Anna Moorhouse is soccer-obsessed, knows how to craft the perfect bun, and will stop the world's best strikers from scoring

Orlando Pride goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse actually began her career as a striker. Born in Oldham, England, her earliest memory playing the game was rolling around in the dirt in the very muddy fields by her childhood home. Moorhouse only started playing in goal when she was 16, and would split her time on the field playing both positions. Eventually, she had to make a call.

"It got to a point where I was like, 'OK' if I'm going to do anything with this, I got to do the thing that I'm good at. And it was being a goalkeeper," she told INDIVISA.

Moorhouse committed to the game, and said she was full-on "obsessed. When I was younger, I was obsessed. I was obsessed with watching YouTube videos. The US soccer account on YouTube... I used to watch all of those."

When she was 17, the women's game started to grow in England. She looked up to Rachel Brown, England's former goalkeeper, and even got the opportunity to train a few times with her. Those sessions were formative, and Moorhouse knows how lucky she felt to be training with England's No. 1 goalkeeper at the time.

Fast forward a couple years, and Moorhouse would be in the same day-to-day training environment as Brown. In 2011, Moorhouse was scouted by Manchester United, and a year later moved to Everton to begin her senior career. She played for many FA WSL teams before eventually joining the National Women's Soccer League in 2022. Her career took her to top clubs such as Arsenal, West Ham United, and Durham. The transition from the WSL to the NWSL isn't a new evolution, however the differences were pretty obvious to Moorhouse right away.

"I think the biggest difference between the two leagues is the [NWSL] is a lot faster pace. You have athletes in every single position," she said. "You just have so many transitions and as a team this year, we've tried to limit the transitions that teams have on us and we've tried to make it less transitional. So yeah, I think that's the biggest difference. The players are just pure athletic."

Moorhouse adjusted to the different style of play, but it took her a bit.

"When I first got here I was trying to play and getting caught on the ball," she said. "I was trying to get up to speed. I think I've grown into that and I've changed that side of my game."

Now, Moorhouse is one of the top goalkeepers in the league, with 10 shutouts. Moorhouse has led the Pride to the team's best-season ever, winning the Shield weeks before the regular season ended, and claiming the top spot with a league-best 60 points.

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There's a lot a goalkeeper has to process, react, and foresee in a game, but despite all of the chaos around her, Moorhouse is a calm presence. When asked how she handles the pressure of a game, she said: "I just try and stay focused in the moment of the game. If I try and think too much, that's when my mind wanders and it's just like, then I'm in cuckoo land and I'm thinking about all these different things.

"I try and stay very much in the moment. I try and talk to my defenders as much as I can because that keeps me in that moment."

One physical way Moorhouse stays involved throughout the game is she keeps a very high line. She says this helps her get touches, stay connected, and constantly involved in the run of play.

When asked if she'd rather be in a highly intense game with constant shots at her versus a quiet game, she without hesitation said she prefers a quiet game.

"It's always an interesting concept," she says, "because some people are like, well, this person had X amount of saves, but it's like, well, quiet game's a good game because you get a shutout."

One of Moorhouse's other super powers, beyond saving insane goals, is her ability to put up the perfect slicked back, game-day bun. It may look simple, but Moorhouse assures us it's a whole production.

"It's definitely an art," she said. "Sometimes it works, sometimes it's a mess and I have to redo it, because it's too messy...It takes three hair ties. I have really thick hair too, so it sometimes has to be tight, but it also has to be messy at the same time."

Moorhouse's bun is a perfect depiction of her game: Effortless, calculated, and balanced.