PRESS CHRISTEN

• Christen Annemarie Press.


• Double-majored in Communication and Psychology.


• As a senior at Stanford, she was named to the ESPN Academic All-America First-Team.


• Selected as the Pac-10’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year for women’s soccer and named to the Pac-10 All-Academic First-Team.


• As a junior, she was a Pac-10 All-Academic Second-Team Selection.


• As a sophomore she was Second Team All-Academic Pac-10.


• Father played football for Dartmouth.


• The middle of three daughters and says “we are like Alvin and the Chipmunks.”


• Loves the ocean and sunshine.


• When at home, most days she can be found hiking or playing with her two dogs.


• Lived in Madrid for three months during the winter quarter of her junior year – where she took classes only in Spanish – and taught English to Spanish-speaking kindergarten-aged children.


• Is almost fluent in Spanish.


• Enjoys the sweeter things in life, especially chocolate.


• She is a daily meditator and active yogi.


• Says she “loves to learn.”

When Least Expected
Christen Press had a lot of early success. In club soccer, her teams won national championships, and in college, she became Stanford’s all time leading scorer (71 goals) and the recipient of the 2010 Herman Trophy Award, college soccer’s top prize. But she was more focused on what she hadn’t accomplished. In high school, she’d never been selected for Youth National Teams; and in spite of her individual success in college, Press lost in the NCAA College Cup championship two years in a row.

Coming out of college and entering the pros in 2011, she had one goal: play well enough to attract the attention of the National Team. The eight goals she scored for MagicJack ranked third in the league, and she was named Rookie of the Year. But it wasn’t enough to get her a call up to the National Team. Disappointed, she returned to California to train ahead of the next season, to try one more time to earn herself an invite.

Instead, the league folded. "Just like that I was unemployed," she said. "I had to make a decision." There was a four-day signing window for the European leagues, and within a week, Press found herself on a plane to Sweden. She thought that was the end of her National Team dreams, "I’m not going to play in the Olympics, or the World Cup. The National Team is just a thing that’s not going to happen for me. I need to just go do my own thing, see how far I can take my career without the National Team." And ironically, as she puts it, "that was my roundabout way straight to the National Team."

Playing with more joy and less pressure, she scored goals and more goals; she was the second leading scorer in the Damallsvenskan league in 2012.  Three months after she got to Sweden, she got her first call up to the National Team.

CAPS/GOALS - 104/45