Melanie Barcenas, who got Alex Morgan's jersey 5 years ago in Mission Valley, thrilled to play for hometown team
Five summers ago in Mission Valley, when the United States and Brazil were to kick off a women’s soccer match, local girls accompanied the players onto the field. One girl recognized U.S. star Alex Morgan.“I asked her if she could give me her jersey after the game,” remembered Melanie Barcenas.Following the U.S. victory, the 10-year-old Barcenas positioned herself near where players would exit. Seeing Morgan, she asked if she’d remembered the jersey request.
“I had a little bit of nerves,” said the 15-year-old. She added: “It was fun just to be out there and just have fans there and be in that environment.”The old Mission Valley stadium where Barcenas caught Morgan’s autographed jersey was the same venue the City of San Diego built for the football Chargers and other men’s sports teams in the mid-1960s.
Among the excited spectators that night? The girl who walked onto the Qualcomm Stadium field in July 2017. A lefty, Morgan often plays left wing. At the same position, the Wave have attracted a pair of teenage standouts who chose to turn professional before becoming of college age: Jaedyn Shaw, of Frisco, Texas, who was 17 when she joined the Wave last summer and became the youngest player to score in her NWSL debut; and now Barcenas, who’ll turn 16 in October.
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