Maya Hayes

Maya Alexandria Hayes, born on in New York City, is an American women youth soccer player from West Orange, New Jersey She is on the United States under-20 women's national soccer team player pool, and plays the position of forward. She won with her USA team, the , held in Japan. Quoting her Penn State coach Walsh: “Maya is a rare mix of true athleticism and skill. She is one of the best attacking players in the country right now and is an incredible athlete, but also has a good soccer brain.” On August 20, 2012, at Hiroshima Big Arch, she scored a hat-trick in a 4-0 win against Ghana, in the first match played by USA in 2012 FIFA Under-20 Women's World Cup; the first goal was an own goal by . Three days later, at the same venue, in the second match against China, she scored a 36th minute goal to tie the game at 1-1, which was also the final score. In their last match in , the USA Under-20 team conceded a 0-3 loss to Germany; and advanced to second stage by goal difference, with all goals scored by Hayes besides one aforementioned own goal. With no further goal from Maya Hayes in the , the USA under-20 team won the tournament with 2 goals from Kealia Ohai and 1 goal each from Vanessa DiBernardo and Morgan Brian.
Personal
Maya was born in New York City to parents Irene Smith and Derek Hayes. Her stepfather, Darius Smith, played tennis at Pittsburgh. She has four siblings, Malcolm Hayes, Alexandria Hayes, Nigel Hayes and Cameron Smith. She went to high school at Newark Academy. Since 2010, she has been attending Pennsylvania State University; undecided on a major, and wishes to play professional soccer.<ref name=pens_gos/>

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