| Tyler Lussi | |
| Fullname: | Tyler Tompkins Lussi[1] |
| Birth Date: | 26 January 1995 |
| Birth Place: | Gibson Island, Maryland, United States |
| Position: | Forward, right back |
| Currentclub: | North Carolina Courage |
| Clubnumber: | 14 |
| Youthclubs1: | Bethesda Soccer Club |
| Collegeyears1: | 2013–2016 |
| College1: | Princeton Tigers |
| Collegecaps1: | 68 |
| Collegegoals1: | 53 |
| Years1: | 2017–2021 |
| Clubs1: | Portland Thorns |
| Caps1: | 42 |
| Goals1: | 5 |
| Years2: | 2022 |
| Clubs2: | Angel City |
| Caps2: | 20 |
| Goals2: | 0 |
| Years3: | 2023– |
| Clubs3: | North Carolina Courage |
| Caps3: | 20 |
| Goals3: | 6 |
| Nationalyears1: | 2017 |
| Nationalteam1: | United States U23 |
| Nationalcaps1: | 3 |
| Nationalgoals1: | 0 |
| Club-Update: | January 13, 2024 |
| Nationalteam-Update: | October 9, 2021 |
Tyler Tompkins Lussi (born January 26, 1995) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a forward for the North Carolina Courage of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). She played college soccer for the Princeton Tigers before being drafted by the Portland Thorns in the 2017 NWSL College Draft. She has also played for Angel City FC for which she mostly played at right back.
Lussi played for Princeton Tigers from 2013 to 2016, while majoring in history. In her first season she won the Ivy League Rookie of the Week award three times, becoming the first player to do so in one season, and won Ivy Player of the Week in her first week. She scored 10 goals in 17 games, making her the highest-scoring freshman in 31 years.
In her second season she scored 18 goals in 16 games, and twice won the Ivy League Player of the Week award At the end of the season was selected for the first-team All-Ivy League, first-team All-ECAC, second-team NSCAA All-Mid-Atlantic Region and was picked as the Ivy League Offensive Player of the Year.
In her third season she scored 15 goals in 19 games, winning Ivy League Player of the Week four times. She was picked a second consecutive time as the Ivy League Offensive Player of the Year, and was selected again for the first-team All-Ivy League and for the NSCAA second-team All-America.
In her fourth and final season, she scored 10 goals in 16 games and twice won the Ivy League Player of the Week. At the end of the season she was selected a third consecutive time for the first-team All-Ivy League and also for the NSCAA All-Mid-Atlantic Region first team.[2] During her four-year collegiate career, Lussi established new records with her 53 career goals and 122 career points.[3]
Lussi was drafted in the third round of the 2017 NWSL College Draft with the 21st overall pick by the Portland Thorns FC. On July 1, 2017, after a two-week trial, was signed by the club.[4] She made her professional debut a week later, being substituted for Mana Shim in a 1–1 draw against the Houston Dash.[5] On August 5, 2017, she scored her first professional goal in a 2–1 victory over the Houston Dash.[6] She finished her rookie season with 5 appearances and 3 starts and was an unused substitute as the Thorns won the NWSL Championship 1–0 against the North Carolina Courage. The following season, she made 15 appearances with 3 starts and was unused as the Thorns lost their championship game rematch with the Courage.
Lussi never made more than 3 regular-season starts for the Thorns in a season. On July 14, 2019, she scored in the 90+4th minute in a 4–3 win over the Orlando Pride.[7] She finished her five years in Portland with 5 goals and 4 assists in 42 regular-season appearances.
On December 8, 2021, Lussi was traded to expansion team Angel City FC along with forward Simone Charley.[8] She featuring in the starting lineup of Angel City's first-ever game on March 19, 2022, drawing 1–1 to the San Diego Wave in the Challenge Cup group stage.[9] A week later, she scored her first club goal in a 3–1 loss to OL Reign in the Challenge Cup on March 26. However, due to positional need including an injury to Jasmyne Spencer, Lussi spent most the season as Angel City's starting right back despite not having previously played as a defender.[10] [11]
On January 20, 2023, Lussi was traded to the North Carolina Courage in exchange for defender Merritt Mathias.[12] She signed a new contract to the end of the next year with an option to extend further to 2025, which was agreed to.[13] Lussi debuted for the Courage on the opening matchday on March 25, 2023, starting in a 1–0 win over the Kansas City Current. On April 28, she scored her first club goal in a 1–0 win over the Houston Dash which was not played in full due to weather.[14] She finished the season with 6 goals (second on the team to MVP Kerolin) of which 5 came as the game winners in 1–0 victories.[15]
Lussi scored and assisted in a 2–0 win over the Portland Thorns on April 13, 2024, the first of her three games in a row with goals, also scoring against Angel City and the Seattle Reign.[16] She played one game at right back on June 15, a 0–0 draw to the Orlando Pride. She finished the season with 4 goals which was second on the team after Ashley Sanchez.
In February 2017, Lussi was called up to the United States under-23 squad for the 2017 La Manga Tournament in Spain.[17] In the tournament she came on as a substitute in the matches against Japan[18] and against England,[19] and started the match against Norway assisting Morgan Andrews for the only goal of the match.[20]
| Club | League | Season | League | Playoffs | Cup | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||||
| Portland Thorns FC | NWSL | ||||||||||
| 2017 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | 5 | 1 | ||||
| 2018 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | 15 | 1 | ||||
| 2019 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 0 | — | 12 | 2 | ||||
| 2020 | — | 10 | 0 | 10 | 0 | ||||||
| 2021 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 14 | 2 | |||
| Total | 42 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 2 | 56 | 6 | |||
| Angel City FC | NWSL | 2022 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 26 | 1 | |
| North Carolina Courage | 2023 | 20 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 29 | 6 | ||
| Career total | 82 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 28 | 2 | 111 | 13 | |||
Portland Thorns
North Carolina Courage