Olivia Moultrie has been making headlines across women’s soccer, and it’s easy to see why.

The USWNT midfielder has just signed a three-year contract extension through 2029 with the Portland Thorns.

Now in her fifth professional season, everything is beginning to click for the 20-year-old midfielder, both for club and country. Moultrie has turned scoring braces into an art form, making free-kick goals and difficult, line-breaking passes seem effortless.

Her most recent heroics? A decisive brace against Angel City, leading the Thorns to a 2-0 win on October 19 at BMO Stadium, sealed the club’s spot in the 2025 postseason with a match to spare. While Moultrie scored a golazo from outside the box that afternoon, the more notable goal may have been her penalty kick.

Why? Because the player who usually takes them is none other than the team’s captain, midfielder Sam Coffey.

”She just looked up and gave me the thumbs up,” Moultrie said. “Huge shoutout to her for trusting me.”

The match on October 19 in LA marked a second brace in three matches for the midfielder, with the other coming against Bay FC in a 2-1 win on October 4 at Providence Park.

“I think a lot of people wrote us off this season,” Moultrie said. “I think there was that extra fire not only from me but from the team in general. I do think the years that I’ve spent in Portland, I’ve spent that time with people pushing me and pushing me and allowing me to be who I want to be.”

It has been two years since the Thorns last lifted silverware. When it added a third star above its crest in an NWSL title run back in 2022, which culminated in a 2-0 win over the Kansas City Current. That team included players such as Christine Sinclair, Becky Sauerbrunn, Sophia Wilson, Crystal Dunn and Meghan Klingenberg. Back then, Moultrie was 17 and was surrounded by legends. She knew her time would come, but patience would be her greatest test.

In the seasons since that championship run, the Thorns changed head coaches twice, most of the club’s veterans either retired or left the team in trades and the club dealt with season-ending absences. Even then, Moultrie waited.

Still a teenager, Moultrie described the waiting period as “frustrating.” But, instead of letting frustration break her, she turned it into fuel, sharpening every aspect of her game behind the scenes. As she waited for opportunities to come on matchday, Moultrie poured her energy into developing her free-kick acumen.

“I’ve watched Messi become too good at them, so I decided I want to add it to my arsenal,” Moultrie said. “If I want to be the best, I want to learn from the best. I try to apply that in every area of my life. I think (Messi) is arguably one of the best at (free kicks) in the entire world.”

Thorns assistant coach Vytas Andriuškevičius has often been the one working with Moultrie long after training sessions end, seeing her attempt free kick after free kick until she has been kicked off the field.

The extra hours spent on free kicks have already paid off. On September 14, Moultrie became the leading teenage scorer in the NWSL’s history when she netted yet another goal off a free kick in a 1-1 draw against Chicago Stars FC on September 14.

So much hard work bore its fruits not only on the soccer side — she became the club’s top goalscorer this year with eight tallies — but also with Portland’s supporters. After the last match of the season against Houston Dash, Moultrie was awarded the Rose City Riveters Supporters Player of the Year award, a distinction that only a select group of Thorns can boast about.

“Moultrie’s dedication to the club, her growth and fearless style of play reflect the very best of our Portland soccer culture — a commitment to excellence, teamwork, community and a real love for the beautiful game,” wrote the Riveters about her, and added: “We have been luck enough to watch her grow and develop extraordinary composure on the ball, demonstrate her vision for the game on the pitch, and seamlessly blend her technical excellence with an unshakable competitive spirit.”

Nearly a decade ago, when Moultrie was just 11 years old, then-University of North Carolina Women’s Soccer Coach Anson Dorrance described the midfielder as “a little technical and tactical wizard.” The legendary women’s soccer coach believed Moultrie had the potential to be “Tobin Heath-esque.”

Despite what Dorrance said back in 2011, Moultrie’s style of play is distinctly her own, one she has been shaping ever since she fell in love with soccer as a young girl. Not only can she pick her spot from outside the box, Moultrie is the one the Thorns often rely on to drive play forward, thread precise passes, draw fouls and find ways to spark comebacks.

All of Moultrie’s hard work and patience not only prepared her to win a starting position with Portland in 2025, but put her firmly on the radar of USWNT Head Coach Emma Hayes.

“I think she [Moultrie] is having an outstanding season,” Hayes said in a recent press conference. “I think she is a goal threat. I played her off to the right, but coming inside. I knew there would be second spaces inside the box, and she exploited them well.”

Moultrie’s latest international appearance showed exactly what Hayes meant. In the second match of the October window against Portugal, she started and scored two goals in the opening ten minutes, including one just 45 seconds after kickoff.

Throughout her young career, Moultrie has dared to dream, and dream big. Because of her determination and grit, she paved the way not only for herself but for many other young, talented players who want to play in the NWSL.

Now that she has made a name for herself in the league, she is ready to do the same on the national stage as another Olympics and World Cup cycle approaches.

“If they think your dreams are crazy,” Moultrie said, “show them what crazy dreams can do.”