Leah Pruitt
Personal information
Date of birth (1997-09-05) September 5, 1997
Place of birth Rancho Cucamonga, California, United States
Height 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Position(s) Forward
Youth career
Sporting California Arsenal
2012–2016 West Coast FC
2016 Slammers FC
College career
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2015 San Diego State Aztecs 18 (10)
2016–2018 USC Trojans 63 (22)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2018 LA Villa 5 (4)
2019 North Carolina Courage 14 (2)
2020–2021 OL Reign 11 (0)
2022–2023 Orlando Pride 13 (1)
Total 43 (7)
International career
2014 United States U17
2015–16 United States U19
2014 United States U20
2018 United States U23
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Leah Pruitt (born September 5, 1997) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a forward.

Pruitt played college soccer for the San Diego State Aztecs and USC Trojans, winning the 2016 National Championship title. She was selected 5th overall in the 2019 NWSL College Draft and played professionally for four seasons in the National Women's Soccer League with North Carolina Courage, OL Reign and Orlando Pride, winning both the NWSL Championship and NWSL Shield as a rookie in 2019.

Early life

Growing up in Rancho Cucamonga, California, Pruitt was a four-year varsity player at Alta Loma High School, breaking the school record for goals in a single season in 2015 with 41 and was a three-time all-league honoree.[1] She began playing club soccer at Sporting California Arsenal FC. On June 27, 2012, the team won the Elite Clubs National League (ECNL) under-14 National Championship, beating San Diego Surf 2–0 in the final held in Chicago.[2] She later moved to West Coast FC, helping the team reach another ECNL National Championship final.[3] In June 2016, Pruitt won the ECNL under-18 National Championship title with Slammers FC,[4] scoring in a 2–0 victory over Michigan Hawks in the final.[5] Pruitt was also a five-year member of the Cal South PRO+ Olympic Development Program.[3]

College career

Pruitt was scouted by San Diego State University when her father contacted the coaches about her older sister Charlee's interest in joining the team as a goalkeeper. Head coach Mike Friesen came to watch their club team play a tournament in Arizona in summer 2012 and, although he had a backlog of goalkeepers, Friesen was interested in signing the team's 4 ft 11in forward, Leah. She committed that December, two years before she could sign a national letter of intent: "SDSU really wanted me, you could tell. I loved how the coaches were really into me coming here. I knew it was the right choice."[6] Pruitt was 5 ft 8in by the time she debuted for the Aztecs in 2015 and was an immediate starter, starting all 18 games before a knee injury kept her out of the final two games of the season. As a freshman Pruitt led the team with 10 goals and nine assists. She was named Mountain West Conference Freshman of the Year and was an All-Mountain West first team selection as the Aztecs won the regular season title and finished as runners-up in the conference tournament, losing the final to San Jose State Spartans in a penalty shootout.[7]

Pruitt transferred to the University of Southern California in 2016. She made 21 appearances for the USC Trojans as a sophomore, all as a substitute, scoring four goals and creating eight assists.[3] USC won the 2016 NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Tournament title with a 3–1 win against West Virginia. Pruitt registered an assist on a Katie Johnson goal during the final.[8] In her junior year, Pruitt started all 20 games, scoring six goals and four assists on her way to All Pac-12 Conference second team honors. In 2018, Pruitt played in all 22 games (starting 21), and put up career-high numbers in both goals with 12 and assists with nine.[3] She earned All Pac-12 and All-Pacific Region first team honors, and was recognized nationally with United Soccer Coaches All-America third team and TopDrawerSoccer.com Best XI third team honors.[9][10]

Club career

LA Villa

In 2018, Pruitt played for LA Villa in the Women's Premier Soccer League. She scored four goals and registered two assists in five appearances as LA Villa finished third in the Coastal Conference.[11] She was named Coastal Conference Offensive Player of the Year at the end of season awards in August 2018.[12]

North Carolina Courage

Pruitt was drafted in the first round (5th overall) of the 2019 NWSL College Draft by the North Carolina Courage.[13] She made her professional debut in the season opener on April 13, 2019, entering as a 71st-minute substitute for McCall Zerboni in a 1–1 tie with Chicago Red Stars.[14] She scored her first goal on April 28 as part of a 4–1 win away at Houston Dash.[15] In total, Pruitt played 556 minutes in 11 appearances as a rookie, scoring two goals and an assist before a knee injury sidelined her for the final two months including North Carolina's run to the NWSL Championship title having also won the NWSL Shield.[16]

With the 2020 season disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic during preseason in March, the season didn't start until the 2020 NWSL Challenge Cup in June. Still injured, Pruitt was waived by North Carolina on June 23 as part of the Challenge Cup squad announcement.[17]

OL Reign

Four days after being waived by North Carolina, Pruitt was selected off waivers by OL Reign and immediately placed on the team's 45-day disabled list.[18] "Since I was going through an injury, it was hard in the beginning. Once I got picked up by OL Reign, it was super exciting. It sparked my fire to come up here and be a part of this club."[16] With no regular season following the conclusion of the Challenge Cup, the NWSL scheduled a replacement Fall Series. Pruitt made her club debut in the team's opening Fall Series game on September 26 as a 70th-minute substitute for Jasmyne Spencer in a 2–2 tie with Utah Royals. Pruitt played a total of 132 minutes across all four Fall Series games and scored her first Reign goal in the final game of the series on October 17 having also made her first start for the team in a 2–0 win over Utah.[19]

Ahead of the 2021 season, Pruitt signed a new three-year contract with OL Reign. On the signing, head coach Farid Benstiti said "Leah has exceeded all expectations since she joined our club before the Challenge Cup. She worked incredibly hard to recover from injury, which enabled her to make impact in each of our matches in the Fall Series. We believe Leah has tremendous potential and I am excited to be working with her this season."[20] She played 15 games in all competitions, scoring once during the 2021 NWSL Challenge Cup.

Orlando Pride

On December 18, 2021, Pruitt was traded during the 2022 NWSL Draft by new Reign head coach Laura Harvey along with Celia, the 10th overall pick, and a second-round pick in the 2023 NWSL Draft to Orlando Pride in exchange for Phoebe McClernon.[21]

On April 6, 2023, after not featuring in either of the matchday squads for the opening two games of the season, Orlando Pride announced Pruitt had retired from professional soccer in order to pursue new career opportunities.[22]

International

In August 2011, Pruitt was invited to the annual U.S. under-14 National Team Identification Camp held in Portland, Oregon. It featured 72 players and was run by U.S. Soccer Women's Development Director Jill Ellis.[23] In January 2014, Pruitt was called up to the under-17 national team by B. J. Snow for a 24-player training camp at the U.S. Soccer National Training Center in Carson, California.[24] In October 2014, Pruitt was named to an under-20 training camp by Michelle French,[25] and attended a further two training camps with the under-19s in July 2015 and May 2016 in the build-up to the 2016 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup.[26][27] In May 2018, Pruitt was called up to an under-23 training camp.[28]

Personal life

Pruitt's father, Aaron, played football as an inside linebacker at San Diego State in the mid-1990s.[6] Her older sister, Charlee, also played soccer and was a four-year starter as a goalkeeper at Loyola Marymount 2015 to 2018.[29]

Career statistics

College

School Season Division Apps Goals
San Diego State Aztecs 2015 Div. I 1810
USC Trojans 2016 214
2017 206
2018 2212
Total 6322
Career total 8132

Club

As of October 1, 2022.[30]
Club Season League Cup[lower-alpha 1] Playoffs Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
LA Villa 2018 WPSL 54———54
North Carolina Courage 2019 NWSL 142—00—142
OL Reign 2020 NWSL —00—4[lower-alpha 2]141
2021 1104100—151
Total 110410041192
Orlando Pride 2022 NWSL 13130——161
Career total 437710041549

Honors

San Diego State Aztecs

USC Trojans

North Carolina Courage

Individual

References

  1. ↑ "ALL-AREA GIRLS SOCCER: Alta Loma's Leah Pruitt leads the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin Team". Daily Bulletin. March 30, 2015.
  2. ↑ "Girls soccer team wins national championship". Press Enterprise. July 28, 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Leah Pruitt - USC Women's Soccer". USC Athletics. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  4. ↑ "Pruitt goes pro!". Slammers FC. January 14, 2019.
  5. ↑ "Slammers win national title". Daily Pilot. July 2, 2016.
  6. 1 2 "SDSU's soccer secret: Dad played football". San Diego Union-Tribune. November 4, 2015.
  7. ↑ "Leah Pruitt - SDSU Women's Soccer". SDSU Athletics.
  8. ↑ "Women's Soccer vs West Virginia (College Cup, NCAA Final) on 12/4/2016 - Box Score". USC Athletics.
  9. ↑ "NCAA Division I Women's All-America Teams Announced". United Soccer Coaches.
  10. ↑ "2018 Women's Division I Postseason Awards". TopDrawerSoccer.com.
  11. ↑ "2018 WPSL Coastal Conference stats". Archived from the original on November 15, 2019.
  12. ↑ "2018 Best of the WPSL West Region Winners Unveiled". SoCal FC.
  13. ↑ "Leah Pruitt". North Carolina Courage. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  14. ↑ "NC Courage Earn Draw with Crystal Dunn Second Half Goal in Home Opener". North Carolina Courage. April 13, 2019.
  15. ↑ "Williams Scores 40th Career Goal and Debinha Tallies NC Courage's 100th Goal in 4-1 Win Over Houston". North Carolina Courage. April 28, 2019.
  16. 1 2 "Get to Know OL Reign Forward Leah Pruitt". OL Reign.
  17. ↑ "NC Courage Announces 2020 Roster". North Carolina Courage. June 23, 2020.
  18. ↑ "OL Reign announce 28-player roster for NWSL Challenge Cup". OL Reign. June 23, 2020. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  19. ↑ "OL Reign Downs Utah to Wrap Up Fall Series". OL Reign.
  20. ↑ Voght, Steve (December 21, 2020). "OL Reign re-sign Leah Pruitt, Nicole Momiki and Rosie White". Sounder At Heart.
  21. ↑ "OL Reign Acquire Defender Phoebe McClernon in Trade with Orlando Pride". OL Reign. December 18, 2021.
  22. ↑ "Orlando Pride forward Leah Pruitt announces retirement". www.orlandocitysc.com.
  23. ↑ "Seven locals join U.S. U-14 Girls' National Team I.D. Camp in Portland, Ore". SoccerWire.
  24. ↑ "U.S. U-17 WNT Opens 2014 at the NTC". TopDrawerSoccer.com.
  25. ↑ "U20 WNT heads to San Diego for training". TopDrawerSoccer.com.
  26. ↑ "Twenty-four players called into U19 NT camp". TopDrawerSoccer.com.
  27. ↑ "U19 WNT Roster for camp in Chula Vista". TopDrawerSoccer.com.
  28. ↑ "Roster set for U.S. U-23 Women's National Team training camp". SoccerWire.
  29. ↑ "Charlee Pruitt - Women's Soccer". Loyola Marymount University Athletics.
  30. ↑ "Leah Pruitt Soccerway profile". Soccerway.
  31. ↑ "USC wins women's soccer championship". USA TODAY.
  32. ↑ "Mountain West Announces 2015 Women's Soccer All-Conference Teams". themw.com.
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