Mariah Meaalii Bullock (; born 22 February 1991) is an American-born Samoan professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for the Samoa women's national team. A former United States youth international, Bullock has played in the professional

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. It is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federatio ...

for the

Boston Breakers The Boston Breakers were an American professional soccer club based in the Boston neighborhood of Allston. The team competed in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). They replaced the original Breakers, who competed in the defunct Women's ...

and

Seattle Reign FC OL Reign is an American professional women's soccer team based in Seattle, Washington. Founded by Bill and Teresa Predmore in 2012 as Seattle Reign FC, it was one of eight inaugural members of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). In 2020, ...

Early life

Bullock was born in

Huntington Beach Huntington Beach is a seaside city in Orange County in Southern California, located southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. The city is named after American businessman Henry E. Huntington. The population was 198,711 during the 2020 census, maki ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

to Doreen Meaalii Nogueira and Rubens Nogueira, and was raised in the fellow

Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...

city of

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...

. She attended and played for Marina High School in

Huntington Beach, California Huntington Beach is a seaside city in Orange County, California, Orange County in Southern California, located southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. The city is named after American businessman Henry E. Huntington. The population was 198,711 duri ...

. She earned NSCAA Youth All-America and High School Scholar-Athlete All-America honors and was named an ESPN All-American while captaining the team for three years. She earned Sunset League MVP honors, was named to the All-Orange County first team three times and the All-Southern Section first team twice. She was named Marina Female Athlete of the Year twice. While playing for Cal South, she won three State Cups with the team. She also played for the regional Olympic Development Program (ODP) team. In 2009, she was rated in the top twenty college prospects by ESPN Rise and was ranked 27th in the country by

Top Drawer Soccer A spinning top, or simply a top, is a toy with a squat body and a sharp point at the bottom, designed to be spun on its vertical axis, balancing on the tip due to the gyroscopic effect. Once set in motion, a top will usually wobble for a few se ...

. She played club soccer for Slammers FC.

Stanford Cardinal

Bullock attended

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

where she majored in Psychology. She was a starter for the

Stanford Cardinal The Stanford Cardinal are the athletic teams that represent Stanford University. As of June, 2022, Stanford's program has won 131 NCAA team championships. Stanford has won at least one NCAA team championship each academic year for 46 consecutive ...

from 2009 to 2012. During her freshman season, she scored five goals ranking fifth on the team. She scored her first goal off a header against Notre Dame and scored a

brace Brace(s) or bracing may refer to: Medical * Orthopaedic brace, a device used to restrict or assist body movement ** Back brace, a device limiting motion of the spine *** Milwaukee brace, a kind of back brace used in the treatment of spinal cur ...

against Wisconsin. She was named to the NSCAA All-Pacific Region first team, NSCAA third-team All-American, All-Pac-10 first team, and Pac-10 All-Freshman team. She also earned the Pac-10's Newcomer of the Year award. As a sophomore in 2010, Bullock scored five goals ranking fourth on the team. She was named to the NSCAA first-team All-Pacific Region team, All-Pac-10 second-team and received a Pac-10 All-Academic honorable mention. She was also named to the MAC

Hermann Trophy The Hermann Trophy is awarded annually by the Missouri Athletic Club to the United States's top men's and women's college soccer players. History In 1967, Bob Hermann, the president of the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) and the ...

Watch List. She scored the game-opening goal in the NCAA quarterfinals helping the Cardinal defeat Florida State 5–0. The following year, she scored four game-winning goals during her junior season all with her head. During the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament, she scored the game-opening goals in each match. Post season, she received All-Pac-12 and Pac-12 All-Academic honorable mentions. During her last season with the Cardinal, Bullock's seven goals ranked second on the team. As team captain, she finished her collegiate career with 21 goals and 15 assists. 15 of the 21 goals she scored throughout her time with the Cardinal were equalizer goals or put Stanford ahead in the match. Her 95 career starts tied for third in the program's history. Following her senior season, she earned Pac-12 Scholar Athlete of the Year honors and was named to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) (NSCAA) All-American team. She was also named to the NSCAA All-Pacific Region first team, All-Pac-12 first team, and Pac-12 All-Academic second team selection.

Club career

Boston Breakers, 2013

Bullock was selected in the second round (13th overall) of the

2013 NWSL College Draft The 2013 NWSL College Draft was the first annual college draft held by the National Women's Soccer League to assign the NWSL rights of college players to the eight NWSL teams. It took place on January 18, 2013 at the National Soccer Coaches Asso ...

by the

for the inaugural season of the

draft. As a midfielder, she played in 20 of the team's 22 matches during the 2013 season with 16 starts. She scored her first goal of the season in a match against the

in which the Breakers lost 1–2. She scored two additional goals in matches against

Sky Blue FC NJ/NY Gotham FC is a professional women's soccer team based in Harrison, New Jersey. Founded in 2006 as Jersey Sky Blue, the team was known as Sky Blue FC from 2008 until 2020. A founding member of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in 2013 ...

and

Washington Spirit The Washington Spirit is an American professional soccer club based in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area that participates in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). It is a continuation of the D.C. United Women of the W-League and cont ...

helping the Breakers win both games. The Breakers finished the 2013 season fifth in the league with an 8–6–8 record.

Seattle Reign FC, 2014–2015

In October 2013, Bullock was traded to the

in exchange for two third round draft picks. Of the trade she said, "I'm grateful for everything the Boston Breakers provided me in my first professional season and am excited for the new challenge and growth potential that Seattle offers." During the 2014 season, the Reign set a league record unbeaten streak of 16 games during the first part of the season. During the 16 game stretch, the team compiled a 13–0–3 record. The Reign finished first in the regular season clinching the

NWSL Shield The NWSL Shield is an annual award given to the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) team with the best regular season record as determined by the NWSL points system. The NWSL Shield has been awarded annually since 2013 and is recognized as a ...

for the first time. After defeating the

2–1 in the playoff semi-finals, the Reign were defeated 2–1 by

FC Kansas City FC Kansas City was an American professional women's soccer club based in Kansas City, Missouri. The team was one of the eight founding clubs of the National Women's Soccer League in 2012, and began play in 2013. They were two-time NWSL champions ...

during the championship final. Bullock finished the 2014 season with one assist and started in 6 of the 13 games in which she played. During the 2015 season, the Reign finished the regular season in first place becoming the first team to win the

two consecutive years. The team advanced to the playoffs where they faced

in a semi-final match on September 13, 2015 in Seattle. Bullock's goal two minutes before stoppage time lifted the Reign to a 3–0 win. The team faced

in the final and was defeated 1–0. In September 2015, Bullock announced her retirement from professional soccer choosing to pursue a doctorate degree in Psychology. After completing her PhD in 2020, she returned to the club as its sports psychologist and mental health counselor.

International career

Bullock was eligible to play for the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

and

American Samoa American Samoa ( sm, Amerika Sāmoa, ; also ' or ') is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the island country of Samoa. Its location is centered on . It is east of the International ...

. Bullock represented the United States at various youth levels. She was selected to participate in the U.S. under-15 camp in 2006. She has played for the U.S. under-20 and under-23 teams. Bullock played with

Samoa women's national football team The Samoa women's national football team represents Samoa in international women's football. The team is controlled by the Football Federation Samoa. History The team contested the 2019 Pacific Games in Apia, winning silver. The team topped Gro ...

2018 OFC Women's Nations Cup The 2018 OFC Women's Nations Cup was the 11th edition of the OFC Women's Nations Cup (also known as the OFC Women's Championship), the quadrennial international football championship organised by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) for the w ...

and

2019 Pacific Games The 2019 Pacific Games was the sixteenth edition of the Pacific Games. The Games were held in Apia, Samoa, returning there for the first time since 2007. It was the third time overall that the Pacific Games were held in Samoa. The event was init ...

Personal life

Bullock's father is Brazilian and her mother is Samoan. She has a younger brother Matheus and is married to former

basketball player Elliott Bullock. After retirement from professional soccer, Bullock earned a PhD in clinical psychology in 2020 from

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

. She now works as a sports psychologist for the

Nebraska Cornhuskers The Nebraska Cornhuskers (often abbreviated to Huskers) are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The university is a member of the Big Ten Conference, and the Cornhuskers compete in NCAA Divis ...

and—on a contract basis—for her former club

OL Reign OL Reign is an American professional Women's association football, women's soccer team based in Seattle, Washington. Founded by Bill and Teresa Predmore in 2012 as Seattle Reign FC, it was one of eight inaugural members of the National Women's S ...

References

External links

*
Boston Breakers player profile

US Soccer Player Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bullock, Mariah 1991 births Living people Women's association football defenders People with acquired Samoan citizenship Samoan women's footballers Samoa women's international footballers Samoan people of Brazilian descent Samoan people of American Samoan descent American women's soccer players Soccer players from California Sportspeople from Huntington Beach, California Sportspeople from Orange County, California People from Westminster, California American sportspeople of Brazilian descent American sportspeople of Samoan descent Stanford Cardinal women's soccer players National Women's Soccer League players Boston Breakers players OL Reign players Boston Breakers draft picks OL Reign non-playing staff