Mallory Pugh, the 19 year old soccer phenom who recently left the bucolic grounds of UCLA to play professional soccer for the Washington Spirit of the NWSL, had her debut today. She came in during the second half and fit in nicely. She had a few touches, completed a pass or two and was eased into the new world that awaits her. It was not a splashy kickoff, but she held her own with the big girls. I’m sure some people may be disappointed but honestly what did they expect?

Whether Mallory will be a huge success both in the league and for the national team is unknown. We certainly hope so. She seems to have all the ingredients of a star in the making; composure, incredible skill, speed and a major nose for the goal. She is lovely to watch and my bet is that she will keep getting better and better.

Aside from all the soccer stuff, what people really seem to want to talk about is was it smart for her to make the decision to leave the safe confines of school and play professionally. Everyone around the women’s game knows, this can be a rough life. The NWSL is the third professional women’s league and while it’s doing markedly better than the others, it’s still a very risky business. However, what’s worth noting here is that Miss Pugh would have never been questioned about this if she were a young man. Yeah, the NBA or NFL or even MSL has big dollar signs attached to it in the way the NWSL does not (yet) but what if it weren’t all about that? We always complain about the business side of sports. How corrupt the business is and how jaded the athletes are. Well, how about showing some admiration to a kid who just went with her heart and is going to live her dream to become a professional soccer player? Yeah, she will cash in too — she is adorable and she will have endorsements coming to her from every angle, but so what? It’s the fact that she’s a women and shouldn’t risk not having a degree in something she probably doesn’t care about in case this whole soccer thing doesn’t work out. That just totally safe. And I’m impressed that she’s not going that route. It’s going to take her far.

I love the fact that Mallory Pugh is going with her gut and heart and is living her dream right now, when it’s happening. I hope it works out for her.