KICKSTARTER

AROUND THE TIME MOST OF HER FORMER MOUNTAIN VISTA HIGH SCHOOL CLASSMATES WERE MOVING INTO THEIR FRESHMAN DORM ROOMS, MALLORY PUGH WAS PACKING A SUITCASE FULL OF TOO MANY SNACKS AND NOT ENOUGH CLOTHES AND BOARDING A FLIGHT BOUND FOR BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil. There, inside the great concrete bulkheads of Estádio Mineirão, where her hero Ronaldinho wrung the last drip of glory from his career, Pugh’s was waiting to begin in earnest.

The U.S. women’s national soccer team won its first two matches of the 2016 Olympic Games, both in Belo Horizonte, then flew north almost 1,600 miles to Manaus for its third. A jungle metropolis, Manaus is a city of about two million buried in a billion acres of rainforest. It’s at once urban and exotic, home of the Amazon Theatre, an opulent opera house illuminated by 198 Italian crystal chandeliers, and moths larger than your hand that look as if they’ve come off the pages of an illustrated fairy-tale book.

The people, the atmosphere—it all thrilled Pugh. “Being able to say that you’re an Olympian?” she says. “That’s crazy.” Still, the teenager tried desperately to maintain a cool, been-here-before demeanor in front of her older, more experienced teammates. This wasn’t a vacation. The Americans were in Brazil to win a fourth-straight Olympic gold medal. Even silver would be considered a failure.

Against Colombia in Manaus, Pugh, a forward, came on as a substitute in the 33rd minute. At the hour mark, she found herself in front of the opponent’s goal, the ball at her feet, surrounded by defenders: one behind, one to her left, and five between her and the goal. Seemingly trapped, the youngest American on the field dug her right cleat into the turf and swung her left foot. From about 10 yards away, the shot somehow flew between and around (maybe through?) the assembled Colombians, who spun to the ground like bowling pins as it passed. By the time the ball hit the back of the net, Pugh had became the youngest U.S. player, at 18, ever to score in the Olympics.

Colombia would come back to earn a draw, and in the first round of the knockout stage underdog Sweden bounced the Americans from the Rio de Janeiro Games. But the team’s upset exit didn’t obscure Pugh’s feat. Before the Olympics, the wondered in a headline if she was “The Next Great American Soccer Star?” columnist Mark Kiszla had christened Pugh “the next Mia Hamm,” a comparison that happily repeated (alongside a Pugh tweet