Alex Morgan ends career with a final 13 minutes for the Wave

More than a decade in NWSL. 224 appearances with the U.S. women's national team. A treble winner with Lyon. Two World Cup titles. An Olympic gold medal.

With several other accolades on and off the field, Alex Morgan's soccer career has come to an end after a symbolic 13 minutes in San Diego Wave's match against North Carolina Courage on Sunday.

The emotions were clear on Morgan's face in her final appearance. However, most of the time the one she chose to express was happiness. She savored the final national anthem — her daughter Charlie standing before her, Morgan with one hand on her shoulder and one over her heart — closing her eyes for most of it as if she could bottle up this one last time.

In the 10th minute, Morgan had one final shot to add to her goal tally with a penalty kick, but Courage goalkeeper Casey Murphy saved the attempt. Even as her final look at goal didn't go her way, with a diving Murphy preventing a perfect — if still sudden — ending, Morgan could only smile.

After all, one more goal wouldn't change a legacy. It was just a moment on a sweltering San Diego evening. And then, all too soon, yet a moment over a decade in the making, Morgan unlaced her boots on the beaten grass of Snapdragon Stadium. There were hugs, the captain's armband passed to goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan, and maybe a few tears here or there. Plenty of them were in the crowd, as they serenaded Morgan for her final walk off a soccer pitch as a professional player.

The forward announced her abrupt retirement on Thursday as she and her husband Servando Carrasco are expecting their second child. The announcement meant Sunday was the last time she would tie up her pink pre-wrap and take the field for club or country.

Morgan has been with the Wave since 2022, calling the move a homecoming. She previously played for the Orlando Pride, Portland Thorns, Lyon in France in 2017 and Tottenham during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Her final game for the USWNT came in June, a 3-0 win over South Korea in Minnesota under new head coach Emma Hayes. But over the summer, she was later left off the Olympic squad in favor of younger players.

The 35-year-old retires with a World Cup title from 2015 and 2019 and two Olympic medals (gold in 2012 and bronze in 2021). She's scored 123 goals in 224 appearances for the U.S., fifth on the all-time goalscoring list. But more importantly, she leaves with a deep legacy off the field, including leading the USWNT players' fight for equal pay and being a key witness for Mana Shim, and then Sinead Farrelly, as they went on record with The Athletic in 2019 to share their stories of abuse they had suffered in the NWSL.