SONNETT Emily

General
MIDFIELD TO DEFENCE
She played as an attacking midfielder in high school, but that changed when she moved to the University of Virginia in 2011. When her team was hit by injuries to a number of defensive players during her freshman year, she moved to the back-line initially as a stand-in, and has played as a defender ever since. "I went from scoring goals to stopping them. The defensive learning curve took a while but I'm very thankful. The college portion of my career set me up to be here because that was the first time I played defence in general." (topdrawersoccer.com, 05 Jun 2019; espn.com, 24 Sep 2014; ussoccer.com, 01 Jun 2019)

JOKER IN THE PACK
She has become known for her sense of humour through her social media posts and ability to generate memes of herself by editing pictures. "The jokes and the banter really make this whole lifestyle work. I think with my personality what I can bring [to the team] is a good laugh. Hopefully that is contagious and can make everyone at ease. You have got to have the fun times with all the hard times on this team." (ussoccer.com, 01 Jun 2019; ussoccer.com, 30 May 2019; girlssoccernetwork.com, 08 Jul 2020)

MENTAL GROWTH
In 2018 she spoke about how her first year playing in the NWSL in 2016, where she struggled with consistency and set-backs, helped her mature mentally. "From college to pro, the mental game is a lot more than what people make it out to be. It is really important, because you could find yourself not doing well, or you're not having fun. People say it's a big part of the game, but it really is a big part of the game. I think that is really what my growth was. There's obviously physical, technique and things, but my mental side of the game, I think, grew tremendously over the last year [2017], realising what I'm not good at, what I need to improve, and really breaking it down, in terms of little goals, to reach the bigger goal." (timbers.com, 13 Mar 2018)

CLUB CAREER
In 2016 she was selected first overall by the Portland Thorn in the NWSL College Draft, where she played through to 2019. She signed on loan for Australian side Sydney FC ahead of the 2017/18 W-League season, making 11 appearances for the club. In August 2020, after being unable to play in the 2020 NWSL Challenge Cup in Utah, United States of America, she signed on loan for Swedish club Goteborg FC, where she won the 2020 Damallsvenskan title. She joined Washington Spirit in late 2020. (washingtonspirit.com, 24 Dec 2020; ussoccer.com.com, 07 November 2020)