Beyond the Whistle with Ally Sentnor

A cultural moment is happening in women’s soccer. You can feel it in every sold-out stand and among every girl in the crowd who’s starting to believe the pitch belongs to her too. None of this happened by accident. It was built, generation after generation, by women who refused to accept “good enough.”

Meet Ally Sentnor, a midfielder and forward and one of the most electrifying young talents in the game today. The No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NWSL Draft out of the University of North Carolina, a U.S. women’s national team regular and the 2024 U.S. Soccer Young Female Player of the Year. Ally has worn the colors of the Utah Royals, the Kansas City Current and now Angel City FC in Los Angeles. She grew up in the national team system from age 12, traveling from her hometown of Hanson, Massachusetts, to camps across the country to chase a dream that, for her, is now a reality.

However, beneath the accolades is a player who tore her ACL minutes into her first college game, fought her way back, finished her degree and learned that confidence isn’t something you wait for, it’s something you build. She is, in every sense, the kind of competitor with a kind heart that we live for.

We sat down with Ally to talk confidence, community, the women who shaped her and the e.l.f.ing courage it takes to keep girls in the game.

This space is for every eye, lip and face! 👁️💄🙂

Beyond the Whistle with Ally Sentnor

1. Every inspiring woman has someone who opened a door for her. Who’s a woman that’s changed your path, and what’s something she taught you that you still carry today?

I would say my first club coach, Liz Lima. I played for her my whole club career, I was there for 10 years. She just ran a club unlike any other club that I’ve seen, especially for young women. I think she ran the club at a time when women’s soccer might have been just at the start of this rise and exponential growth that we’ve seen.

Her main point was to teach us to be strong, confident, independent women that can do anything, whether that’s on the field or off the field. She didn’t really care what we ended up doing, as long as we were being a good person first and being good at whatever we wanted to do second. So, I think just the discipline and putting females and young girls at the forefront was something that I haven’t seen a lot at other clubs.

2. When you’re completely off the clock, what helps you feel most like yourself again?

I love to cook. I love to host. I love to have teammates and friends over to just hang out, watch games, watch movies, and play games. We’ve been doing a lot of game nights here at Angel City, which I absolutely love. So just really hanging out with people that build my energy tank and drop happiness into that bucket.

And then also the ocean, being in LA now, it has been so easy to get to the ocean. It’s so nice.

3. People see confidence on game day, but what’s the conversation that’s happening in your head before the whistle blows? What have you learned about building confidence instead of waiting to feel it?

A big thing that I’ve been doing recently is just remembering to have fun and remembering what makes me happy on the field, which is being on the ball, getting out of tight spaces, things that I’ve always enjoyed since I was a little girl. So, I think just remembering what brings me joy in the game and not trying to take it too seriously while still being competitive.

4. Women’s soccer is having a big cultural moment. What do you hope the next generation of girls gets to take for granted that your generation still had to fight for?

That’s a great question, because we are living in the generation that the previous one built for us. There is a laundry list of things that we get to take for granted that they couldn’t, and they fought for it for us. Whether that be not having to have a second job, so we can just do this as our job and not have to worry about a second form of income, which is huge. Just the equal pay movement with the U.S. women’s national team. Even traveling in hotel rooms, the fact that we can charter certain games, there are so many things that we are so grateful to have right now.

But I think our generation is still trying to figure out what we want our lasting impact to be. We’re always continuing to fight for more eyeballs on the game and more people investing in women’s soccer so that the salary can go up, or honestly just more butts in the seats at games. Having a consistent amount of fans at all of these games is key, because that is what is going to drive sponsorship, drive salaries to go up, drive broadcast and media rights deals. But I think also just continuing to build off what the previous generation has done. Maybe chartering to all the games, having mostly all grass fields, having every team have equal training facilities and housing. Just continuing to raise the standard.

5. What’s an accomplishment you’re proud of that will never show up on a stat sheet?

I always say this, and it’s getting my degree. I am so proud of finishing my degree at Carolina and being able to graduate in person and just have that experience, have a college degree, because my time at UNC was so special and I really value education and the learning moments that I had through college, on and off the field. So, finishing my degree while I was playing professionally was not gonna show up on the stat sheet.

6. Imagine a young girl who aspires to play a pro sport someday reads this interview. What’s one sentence you hope she walks away remembering?

To trust yourself more than any outside feedback you receive, even if you want it and you want to chase your dreams, believe you can do it. And the only thing that truly matters is your self-belief and the belief from others you respect and trust.

7. One of the biggest reasons girls leave sports is because they stop believing there’s a place for them. Through initiatives like e.l.f.’s “Glow for Glory,” which partners with the NWSL, the goal is to help more girls stay in the game. If you could speak directly to a girl who’s thinking about walking away from soccer, or maybe even just a sport in general. What would you want her to know?

I would want her to know that even if you feel like the place you’re in right now is not meant for you and that means you shouldn’t do it anymore, there’s always a place for you. And that can just be a change of environment, that can be a change of a coach, that can be a change of the people you surround yourself with. But I think being a part of a community and being part of a team sport is so impactful, and there’s so many benefits to it and there’s so much you can get out of it. I think it’s just so key to development and growth, and I would try to convince any young girl to stay in sports or any community environment that they’re in for as long as possible.

Share