BRIAN MORGAN

• Morgan Paige Brian, whose nickname is Moe or Bean, graduated from UVA with a degree in kinesiology in May of 2017.


• She married former professional soccer player Fabrice Gautrat on Nov. 18, 2017.


• Loves to spend time with friends and family, and sleep.


• Enjoys attending church.


• Favorite foods are pineapple gratin and peanut butter pie.


• Favorite candy is Warheads, the extreme sour hard candies, or anything sour in general, but is not a fan of spicy foods.

Dreaming Big
Morgan Brian grew up on St. Simon’s Island, a tiny barrier island off the coast of Georgia, three miles wide, 11 miles long, with a huge soccer culture. In spite of the soccer culture, the tiny island population meant there just weren’t enough players, so Brian played up four or five years. “I was nine, and we were playing with kids that were 14. I hadn’t grown yet.” Her tiny size earned her the nickname ‘Plankton;’ the character from her then favorite show, SpongeBob SquarePants.

Eventually she got to the age where she had to go play for a club team off the island. Everyone on the island played club with teams that were far away, making the long car rides a couple times a week, playing pickup with the other island kids the rest of the time. Her entire club team tried out for the Florida State ODP team (which St. Simon’s Island fed into). Florida had an ‘A,’ ‘B,’ and ‘C’ team, so every player on her team made at least one of those rosters – except for Brian. “My club coach was like, ‘You can either pout about it or use it as motivation, and in retrospect, it was the best thing that ever happened to me.”  The next year she made the ‘A’ roster state team.

Brian's coach also had his players each fill out a goal sheet, what they wanted to work on now, and what they wanted long term. One of her goals was “start for my club team.” Her coach pulled her aside and said, “What are you doing? You should put, be on the Women’s National Team.”

Fast forward a few years, and Brian was the youngest member of the Women’s National Team squad that won the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup in Canada.

CAPS/GOALS - 79/6