Zakiya Bywaters

Zakiya Abeni Bywaters (born July 24, 1991) is an American professional soccer forward. She currently plays for Chicago Red Stars in National Women's Soccer League as well as the United States under-23 women's national soccer team and United States women's national soccer team. A former star player for the UCLA Bruins, Bywaters was the number one pick of the 2013 NWSL College Draft by the Chicago Red Stars in January 2013.

Early life

Born in Las Vegas, Nevada to Thomas and Beverly Bywaters, Zakiya attended Rancho High School. In 2007 and 2008, she was named a NSCAA/adidas Girls Youth All-American. During her senior year in 2009, she was listed as a four-star recruit (21st overall) by Top Drawer Soccer as well as an ESPN RISE Top 50 Recruit (17th overall). She was also named Parade All-American.^[1]

Bywaters played club soccer for the Southern California Blues.

UCLA

Bywaters attended UCLA where she played for the Bruins for four years. In 2009, she was the only freshman to play in all 25 matches. She made 23 starts and ended the season with 11 points on three goals and seven assists. She was named to the Pac-10 All-Freshman Team. During her sophomore year, she was the only field player to start all 23 matches and ended the season with 10 points on three goals and four assists. She was named an Honorable Mention All-Pac-10 selection. During her junior year in 2011, she was one of five players to start all 21 matches and finished with 12 points on three goals and six assists (her assists ranked second on the team). She was named a First-Team All-Pac-12 selection and to the All-Pacific Region First-Team.^[1]

During her senior year, Bywaters led the Pac-12 Conference in goals (15), points (34) and game-winning goals (6). She was added to UCLA's Top 10 list for career assists (tied for 7th, 21), career multiple-goal games (tied for 7th, 5) and single-season game-winning goals (tied for 10th, 6). She tallied five multiple-goal games, scoring twice against Princeton, Pepperdine, Arizona, Oregon State and San Diego State and recorded game-winners against Illinois, Pepperdine, Arizona, Arizona State, California and San Diego State. She was named first-team NSCAA All-American, All-Pacific Region and was a MAC Hermann Trophy semifinalist. Bywaters was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week twice and was the Soccer America National Player of the Week for September 10–16 after recording four goals and one assist in games against Princeton and Pepperdine. She was named to the Top Drawer Soccer Team of the Season first team, was a First-Team All-Pac-12 selection, and earned Pac-12 Player of the Year honors.^[1]

Playing career

Club

Chicago Red Stars

Bywaters was the number one pick in the 2013 NWSL College Draft by the Chicago Red Stars.^[2][3]

On June 15, 2014 Zakiya Bywaters scored a goal for Chicago Red Stars against Sky Blue FC, assisted by Jen Hoy. Left to right: 21-Jill Loyden (GK), 5-Zakiya Bywaters, 18-Lindsi Cutshall, 2-CoCo Goodson, 4-Alyssa Mautz, 17-Lori Chalupny (c), 32-Meg Morris, 2-Jen Hoy, 4-Caitlin Foord

International

National youth teams

Bywaters started to play with United States women's national under-17 soccer team in 2008. She played five matches for the team and scored one goal.

2010 U-20 FIFA World Cup

Bywaters competed with the United States under-20 women's national soccer team at the 2010 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup in Germany.^[4]

On July 25, 2010, before the start of quarter-final match against Nigeria at Germany 2010 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, in which USA was eliminated by penalty-shoot-out.^[5] Starting line-up, from left to right: 20—Amber Brooks, 19—Sydney Leroux, 17—Casey Short, 12—Zakiya Bywaters, 9—Kristie Mewis, 5—Kendall Johnson, 4—Crystal Dunn, 3—Rachel Quon, 2—Toni Pressley, 1—Bianca Henninger (GK), 11—Christine Nairn (c). Players in bold font type has either played for a full national team, or has been to one or more training camps of a national team.

Senior national team

In January 2013, following her draft to Chicago Red Stars at the 2013 NWSL College Draft, she was called to United States senior team training camp, replacing Amy Rodriguez who was pregnant.^[6][7]

See also

• List of University of California, Los Angeles people

References

External links

• UCLA player profile
• US Soccer player profile
• Zakiya Bywaters at footballzz.co.uk
• Chicago Red Stars player profile
• Zakiya Bywaters on Twitter