COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Following a 5-year career with the U.S. Women’s National Team and more than 11 years within the women’s program, Linnea Gonzales (Bel Air, Md.) has officially announced her retirement from the team. The 27-year-old competed in 58 international matches for Team USA.
A Bel Air, Md. native, Gonzales started playing the sport in third grade. Although originally a soccer player, her older sister started playing, and like many, she also wanted to give it a try and eventually fell in love with it.
Gonzales was dedicated to developing as she played for the club H2O, was a student-athlete at Patterson Mill High School and participated and made her way through the ranks of the Futures (now Nexus) program (2010-2014). Her junior year as a Huskie, she helped the squad reach the state final and that same year was named the 2013 Baltimore Sun All-Metro Player of the Year, Baltimore Sun All-Metro Team, All-State Team and All-County. She also received the accolade of First-Team All-American before moving on to play collegiately at the University of Maryland.
In the Olympic Development Pathway program, she was selected for five National Futures Championships or Futures Elite Championships, three AAU Junior Olympic Games and seven consecutive Junior National Camps (JNC). In 2013 and 2014, she was a member of the U.S. U-17 Women’s National Team.
Prior to her college freshman year in 2015, Gonzales participated in the annual summer-long High Performance Center and was named to compete in the Young Women’s National Championship (YWNC). That year she was named to the U-21 USWNT.
As a Terrapin, Gonzales made an immediate impact and collected a multitude of accolades from 2015 to 2018. She was a four-time recipient of Big Ten Preseason Honors, four-time NFHCA All Mid-Atlantic Region Team, three-time All-Big Ten Team and two-time NFHCA All-American. She helped Maryland to three Big Ten Regular Season titles (2015, 2016, 2018), two Big Ten Championships (2015, 2018) and two-NCAA runner up finishes (2017, 2018). In 2015, she was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year.
Gonzales had a standout senior year in 2018 and swept conference honors being named to the All-Big Ten Tournament Team, Big Ten Tournament MVP, All-Big Ten First Team and Big Ten Player of the Year. This continued nationally as she was named to the NCAA All-Tournament Team, NFHCA First Team All Mid-Atlantic Region, NFHCA Mid-Atlantic Region Player of the Year, NFHCA First-Team All-American and NFHCA National Player of the Year. During her time at Maryland, she started every game in her career, while collecting 43 goals on 263 shots with 14 assists.
Gonzales continued to make an impact within the USA system while playing collegiately. In 2016, she was renamed to the U-21 USWNT and participated in the FIH Women’s Hockey Junior World Cup in Santiago, Chile later that year. She went on to be named to the U-21 squad for another year, before aging out and being selected for the U.S. Women’s Development Team in 2018.
In January 2019, Gonzales was named to the U.S. Women’s National Team and on January 27 she recorded her first cap against Chile. Throughout that spring and summer, she got her first taste of senior competition while traveling and playing in all of USA’s matches in the inaugural season of the FIH Hockey Pro League. That July, she was on the squad that helped the red, white and blue to a bronze medal at the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile. A few months later, in November, she participated in the FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifier against No. 9 India, where USA fell just short of qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Gonzales notes that the second game during the 2019 FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifier as one of her favorite career highlights. “The energy before the match and the energy when we hit the field, it was electric and like nothing I’ve ever felt before. It was crazy. That feeling of togetherness was powerful. I will never forget that squad or that experience.”
In her career she went on to compete in three more seasons of the FIH Hockey Pro League (2020-21, 2022-23, 2023-24) and in multiple test series.
“Nay will be missed as a competitor, team mate and genuine person who cared about her team mates and performance of the team,” said David Passmore, USWNT Head Coach. “This was exemplified by her traveling to India for the Olympic Qualifier purely in case we got an injury/illness pre tournament. Once the tournament had started she could not be swapped in yet did everything she could to help the team and especially our young forwards. Nay was a physical and versatile player who played many positions across her long period within the team and would no doubt have played many more matches but for an unlucky string of injuries. We wish her well for the future and I personally will miss our coffee conversations.”
In 2023, Gonzales dove into a new sanctioned format of the game with Hockey5s. She was the captain of women team’s at the Hockey5s Pan American Cup in June in Kingston, Jamaica. She helped USA to a gold medal finish after a thrilling final that went into a shootout. Gonzales was also named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
“I will never forget the tour to Jamaica in 2023 for the Hockey5s Pan American Cup,” recalled Gonzales. “That was the most fun tour I’ve ever been on because all the girls and coaches on that tour were so optimistic, positive, light-hearted, hard-working, and caring. We all just embraced the experience for what it was. We laughed a lot, we danced a lot, we embraced a lot, worked hard, and ended up getting the tournament win too.”
In October Gonzales shifted back to the senior squad where she was named to the Pan American Games roster. In Santiago, Chile, she helped the United Eagles advance to the final match, but USA’s late push fell short as they claimed silver.
This year, she was named the traveling reserve for the FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifier in Ranchi, India. In late January, she competed in the first-ever FIH Hockey5s World Cup in Muscat, Oman, where she captained the team to a ninth place finish and the Challengers Trophy.
Gonzales retires having competed in 58 international senior matches. She has many emotions about her time representing Team USA but sums it up with, “A dream come true. When I was little, I always dreamed of playing and competing for USA. I grew up watching players in the program like Katie O’Donnell, Jill Witmer, Rachel Dawson, and Michelle Vittese. I remember watching them play and feeling inspired and believed that I could be there someday too. This team and program has helped me grow not only as a player but more importantly as a human. Through the adversity, the challenges, and the diverse experiences and people I’ve had the privilege of being alongside during this journey. It has all been a blessing and dream come true.”
Gonzales has a long list of individuals she would like to thank, all who have impacted her through the years as an athlete, person and teammate. “I thank God for giving me the ability to pursue and achieve my dream of competing for Team USA. I want to thank my family for always caring, allowing me to be me, and selflessly choosing to support me on this journey. I want to thank USA Field Hockey, which includes current and previous coaches who have helped get me to where I am today, supported me in good and challenging times, and always believed in me. I want to thank all my teammates from over the years for teaching me things just by being themselves, our friendships, and shared (sometimes crazy) experiences we’ve had together. I want to thank my high school, club, Futures, and college coaches for helping and supporting me on this journey too. And I want to thank David Passmore, for being a light in my life, great coach and an even better human.”
Gonzales is looking to get her esthetician license and start building a career in that realm. She wants to look to continue coaching and help younger athletes wherever she can.
By USWNT
