When senior Allie Flanagan was little, her mom would see other little kids running and falling down on the grassy field. Then she would see Allie driving to the soccer goal and shooting. Little did they know that years later, she would be committing to a D1 college before the end of her senior year. Catherine Flanagan, Allie’s mom, has helped her through her whole soccer career. “We knew that honestly everything she does, she gives 100%. She’s very determined and even as a little kid, she was like, ‘okay, the goal is to score a goal. Well I’m gonna score eight of them,’ and she just wraps her brain around it and she does it,” Catherine Flanagan discussed.
Allie Flanagan’s club team was Virginia Development Academy (VDA). Her coach of around eight years, Bobby Puppione, has been a huge help to her. She also played for Woodgrove’s team for a half of a year before suffering an injury. Allie was a varsity starter her freshman year and the team’s top scorer. In one of her high school games, she ended up tearing her MCL. After this injury, Allie decided to not play for Woodgrove again after deciding her club team was very important to her. Allie explained, “That’s where I tore my MCL, so I didn’t want to put myself at risk for overuse injury. Also, my club soccer is just a super competitive team, and I was getting recruited at the time, so that was where I was getting most of my exposure from college coaches.”
Allie was very timid to go back to playing after her injury. Her recovery was around two months, but she could play 100% in three months. Allie listened to whatever the physical therapist told her, so she was able to recover as fast as possible. That meant a lot of ice and rest. “She did physical therapy and stretches, and she just kind of followed what the physical therapist, whatever they wanted her to do,” added Catherine Flanagan.
After Allie’s recovery, she gained back her strength and ended up at playoffs. Allie’s club team TSJ FC Virginia (FCV), went to national playoffs in summer of 2023. Allie scored the winning goal for her team which won them the championship. Allie was named MVP of the tournament.
In November 2023, Allie was named All Youth Girls All-American for the first time. In December of 2024, she was named Youth All-American for the second time which she shared was a huge accomplishment for her career.
Allie Flanagan has been working to play professionally for most of her life. She recently started playing for her first professional team called “DC Power FC”.
She has played 180 minutes for DC Power and in three matches. In those 180 minutes, she has scored two goals. Allie’s goals are what won them her first game playing with DC Power. Her second goal was in the 90th minute with seconds left, and she had a perfect header. Allies first goal was scored after striking the ball from outside of the box. Culinary arts teacher, Andrew Olejer stated, “We talked about soccer all the time… I actually was telling her I was watching some of the highlights on X this weekend.” The Woodgrove High School community and her teachers are impressed by her performance in the game but also her ability to balance high school and professional soccer.
Allie had several full ride scholarships offers including, Ohio State, Penn State, University of Southern California, University of Florida, and Texas Christian University. Allie decided her top 3 choices were Wake Forest, University of Southern California, and University of Florida.
In 2023, Allie Flanagan committed to Wake Forest for soccer with a full ride scholarship. She explains, “I went on all my visits, and at Wake Forest it was a smaller school which I actually liked, while still having the competitive both athletic and academic program…Coaches and the team were also super welcoming.”
Allie Flanagan’s family and friends agree that she has had a successful soccer journey. Her hard working attitude has helped her get to where she is today. Catherine Flanagan shares, “Allie’s always been a pretty driven person, and she just kind of set her mind to like doing everything.”