Gotham FC on Wednesday confirmed that forward and Montgomery County native Midge Purce suffered a season-ending anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury during the club’s match against the Portland Thorns at Providence Park on Sunday, March 24. Purce will undergo surgery.
Margaret “Midge” Purce, a Silver Spring native who graduated from Good Counsel, where she was named Maryland Gatorade Player of the Year in 2012 and an NSCAA All-American in 2010 and 2011.
She was first selected to play for the United States at the under-17 level, appearing at the 2012 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup and the 2014 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup. Purce made her first appearance for the senior national team in 2019.
She played attended Harvard University, where she played college soccer and scored 42 goals in 69 appearances with the Harvard Crimson women’s soccer team. In 2020, she was elected to a seat on the Board of Overseers of Harvard University with the support of Harvard Forward, an alumni climate activism group.
Though she was first called up for the United States Women’s National Team (USWNT) in 2017, it wasn’t November 2019 that she was called into a game, playing as a defender after playing as a right-back and a forward during her professional career. Purce scored her first USWNT goal against Colombia on January 21, 2021.