U.S. women's national team to honor Florida school shooting victim at upcoming match

Henry Bushnell
·Senior soccer reporter
Mourners bring flowers as they pay tribute at a memorial for the victims of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. (Getty)
Mourners bring flowers as they pay tribute at a memorial for the victims of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. (Getty)

The U.S. women’s national team will hold a moment of silence before its upcoming SheBelieves Cup match in Orlando to honor one of the victims of the tragic shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

Alyssa Alhadeff, a midfielder on the school’s soccer team, was one of 17 people killed by a gunman on Feb. 14. The captains of the Stoneman Douglas team wrote a note to the U.S. women’s national team hoping U.S. Soccer would honor Alyssa at the game against England on March 7.

U.S. Soccer announced Sunday that it would do so with a moment of silence, and by hosting Alyssa’s family at the game:

Furthermore, star striker Alex Morgan reached out directly to Jamie Morris, the Stoneman Douglas soccer co-captain who had originally tweeted the request. Morgan said she’d have tickets waiting for the players if they could make it to Orlando, which is about a three-hour drive from Parkland:

U.S. Soccer said it was connecting with Parkland players about attending the match, and also said Alyssa’s club teammates would be attending.

Morris initially tweeted the note Sunday morning. It quickly accumulated thousands of retweets, and was passed onto U.S. Soccer officials.

“On behalf of our team, we were wondering if we could work with the US Womens National Team to figure out how to honor Alyssa,” the note read. “We would be more than happy to make [the three-hour] drive to honor our friend.”

Morgan, who plays for the Orlando Pride of the NWSL, also invited the Stoneman Douglas players to any of her club games:

The England game is the third of three for the U.S. in the four-team SheBelieves tournament. Its opener is against Germany on March 1 in Columbus (7 p.m. ET, ESPN2). Its second game is against France on March 4 in New Jersey (noon ET, ESPN2). The England game – the one at which Alyssa will be honored – is three days later (7 p.m. ET, ESPN News).

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Henry Bushnell covers global soccer, and occasionally other ball games, for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Question? Comment? Email him at henrydbushnell@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @HenryBushnell.