Las Vegas native earns spot on Mexico women’s national soccer team

Hailey Gordon had scored plenty of goals in a career that started on the soccer pitches of Las Vegas.

Yet, this goal was different.

Gordon, playing for Mexico’s under-20 national team, scored against Uruguay this summer in an international friendly. As she started celebrating with teammates, she was overwhelmed by emotions because it was her first international tally.

“It was definitely more significant,” she said. “I broke down crying while cheering with my teammates. Playing with this team brings a different passion because I’m representing my country and what it stands for. It’s an honor to be here.”

Gordon is a striker for Mexico in the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup that started Saturday in Colombia. Mexico plays Australia today in the second game of the tournament.

Mexico qualified for the World Cup by winning the 2023 CONCACAF Women’s U-20 Championship with 2-1 win against the United States, marking the first time in four years the Mexico under-20 team had beaten the U.S.

In the tournament semifinals, Mexico topped Canada 2-1 and Gordon had the assist on the game-winning goal.

Gordon needed just three years to get through high school — she was the valedictorian at Delta Academy, where she participated in an online program — leaving Las Vegas after graduation in May to train with Tigres, a top women’s professional team in Monterrey, Mexico.

It was three weeks of intense practicing before transitioning to the national team camp to begin preparations for the World Cup. Gordon joked that it felt like the entire practice was conducted while sprinting across the field, but the experience helped sharpen her mentality.

“My intensity and my mindset have increased,” she said. “I have always been focused and goal driven, but something has clicked in the last couple of months and it’s intensified. I am more hungry.”

She’s a Las Vegas native who is eligible to compete for Mexico because her mother is a Mexican national. She is slowly but surely becoming fluent in Spanish and has no problems communicating with teammates, many of whom speak English, she said.

The adventure of international soccer has allowed her to experience different cultures, from traveling to India or the Dominican Republic for tournaments, to competing against nations the likes of Ghana or Nigeria.

Soccer, regardless of where or it is played or who it is played against, is mostly the same game, she learned. In the United States, it’s a more physical game based on quick players. In Mexico, there is an emphasis on technique.

“I’m super grateful for the life I have and everything I have gotten to experience over the past few months,” she said.

Gordon is committed to play collegiately at the University of Georgia and could enroll in January. She could also launch a professional career with Tigres. Either way, she plans to keep scoring meaningful goals.

“Soccer has taken me to places I would have never visited,” she said.