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U.S. women's national team player Samantha Mewis announced her retirement on Friday. The 31-year-old has navigated a knee injury and multiple surgeries and has been off the pitch for the national team since 2021. She steps away from the game as one of the most accomplished Americans ever to play the game. She won multiple titles at the collegiate, club, and international levels, including the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup.

"With both sadness and clarity, I am retiring from professional soccer," Mewis posted on her social media.

'Unfortunately, my knee can no longer tolerate the impact that elite soccer requires. Though this isn't what I wanted, it's clear that this is the only path forward for me. I want to thank everyone who has been on my team throughout this journey. Soccer has put so many wonderful things in my life, but the most wonderful thing has been the people. To all of my family, friends, teammates, and fans I truly feel that we did this together and I'm extremely grateful."

An unpredictable ending

Mewis has been transparent in the arduous march toward her retirement decision. She's made social posts over the years, and even discussed her long, all-consuming injury on her former podcast "Snacks." Her experience creating digital content around women's soccer has led to her next venture, as editor-in-chief of "The Women's Game" with Men in Blazers.

Her career will be discussed as one that was cut too short by injury, because it was. She is such an accomplished game-changer that a player of her caliber deserves a longer farewell, and while there's a bit of sadness that she's not getting that, the legacy of her impact is vast on and off the pitch. 

Mewis is part of a special class of players. It's a group that has already seen a handful of retirements and is a generation that has shaped and changed women's soccer in America and across the globe.

Early title winner

Her success on the pitch already dates back a decade when she lifted the 2012 U-20 FIFA Women's World Cup and led UCLA to their first-ever NCAA women's soccer national championship in 2013. Her reputation as the ball-winning connective tissue of a midfield's muscle earned her multiple callups to youth national teams including the 2010 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup and 2008 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup where she played alongside her sister, USWNT midfielder Kristie Mewis.

She's been a college teammate with fellow 2019 World Cup winner Abby Dahlkemper, and her place among the 2012 U-20 USWNT World Cup winning team set in motion an unimaginable foundation for what is now a thriving women's pro soccer league in NWSL. Several players of the 2012 U-20 USWNT roster were drafted into the league and ultimately should be credited with the success of its sustainability.

Julie Ertz and Kaelia Watt were members and just some players who recently retired, while Crystal Dunn, Cari Roccaro, Abby Smith, Morgan Gautrat, Katie Stengel, and Vanessa DiBernardo are still playing in the league. 

"Love you Sammy! What an incredible impact you have had on this sport! You are amazing and will continue to do great things!," Dunn wrote her USWNT teammate.

"Loved every moment of being your teammate for so many years. You are one of a kind," wrote Gautrat. 

Legacy in NWSL, USWNT, and WSL

Mewis is a three-time NWSL Championship and NWSL Shield winner. A true box-to-box midfielder, she was a game-changer whenever she slotted in alongside Ertz, Lavelle, and Horan during the 2019 World Cup. She added the 2019 trophy to her awards collection when the team won back-to-back senior national team World Cups for a global record-setting fourth title. 

She also cemented her legacy for women in sport as a leader in the USWNT Players Association. As Vice President-Treasurer, she aided the players in historic collective bargaining agreement negotiations and helped the group ratify the first-ever CBA to include equal pay. She balanced the load while managing a professional playing career. 

Her final accolades include an FA Cup trophy with Manchester City during the 2020-21 season and a return to the Olympic podium for the USWNT with a Bronze Medal finish in the Tokyo Games. Even while managing her final attempts and rehabbing her knee, Mewis still fought for pay equity issues. 

In May 2023, the Hanson native spoke in support of salary transparency bills at the Massachusetts State House. 

"We were told by our own federation to just be grateful for what we had," Mewis said during her State House comments. "Without understanding the financial benefits and resources the men were receiving, we would not even have known the level of discrimination we were facing."

Now as Mewis steps off the pitch and into retirement, she's already written the beginning of her next chapter to enact change for the women's game.