'You just can't replicate game minutes': How Sam Meza's move home to Dallas set a path to the USWNT

It was the summer of 2024, and Sam Meza had zero minutes in the National Women's Soccer League.

The Seattle Reign rookie wasn't getting the opportunities and, by her own admission, was finding the adjustment to the pros a challenge.

"I think when you come into the pro environment, it's just completely different from anything else. It's just not comparable at all to anything," Meza told Squad Depth over the phone in March.

Meza, who grew up in Dallas, Texas, was arriving at the Reign after four years at the University of North Carolina. A school viewed by many as the crème de la crème of the American college game. But even that elite environment didn't quite translate to the NWSL.

Before showing up to pre-season in 2024, Reign had never been to Seattle before. She had no idea what the city's skyline looked like, or what the culture of the city was.

Even though she had met the coach, Laura Harvey, a few times at U.S. youth national team camps between 2019-2021, there were still a lot of daunting first steps into the NWSL.

No longer a student athlete or a hopeful youngster. Here, Meza was playing soccer as her job.

"I've played tough my whole life, but it was a new space. And I think I needed some time to learn and grow a little bit more about what it is to be a pro, honestly," said Meza.

Dallas calling

That July, the Reign and Meza got a call from Chris Petrucelli, the general manager of Dallas Trinity, the Texas USL-Super League team, which was set to embark on its inaugural season in August.

Petrucelli has been a soccer staple in Texas for years. He is the former head coach of the University of Texas and SMU, and also ran the regional talent identification for the youth national team.

"I had known Chris [Petrucelli] for years," Meza said. "I'm from Dallas, so I think it was just an easy thing for Chris to be like, 'Do you want to come back home and get some games?'"

Meza's intuition was to jump at the chance to start playing matches again, after months of toiling to make the lineup in the NWSL. Harvey and Reign general manager Lesle Gallimore were on board if that's what she wanted.

Not only was the promise of an opportunity for minutes enticing, but Meza was keen to rediscover herself in her hometown.

"We as Dallas people are very, very passionate about being from Dallas," Meza says earnestly.

"It was a very safe space. I learned a lot within my time in Dallas, and a lot of it had to do with figuring out what things worked for me. What things make me feel good before games, just kind of routine based things."

Feel for the game

Meza swapped Seattle for Dallas in August and opened the season with Trinity two weeks later. The loan would last until the end of 2024, and the Reign even banked an undisclosed fee as part of the agreement.

Over four months, Meza played 14 matches for Trinity and completed 90 minutes in every single one. She scored two goals, notched one assist, and was named the USL-SL player of the month for November.

Her first goal was one for the history books as it was the first home goal in Trinity history, coming in the second half of a 1-1 draw against DC Power at the Cotton Bowl.

"I’m not typically the goal scorer; I’m more of the disher," Meza said with a chuckle after that game. "I just got the ball from Julia [Drosey] and locked in. The first thing on my mind was to take a touch, drive, and then just shoot."

When Meza is confident, that intuition on the ball in matches is powerful feeling. The more she played with Trinity, the more her game became second nature.

"You just can't replicate game minutes. You can train as much as you want, but playing games, you just can't replicate it. Ultimately, it was for my development as a rookie stepping into the pro environment," Meza said.

"I am very much 'a feeler' – like, I need to know game moments are like and where I thrive. And so I just needed a little help, right, getting my feet sorted and and feeling like myself again in the pro environment."

Curious at what Meza means when describes herself as "a feeler" I ask for a little bit more detail on this term.

"The way I like to play is very instinctual. And that's what I mean by a feeler. Once I'm on the pitch, it's like I understand what's going on. I just kind of react to what's going on.

"It was really important for me to get games because – again – you can't replicate game situations in practice because the game is free flowing, and I like to think that that's kind of encompasses who I am as a player and how I play."

Reigning in Seattle

Rejuvenated, more experienced and totally feeling the game, Meza returned to Seattle for pre-season in 2025 and made her NWSL league debut for the Reign as a substitute in the team's 1-1 draw with Gotham FC on opening day.

By Matchweek Three, Meza had earned her firstcareer start, a 2-1 loss away to Angel City. Something she called a "surreall moment" and a "dream." Meza would start the next seven consecutive games.

By the NWSL's midway point, Meza has played in every match of the Reign's season and amassed 787 minutes as well as her first NWSL assist (a cutting, weighted through ball that played in Maddie Dahlien.

"When we watched back the goal, that ball was really pretty," Dahlien remarked after being assisted by Meza in the 1-0 win over Racing Louisville. "She [Meza] is hard on herself, but it is really fun to be able to play with her."

Meza's penchant for turning in tight spaces, along with her vision on the ball in the midfield aren't the only things that have turned heads in her second NWSL season though. Seattle's defence-first style has rubbed off on the 23-year-old central midfielder.

In the NWSL in 2025, Meza ranks third for tackles (42), fourth for tackles won (26), third for blocks (23), and eighth for interceptions (19). Per Fbref, Meza is in the top 1% of of midfielders when it comes to blocks, tackles and interceptions. She is also in the top 17% for expected assists.

National recognition

That two-way style, of being resolute off the ball and then releasing the ball quickly after turnovers has got her noticed by Emma Hayes, head coach of the U.S. women's national team.

After being called into the U23s in May, Meza earned her first senior USWNT call-up in June.

"I have been really impressed [by Meza]," Hayes told the media in June. "I've spoken with [Laura] Harvey very often about the progress of those players. I think it should be said that those players went away with the U23s, and they impressed, and they performed," Hayes told the media.

The journey continues

Meza describes herself in Seattle now as a "sponge". A young player still developing, learning and piecing together her skills to evolve.

Of course the feeler – the Dallas kid built on instinct – is still there. But there's new armour being worn on top. New mechanics tweaked, lessons learned.

From the outskirts of an NWSL roster, to a USWNT call-up in the space of a year is quite the journey. But the path was laid about by Meza understanding that it was okay to find her own path to being a professional footballer.

And for Meza, that meant Dallas.

"Everybody's journey is different, and I'm very grateful for having been given the opportunity to play close to home again, in front of my family and friends and my community."