NJ/NY Gotham FC midfielder Allie Long announced Friday that she is pregnant with twins and is due in June.
“I’ve always dreamed of being a mom,” she told PEOPLE. “I think as an athlete, you’re always playing for yourself in a way and your team, but I’m excited to kind of be in the position where I’m playing for my family and them, and a different perspective on life.”
According to the 34-year-old, who played with the U.S. women’s national team in the 2016 Olympics, she played nine weeks of the 2021 NWSL season while pregnant, but she had “no idea” at the time.
“I cried. A little bit of tears came up because I’ve always wanted to be a mom,” she says of the moment she found out she was having twins. “I love kids. But then to know that there’s two, I cried, like happy tears, but I was like, ‘Stop it. You’re lying.'”
Long joined Gotham in 2021 from OL Reign, where she played for three seasons. In December, Gotham announced that it had signed Long for the next two seasons.
She has made 51 appearances and scored eight goals for the USWNT since 2014.