Tatum Wynalda
American soccer player (born 2004)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tatum Milan Wynalda (born October 19, 2004) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for San Diego Wave FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). She played college soccer for the Pepperdine Waves.
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Wynalda with the San Diego Wave in 2026 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Tatum Milan Wynalda[1] | ||
| Date of birth | October 19, 2004 | ||
| Place of birth | Thousand Oaks, California, United States | ||
| Height | 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m) | ||
| Position(s) | |||
| Team information | |||
Current team | San Diego Wave | ||
| Number | 19 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2009–2022 | LAFC So Cal Youth | ||
| 2020–2022 | Westlake Warriors | ||
| College career | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2022–2025 | Pepperdine Waves | 79 | (23) |
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2026– | San Diego Wave | 0 | (0) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Early life
Wynalda was born and raised in Thousand Oaks, California.[2] She began playing soccer in the AYSO when she was young.[3] She went on to spend 13 years with LAFC So Cal Youth.[2] When the U.S. Soccer Development Academy (DA) ended in 2020, she was able to join her high school team at Westlake High School for her junior and senior seasons.[4] In her junior year, she scored 20 goals with 11 assists in 15 games and was named the Marmonte League Offensive MVP and earned first-team All-CIF Southern Section honors in 2021.[5] She was also named ECNL all-conference with So Cal Youth in 2021.[6]
Wynalda helped lead Westlake to the Marmonte League title in her senior year in 2022, scoring 28 goals with 9 assists in 17 games.[3] She was named the league MVP, the Ventura County Star Player of the Year, and the Los Angeles Daily News Player of the Year.[7] She was recruited by USC, Texas, Long Beach State, and Portland before committing to play college soccer for the Pepperdine Waves in her junior year.[4] She had grown up around the Pepperdine team, which her uncle Tim Ward coached, and was a fan of Waves alumnae Lynn Williams and Brianna Visalli.[4][8]
College career
Wynalda played in all 18 games, starting 8, and scored 8 goals (second on the team) for the Pepperdine Waves as a freshman in 2022, earning a place on the All-West Coast Conference (WCC) second team.[8] The following spring, she was unable to practice due to stress fractures in her back, which had started in high school.[8] She returned to the field as a sophomore in 2023, scoring 6 goals with 2 assists in 20 games.[2] She was again named second-team All-WCC and helped the Waves place second in the conference and earn an NCAA tournament berth after a year's absence.[9]
Wynalda became a regular starter in her junior year in 2024, scoring 4 goals with 4 assists in 21 games.[2] She was named second-team All-WCC for the third time and helped the Waves win a share of the WCC title for the first time in seven years.[10] In her senior year in 2025, she scored 5 goals and led the Waves with 10 assists in 20 games, garnering first-team All-WCC honors.[11] She helped lead the Waves to their second-ever outright WCC title and their third consecutive NCAA tournament appearance.[12]
Club career
Wynalda joined the San Diego Wave as a non-roster invitee in the NWSL preseason in January 2026.[13] She trained with the Portland Thorns later in the month,[14] before playing for the Wave at the Coachella Valley Invitational.[15] In early March, the Wave signed Wynalda to her first professional contract on an injury replacement deal through April.[16] On March 14, she made her professional debut as a late substitute for Perle Morroni in a season-opening 1–0 loss to the Houston Dash.[17] She was the first NWSL player whose father played in Major League Soccer.[18]
Personal life
Wynalda is the third of six children born to National Soccer Hall of Famer Eric Wynalda.[1] Both her father and her mother, Amy Ward, played college soccer for the San Diego State Aztecs.[2] Her uncle Tim Ward was her head coach at Pepperdine.[4]
Honors and awards
Pepperdine Waves
- West Coast Conference: 2024, 2025
Individual
- First-team All-WCC: 2025
- Second-team All-WCC: 2022, 2023, 2024
