. I'm literally
Speaker 1: here for the music. So the up. Yeah, I heard
Speaker 1: you also do solo bowling dates, going out to the
Speaker 1: lanes alone, working on your game. What's your best score?
Speaker 3: I got like almost I think like two hundred ones. Whoa, yeah,
Speaker 3: I'm getting up there. I'm trying to get a perfect score.
Speaker 1: My bess is one eighty five, which is pretty good,
Speaker 1: but not not two hundred.
Speaker 3: No, that's still good.
Speaker 1: Do you have your own ball?
Speaker 3: I do. My grandma actually passed away and they were
Speaker 3: My dad was going through stuff and found the bowling ball.
Speaker 3: Her and my grandpa they had bowling balls and I
Speaker 3: actually took her bag in the ball that she uses. Ease.
Speaker 1: I love that. So that's great. Are you Are you
Speaker 1: right down right down Main Street down the middle or
Speaker 1: do you.
Speaker 3: Throw a curve herd ball all day?
Speaker 1: I cannot do that? I okay, I'm jealous. I can't
Speaker 1: extract this.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you get there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're a young person to be so comfortable and
Speaker 1: happy hanging solo. Has that always been the case or
Speaker 1: do you think some of that is to offset the
Speaker 1: amount of time you spend in a team situation where
Speaker 1: you have to be thinking about the needs of everybody
Speaker 1: else out on the field. That's a good question.
Speaker 3: I feel like as time has gone on and I've
Speaker 3: matured and gone through certain situations or just life, I've
Speaker 3: had to learn to enjoy my own company again. Also,
Speaker 3: just being around a lot of people all day, all
Speaker 3: the time, every day, sometimes it gets a little overwhelming
Speaker 3: or too much, so you need an escape. So I
Speaker 3: feel like it's a little bit of mixture of both.
Speaker 1: It sounds like an introvert talking introvert. I don't know.
Speaker 3: I feel like when I was younger, as an extrovert,
Speaker 3: I enjoy people. I feel like I'm a people person.
Speaker 3: But I don't know. I feel like I'm becoming a
Speaker 3: little bit of both, and I'm enjoying it good.
Speaker 1: I'm what they call an extroverted extrovert. Basically, the more
Speaker 1: people I'm around, the more energy I have. Every once
Speaker 1: in a while, I have to recharge. But that's great
Speaker 1: that you can find a balance in both. You started
Speaker 1: playing soccer when you were really young, and then your
Speaker 1: family spent three years in England in your sort of
Speaker 1: pre teen years. How do you think time in that
Speaker 1: sort of soccer crazed country impacted your skill set or
Speaker 1: your interest in the game.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it grew the love that I have
Speaker 3: for the game. Soccer is huge in Europe, but it's
Speaker 3: a different there's a difference between soccer and Europe and overseas.
Speaker 3: Actually being at some menu games, it showed me how
Speaker 3: much fans loved soccer. It was dope. I have an
Speaker 3: older brother, so playing with him and his team made
Speaker 3: me a lot more competitive. It made me want to win.
Speaker 3: It made me learn how much soccer is quicker and
Speaker 3: stronger with boys compared to girls or women.
Speaker 1: Growing up.
Speaker 3: I feel like it helped me a lot pre pro
Speaker 3: or pre team in college life.
Speaker 1: Yeah, in your household, is it soccer or football? Soccer? Soccer?
Speaker 1: All right? Good?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Back in the States, you had.
Speaker 1: A tremendous amount of success in high school and college
Speaker 1: despite three ACL tears before you'd even graduated college. What's
Speaker 1: it like doing three rehabs? And how do you stay
Speaker 1: positive knowing the second and the third time? Okay, I've
Speaker 1: already been through this. I know what I'm about to
Speaker 1: have to do. How did you stay positive during that?
Speaker 3: It sucks for sure, But I mean the support system
Speaker 3: I had is amazing. My parents, my brother, the coaching
Speaker 3: staff of Kadani, and the whole medical staff at USC
Speaker 3: was amazing. The first time, it was scary because I've
Speaker 3: never ever gotten hurt and for my first injury to
Speaker 3: be so major was crazy, especially the time that happened.
Speaker 3: I missed out on the World Cup for you some
Speaker 3: team so in freshman year. But the first one I
Speaker 3: got through, and after that the second one, I was
Speaker 3: kind of like, okay, like I've been here before, I
Speaker 3: know what's gonna happen. I know how to get through it.
Speaker 3: But it was just kind of like Dan, like here
Speaker 3: we go again, you know, But also just being surrounded
Speaker 3: by amazing people, my teammates. I had a lot of
Speaker 3: teammates that I grew up with and played with, so
Speaker 3: it was kind of like I had multiple different families
Speaker 3: around me at one time. And the third one was
Speaker 3: really just unfortunate. It also stuck too, But I feel
Speaker 3: like that one taught me the most about myself, how
Speaker 3: patient I am, how strong I am, how much I
Speaker 3: really do love the game and still want to play.
Speaker 3: A lot of people don't know this, but it also
Speaker 3: made the decision for me at the time I was
Speaker 3: deciding whether I wanted to stay another year or go pro,
Speaker 3: and I feel like that ACL kind of showed me, Okay,
Speaker 3: stay another year, take more time, and then thrive after.
Speaker 1: It's so hard watching ACL tears across soccer landscape, and
Speaker 1: I feel like there's a disconnected part between what science
Speaker 1: and medical experts say about some preventative things, like there's
Speaker 1: something called the pet method that I've spoken to doctors
Speaker 1: saying if every team did this for fifteen minutes before
Speaker 1: every practice, it would help. And then the media, which
Speaker 1: seems to think that we're sort of stuck in decades
Speaker 1: old conversation about how we don't understand why there are
Speaker 1: so many injuries. It just keeps happening on a team level,
Speaker 1: both in collagen at the pros, Like how much conversation
Speaker 1: is there amongst you and your teammates about the prevalence
Speaker 1: of ACL injuries and trying to figure out how to
Speaker 1: be preventative.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's it's thrown in the air sometimes here
Speaker 3: and there, especially when someone does have the injury, then
Speaker 3: the conversation is very hot in the moment. But I mean,
Speaker 3: I agree, I mean there's a lot of confusion as
Speaker 3: to why it's happening, especially in women, it's so common.
Speaker 3: I mean, you can tear your aco by doing something
Speaker 3: so simple or literally being taken out. So we kind
Speaker 3: of wonder, like, is it the way that our bodies
Speaker 3: are made genetics, DNA or simply like you're saying, science,
Speaker 3: do we need to prent more?
Speaker 1: So?
Speaker 3: I feel like it's up in the air. I mean,
Speaker 3: at Spirit we have a great medical staff, but we
Speaker 3: should still kind of figure out what's really going.
Speaker 1: On, keep studying. That's where all the money should be
Speaker 1: going in the women's studying right now. In terms of
Speaker 1: sports science, you play such an audacious game. It's really flashy,
Speaker 1: it's really aggressive, it's really beautiful. Have you ever been
Speaker 1: advised to tone it down or to play a different style
Speaker 1: because of those early injuries? Do they ever just say
Speaker 1: play it straight, Kroy, like you're gonna get it done,
Speaker 1: just you know, without all the flash.
Speaker 3: Honestly, thankfully, no. I feel like all the coaches I've
Speaker 3: had in the past have respected who I am and
Speaker 3: how I play, and that's what makes me me. So
Speaker 3: they just continue to push me to be me, and
Speaker 3: I mean it gets the job done. So if it's
Speaker 3: not broke, don't fix serah, that's right.
Speaker 1: That's right. You tore orr meniscus while throwing out the
Speaker 1: first pitch at the Nationals game. How's the rehab going?
Speaker 1: How is the meniscus injury different at all from your
Speaker 1: previous knee injuries.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the rehab's going great. About ten weeks. A lot
Speaker 3: of even strength now, which is amazing. Just continue working
Speaker 3: on strength and mobility. I feel like this one is
Speaker 3: a lot easier in the sense of time. I feel
Speaker 3: like I'm doing a lot more way earlier than if
Speaker 3: I tore my aco ten weeks ago, especially pain and
Speaker 3: stress wise, So I feel like that's a positive thing
Speaker 3: with this meniscus.
Speaker 1: Here, tell us about your dog. I imagine he spends
Speaker 1: a lot of time with you during rehab, the big
Speaker 1: and the small moments of coming back. What's his name?
Speaker 3: So? I have a dog named Cush. He's an American
Speaker 3: Staffordshire and an American Terrier. He has a little bit
Speaker 3: of other things mixed with him. But yeah, he's a
Speaker 3: nine month paity. He's so cute.
Speaker 1: Nine months Okay, So is this your first, like dog
Speaker 1: of your own?
Speaker 3: Yes, this is my first dog on my own.
Speaker 1: Are you are you like a protective doggy mama, Are
Speaker 1: you like the kind? He's dressing him up in Halloween
Speaker 1: costumes and he has his own Instagram.
Speaker 3: No, h we're working on the Instagram. I'm a very
Speaker 3: affectionate dog mom. He's like very sweet and loves cuddles.
Speaker 3: But I also don't like when people like try to
Speaker 3: tell me how to be a mom. Fair. Yeah, but
Speaker 3: the injury, he's been great. I feel like when I
Speaker 3: first came back, he noticed like, oh, something's wrong with mommy,
Speaker 3: like let me be gentle. But as time's going on,
Speaker 3: he's just been there, supporting lovey, you know, being a
Speaker 3: big old baby.
Speaker 1: Pities are the best snugglers. My little Pity Banks is
Speaker 1: basically a barnacle attached to me at every moment possible.
Speaker 1: My dogs do have their own Instagram. I feel like
Speaker 1: if Kush got his own Instagram, there'd be a lot
Speaker 1: of questions about Push the Pit's name. Can you take
Speaker 1: us through that?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I just think I've never met a dog with
Speaker 3: that name, so I thought it was pretty cool to do.
Speaker 3: And yeah, he's handsome. I mean, when you see him,
Speaker 3: it kind of fits him.
Speaker 1: Yeah, No, I saw him before the interview started. That
Speaker 1: is a handsome pup. That is a handsome pup. Ye, okay,
Speaker 1: So you've got the pity to support you. You've got
Speaker 1: a great medical staff. Tell me about some of your teammates.
Speaker 1: You step onto the scene as this highly tied rookie,
Speaker 1: this high draft pick, high expectations. You blow all of
Speaker 1: them out of the water. You're winning Rookie of the month,
Speaker 1: Rookie of the month, Rookie of the month. How has
Speaker 1: it been sort of adjusting to being a professional soccer
Speaker 1: player and to being around other teammates who are both
Speaker 1: supportive and also you know, trying to get theirs and
Speaker 1: have their own success.
Speaker 3: I feel like adjusting has been great. I feel like
Speaker 3: I've been prepared for this moment for a couple of
Speaker 3: years now, Like I mentioned, staying another year. Also the
Speaker 3: coaches and staff. I've been surrounded with college, but a
Speaker 3: lot of the rookies are already knew, whether that's national
Speaker 3: team camps or how I used to play at Concord
Speaker 3: with or playing against teammates like Heather and Courtney at Utah.
Speaker 3: So we're not new to each other, which is great.
Speaker 3: And also since there's a lot of us, it's kind
Speaker 3: of like we have our own little rookie families. So
Speaker 3: we've been getting through the rookie year with each other,
Speaker 3: which has been amazing. I just like how welcoming everyone is.
Speaker 3: It just feels really comfortable and no one being judgy
Speaker 3: or jealous or any of that. So I feel like
Speaker 3: this class has honestly been amazing and always.
Speaker 1: This is going to be a tough season to top,
Speaker 1: even with the jury, Like, other than staying healthy, of course,
Speaker 1: we're going to want that, but I trust you also
Speaker 1: have some other big plans for next year. Do you
Speaker 1: have any goals you want to share?
Speaker 3: Of course, health of course, And then I'll just say,
Speaker 3: topping what I did this year, I just want to
Speaker 3: continue to build off of each layer.
Speaker 1: Yeah, what's your status for when you actually can hopefully
Speaker 1: start just getting back to full speed practices and everything else,
Speaker 1: hopefully before preseason.
Speaker 3: I mean, I feel like God had another injury in
Speaker 3: my plan in my journey, and since he did, I
Speaker 3: feel like the timing was kind of perfect. I have preseason,
Speaker 3: which gives me a little bit of extra time to
Speaker 3: get ready for season, so I feel like I'll be ready.
Speaker 1: Before Okay, before I let you go, we need to
Speaker 1: do a speed round the all time soccer player men's
Speaker 1: or women's that you most admire.
Speaker 3: Women's we have Marta Tobin of course, and I'll say
Speaker 3: Megan in there as well.
Speaker 1: Nice top three nice.
Speaker 3: And then men's messy Ronaldinho honestly, all the Brazilian and
Speaker 3: Ronaldo Valdo.
Speaker 1: All those yep, current player in the NWSL that you
Speaker 1: look to you and you aspire to be.
Speaker 3: Like a great question. Honestly, I'd have to go back
Speaker 3: to now. I just have so much respect for her
Speaker 3: and just thinking about like back in the day there
Speaker 3: was a lot of comparison to us, and I definitely
Speaker 3: see it. So I have a lot of respect for
Speaker 3: as a person and a player.
Speaker 1: NWSL player from another team you'd most want to play with.
Speaker 3: I wanted to play with Ashley Sanchez such to say, but.
Speaker 1: Yeah, NWSL player from another team you hate to play.
Speaker 3: Against either, so Smith or Nay.
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, Naomy Germa is a good answer
Speaker 1: for anyone who just is like she makes it so
Speaker 1: tough back there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, Nay and I have gone to a bunch
Speaker 3: of camps together. But also just playing against her at
Speaker 3: Stanford each year, it was like she's like that is
Speaker 3: really good.
Speaker 1: Okay. Owner of the Spirit, Michelle Kang is known for
Speaker 1: her over the top fits. Do you have a favorite
Speaker 1: Michelle Kang fit?
Speaker 3: I do. I can't remember exactly what, but I know
Speaker 3: she had on this like either white or cream dress
Speaker 3: and some like really high heels and I was like, Michelle,
Speaker 3: you look great.
Speaker 1: Probably had a cape too. She's got a lot of kiss.
Speaker 3: Yeah, she does. For her to like walk on the
Speaker 3: field with the grass and just look unfazed. It's really,
Speaker 3: it's unbelievable.
Speaker 1: She really, yes, how do you do it? She has
Speaker 1: a very intimidating energy. It's like a little bit of
Speaker 1: like Big Dick energy times like Devil Wears Prada and
Speaker 1: a wind Tour energy.
Speaker 3: Okay, yeah, it's kind of.
Speaker 1: Terrifying to be honest, at least for me. Croy. We've
Speaker 1: had so much fun talking to you. You are such
Speaker 1: a professional already at just twenty three years old, both
Speaker 1: in the way you carry yourself and in your game,
Speaker 1: and we are dying to see how high that ceiling
Speaker 1: is for you. Because this season was so much fun,
Speaker 1: We're thinking about your health and we're so excited for
Speaker 1: when you're back. Thanks so much for giving us some time.
Speaker 3: Thank you, thank you for having me. You're amazing a
Speaker 3: lot of fun.
Speaker 1: Thanks again De Croix for the time, and congrats on
Speaker 1: all the success. Can't wait to see you back out
Speaker 1: on the pitch. We gotta pay the bills. BRB, You're back,
Speaker 1: so are we, So slices. I booked a few days
Speaker 1: of VAK with the hubby in Spain over the weekend
Speaker 1: before work started. And whenever we travel to a new
Speaker 1: country together, we buy a Christmas ornament to add to
Speaker 1: our tree. So every year when we decorate, we get
Speaker 1: to remember all the places that we've been together. It's
Speaker 1: my favorite tradition. So I'm wondering for our good gameplay
Speaker 1: of the day. Do you collect anything when you travel? Magnets, keychains, bowls.
Speaker 1: We would love to see the fruits of your travels,
Speaker 1: so send us a pick, tell us about it. Our
Speaker 1: email is good game at wondermedianetwork dot com or leave
Speaker 1: us a voicemail eight seven two two four fifty seventy
Speaker 1: and you know it's coming. Don't forget to subscribe, rate
Speaker 1: and review. It's easy. Watch when you're the perfect amount
Speaker 1: of tipsy to crush at the bowling lanes. Rating ten
Speaker 1: out of ten strikes review. You're not sobern off to
Speaker 1: stress about it, but you're not so drunk that your
Speaker 1: aim is off. You're right in the middle, just like
Speaker 1: the balls you're tossing right down Main Street, hitting the
Speaker 1: pocket between the one and the three pins. Turkey time, baby,
Speaker 1: Now it's your turn. Rate and review. Thanks for listening,
Speaker 1: See you tomorrow. Good game, Croy, Good Game, Cush Few
Speaker 1: pitching mounds. Good Game with Sarah Spain is an iHeart
Speaker 1: women's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment.
Speaker 1: You can find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts. Production by Wonder Media Network,
Speaker 1: our producers are Alex Azzie and Misha Jones. Our executive
Speaker 1: producers are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan, and Emily Rudder.
Speaker 1: Our editors are Emily Rudder, Britney Martinez, Grace Lynch, and
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Speaker 1: your host Sarah Spain