CARSON, Calif. – The Penn State women's soccer program landed five alumane on national team rosters for the 2024 CONCACAF W Gold Cup, highlighted by a pair of players on the United States Women's National Team. Sam Coffey and Alyssa Naeher will represent Team USA, while Canada's Olivia Smith, Costa Rica's Rocky Rodriguez and Puerto Rico's Nickolette Driesse round out the quintet of Nittany Lions set to begin competition at Dignity Health Sports Park Tuesday night.
A crucial leadership presence on the Nittany Lion roster from 2019 to 2021, Coffey returns to the U.S. Senior Women's National Team for her eighth appearance with the squad since her inaugural outing with the Red, White & Blue on September 6, 2022. While a student-athlete in Happy Valley, Coffey was a multi-time All-Big Ten selection and hauled in Big Ten Midfielder of the Year in the 2020-21 campaign. Coffey is a three-year veteran of the National Women's Soccer League's Portland Thorns FC, where she has booked 44 career appearances and one professional goal. Coffey appeared and started in 23 matches for the Thorns in last season's run to the NWSL semifinals.
A native of Seymour, Connecticut, Naeher will stand watch over the goal for the United States in the first-ever CONCACAF W Gold Cup. Naeher is a two-time World Cup champion and an Olympic bronze medalist following her performance in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. A 15-year veteran of professional women's soccer in America, Naeher currently represents the Chicago Red Stars in NWSL competition. While at Penn State, she carved a reputation for herself as one of the premier goalkeepers in college soccer, hauling in multiple All-America honors in addition to recognition as a finalist for the MAC Hermann Trophy.
One of the most dominant student-athletes in women's college soccer history, Rodriguez is a native of San Jose, Costa Rica, and is already widely considered one of the greatest individual athletes in Costa Rican history. Rodriguez etched her place in women's soccer history, scoring Costa Rica's first-ever goal at the FIFA Women's World Cup during group stage competition against Spain in 2015. While at PSU, Rodriguez led the Nittany Lions to their first NCAA Championship in 2015, secured the second MAC Hermann Trophy in PSU history and ultimately earned the No. 2 overall selection in the 2016 NWSL Draft. She spent her first four seasons as a member of Sky Blue FC and played multiple seasons with Portland Thorns FC alongside Coffey before being traded to Angel City FC this winter.
A two-year veteran of the Nittany Lion women's soccer program after transferring from Florida State, Driesse helped guide the Blue & White to its first national championship in 2015 and served as the program's captain in the successful 2016 campaign. Driesse spent multiple years in the U.S. National Team system with the U-18 and U-20 squads before being called up by the Puerto Rican senior squad in June of 2021. Driesse has scored a pair of goals for Puerto Rico in international competition, finding the back of the net in a pair of friendlies against Guyana in October of 2021.
Born in Whitby, Ontario, Canada, Smith continues her stint as one of the youngest and most impressive performers on the Canadian senior Women's National Team. Smith has already made history for Canada, becoming the youngest individual in the federation's history to earn an international cap in 2019 when she was just 15 years old. At age 19, Smith is one of the youngest members of the Canadian squad and is the youngest Nittany Lion alumna heading to the Los Angeles area for the CONCACAF W Gold Cup. Smith is currently a professional player for Sporting Club de Portugal Feminino, competing in Campeonato Nacional Feminino in Lisbon, Portugal.
The CONCACAF W Gold Cup will feature 12 teams, including both teams that qualified for the Summer Olympic Games in Paris, the six teams that qualified from the group stage and play-in, as well as four guest national teams from other confederations. The 12 teams are split into three groups of four, which will compete in a single round-robin, with eight teams advancing to the knockout stage of the tournament.
Team USA opens competition on Tuesday, February 20, with a 10:15 p.m. (ET) start scheduled against the Dominican Republic from Dignity Health Sports Park, the home of Major League Soccer's LA Galaxy. Puerto Rico opens action on Wednesday, February 21, at 10:15 p.m. (ET) against Brazil, Canada begins play against Paraguay at 6:15 p.m. (ET) on Thursday, February 22, and Canada gets underway against El Salvador on Thursday with a 9 p.m. (ET) start scheduled.
FOLLOW THE NITTANY LIONS
Visit GoPSUSports.com for more information on Penn State women's soccer. Fans can keep up to date with the Nittany Lion women's soccer team on X and Instagram @PennStateWSOC, in addition to the team's Facebook page at /PSUWomensSoccer.
The 30th Season of Penn State women's soccer is presented by the Smeal College of Business.
