Sydney Cummings has had some journey. From being an All-American in College, to learning from some of the world’s best and becoming one of the Liberty A-League’s top defenders. With a Championship in sights, the Western United defender charts her rise with KEEPUP’s Nick D’Urbano.
Last year, Sydney Cummings found herself at a crossroads.
The centre-back was training with NWSL side San Diego Wave, despite her national team replacement contract coming to an end.
There was no guarantee of playing time. It was almost like an extended internship, learning from some of the best in women’s football but not actually being eligible to step foot on the pitch.
That is, until her agent got in touch about an opportunity elsewhere. A club called Western United on the other side of the world wanted to have a chat. Their women’s team had never played a professional game, nor had they assembled a full squad of players.
The rest, as they say, is history.
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“My agent was talking to some teams in Australia and I don’t necessarily know how Western came up or came to be,” she told KEEPUP.
“I had my initial conversation with Mark (Torcaso) and it went really well and at that time, I felt kind of desperate like I needed them more than they needed me.
“I then met with Mark and Amanda (Stella) and I was like, ‘ok, if this is the woman who’s in charge, I feel like I’m in good hands’. Then, I met with Mark, Amanda and (Western United CEO) Chris (Pehlivanis) and I was like: ‘ok, even better’. When you see them all together and the narrative that they were pushing, I thought, ‘I really want to be part of that’.
“It took a little bit for the contract to come through and all of that stuff, so I was getting very nervous. I was like: ‘oh my god, this is going to fall through’… you’re sitting, you’re waiting, this team reaches out to you, you do all the possible research you can: where are they located? What’s the background on Mark? All of that stuff. I was very hyped about it.
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“When I finally put my name on the paper and I was like, ‘oh, crap… I’m moving to Australia, that’s pretty cool’!”
Cummings was formally announced as a Western player in September, just over a month out from their first regular season game against reigning champions Melbourne Victory.
Fast forward seven months and Cummings has made a name for herself down under. Her performances in the heart of defence have helped Western’s unprecedented rise to a Grand Final in their first season come to fruition.
Now, with the decider on the horizon, there’s a noticeable excitement in the air at City Vista Recreation Reserve as Cummings sits down with KEEPUP on a cold, sunny Monday morning in Melbourne’s west.
The vibes are good as the countdown to the big day is well underway. Players and staff are having a laugh, joking and feeling great about the prospect of being part of history. There’s no signs of obvious nerves – and if so – they were well hid by the positive nature reverberating around the club.
Cummings says this has been the case since day one. If it’s worked and got them this far throughout the season, it won’t change now.
“We’re just really trying to enjoy it,” she said.
“I think the good thing about this is we don’t have a lot of the pressure. I feel like Sydney FC has a lot of the pressure, like win or lose, we’ve done an amazing thing this season.
“Going into that with the weight off our shoulders makes it that much better. We’re definitely really excited and vibes are very high, but they’ve been high this entire season.”
For Cummings, though, she can’t help but reflect on an incredible seven month journey, as they are now 90 minutes away from silverware – something she never really saw coming when she arrived.
“I definitely don’t think I could have envisioned it being like this, especially in the beginning,” she said.
“Being on an expansion team, nobody really knows how it’s going to go and then coming in, I didn’t know the ins and outs of the league. There used to be a very big dynamic between the NWSL and the league here and I feel like the teams that people talked about were (Melbourne) City and Sydney and that was really it.
READ: How Western’s fairytale start to life in the Liberty A-League was born in the NPL
“So coming to a new team, not knowing what to expect then just learning the intricacies of NPL and Calder (United) and all of that, it kind of made it easier when I realised oh, this group of girls was playing together for years, we’ll be fine.
“Then when we started to win and then we won again and then we won again, I was like: ‘OK, this is a lot of fun!’
“I knew it was going to be a good experience, obviously when you move to live in Australia, it’s surreal and I feel like I’ve grown a lot as a person and as a player, but I think for just personal development, it was probably one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life.”
‘I was meant to be here’
A move across the globe requires sacrifice, and Cummings knew this as she packed up her entire life to move down under.
Being away from her home in New Jersey was nothing new either, having moved “four hours north” to attend Ivy League school Brown University and then “four hours south” to go to Georgetown University.
Moving to Australia, however, was something far more daunting.
Conversations with former Adelaide United and USWNT defender Abby Dahlkemper, England striker Jodie Taylor and Matilda Emily Van Egmond at the “best place” possible in San Diego helped her make a decision too.
And although moving halfway across the world could have deterred her, Cummings took the move in her stride.
“I was very taken aback at first (after signing), my whole family was like: ‘oh my god, that’s so cool’ and I thought: ‘ok, I’ll just buy into what they’re saying,” she said.
“I knew I was going to miss like a lot of stuff, obviously, I’ve made a lot of sacrifices to get where I am… I wanted to make it worthwhile and that was kind of my goal coming here.
“I didn’t want to leave, regretting or leaving anything on the table… I’ve kind of used that mentality throughout the entire season… this fell into my lap, but I wanted to make it something where this wasn’t a fluke. I was meant to be here.
“So a lot of luck, a lot of serendipity, but at the end of the day I feel like it’s worked for both parties involved.”
Draft day & learning from a difficult experience
Before she made it professionally, Cummings was moulded into the player she is through the American college system.
In four years at Brown, Cummings earned All American honours, captained the women’s soccer team and won an Ivy League title.
Her experiences in college are something she speaks highly of, particularly her time at Brown under coach Kia McNeill where she learned what it takes to make it professionally and forged a friendship with “best friend” and fellow professional footballer Abby Carchio who she started a women’s football podcast titled “Megged” with recently.
However, the 24-year-old made the tough choice to transfer to Georgetown to play her final year of being an eligible student-athlete due to a ruling that didn’t allow graduates to participate in the Ivy League – despite all college athletes being handed a fifth-year of eligibility due to the postponement of sporting competitions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
It was also a move done with her education in mind as she completed her masters degree in sports management in her one year in the nation’s capital.
After her time as a student athlete came to an end, Cummings was one of many hopefuls aiming to be just one of the 50 names called out in the 2022 NWSL Draft. While there’s the obvious excitement that comes with being part of such an enormous day, there’s the other, less glamorous side to it.
“That was definitely really difficult because I wasn’t with my family, and so they made it really great, like we sat on FaceTime the entire time, which I really appreciated… life doesn’t really stop for the draft, so I just wasn’t home,” she said.
“It was really difficult because you see your name on the side and the draft just keeps going and your name is falling and it’s falling and it’s falling and then it’s also difficult when you have the commentator saying like, ‘oh Cummings is dropping pretty far.’
“You’re just sitting there and you’re like, ‘wow, like this is not what I was anticipating’, so it’s not as glamorous as I’m sure a lot of other peoples might have been.”
In the end, Cummings was selected at Pick 42 by Racing Louisville, becoming the first ever graduate from Brown to be picked in the NWSL Draft.
“When your name is called, you do feel this immense joy and pride that you’ve gotten to this point and you were picked. It doesn’t matter if you were picked number one or you were picked number 50,” she said.
“At the end of the day, someone picked you and that’s really impressive. I think it was just kind of grappling with that fact. It doesn’t matter that I was 42. I got picked. Some people dream of that.”
However, the experience at Louisville didn’t go entirely to plan, as they opted against signing Cummings to a permanent contract, but forever the optimist, she believes it was simply not meant to be.
“I didn’t have the best experience, but I don’t think I was meant to because if I did, I wouldn’t have ended up in San Diego and then I might not have ended up here (at Western),” she said.
“I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. Going there, I met a lot of great people and I have friends that I still keep in contact with. I’m always grateful for that and that experience.
“Being told no and being rejected is really important in personal growth and development. I was able to go home and work on the things that I really thought were important to me.
“It’s unfortunate to have a bad experience because then… I didn’t write off the whole league, but I was like… that’s shady, I don’t know where I want to go next, I never want to experience something like that again.
“I have no qualms saying this, I think with some teams you can catch them at the wrong time, they were getting a new coach brought in. He wasn’t a part of the draft… they have so many international players and I think that was always their agenda. I don’t think I was what they were looking for.
“Not that I feel like I was destined to fail from the beginning but it was never going to happen for me there and that’s ok. It was nice to get a good taste of this is what some of the NWSL is like, because then I went to San Diego and ‘I was like, wow, I’m having a completely different experience’.
“I do think, in terms of personal development, it wouldn’t have been the right place for me anyway and I think that’s okay.”
Learning from one of the best in the world
Her tough experiences in Kentucky were quickly put to the back of her mind as she jetted over to California to sign with San Diego Wave in July 2022.
Cummings signed for the club on a short-term, national team replacement contract, while a host of their key players were away on international duty in what she describes as having “fell in her lap”.
“My agent literally called me after I was finishing coaching and she was like, so I have a team… you have no idea what that means,” she said.
“When she said San Diego, I was actually genuinely surprised because it was like, San Diego was doing so well at the time, (England legend) Casey Stoney is literally a dream to be coached by.
“I said ‘yeah, all right’ like, kind of thought she was taking the piss. She goes ‘no, I’m serious, if you’re interested, you leave in a week.”
Despite only making two bench appearances, her experience helped not only wipe the bad NWSL taste out of her mouth – but provided the opportunity to learn from some of the best.
During that time, she was training alongside the likes of Van Egmond, Dahlkemper, Taylor and women’s football legend Alex Morgan, all under the tutelage of Stoney who is a 140-time England international .
Incredibly, this was all while she wrote her College thesis.
If ever there was a place to learn, this was it, particularly as she went toe-to-toe with Morgan daily, who is one of the best strikers to ever play the game.
“I thought it would be way more intimidating than it was, but everybody was so nice, even on the first day,” she said.
“A lot of the big names were gone when I first got there because they were playing (international football), that was why I came in.
“When they asked me to stay and then I’m still there. I had Alex Morgan come up to me… we were in the locker room and obviously I’m like: ‘oh my god, now everybody’s back… this is so intimidating’ because I got used to the team, that wasn’t the real team.
“All these people come back and she (Alex Morgan) looks at me and she’s like: ‘hi, I’m Alex’ and put her hand out. I was like ‘hi… I know who you are!’
“I felt like I learned a lot from that experience and they treated me like I was one of their own, which made it that much more impactful.
“I was probably playing my best soccer because that was just such a competitive environment… I’m going against Alex Morgan because I’m playing on the B team and she’s playing on the A team.
“When you’re going against her every single day and you’re learning, Casey’s (Stoney) like, ‘OK, do this instead of this’.
“She’s just saying it because she wants Alex to get better and obviously she cares, but I’m just like soaking up as much as I possibly could. That was a great environment. I really loved it.”
Reunited with a footballing hero
When Cummings made her way to Western, there were a couple familiar faces including the staff she met over the phone, but none moreso than USWNT international and FIFA Women’s World Cup winner Jessica McDonald.
The duo had met during Cummings’ brief stay at Louisville, but McDonald’s impact was more profound on the former as someone she looked up to.
“When I think of the U.S. Women’s National Team, I always think of Jessica McDonald. Not only because she is an incredible player but being able to look up at the national team and see a black player is so important,” she told Jersey Sporting News in February 2022.
However, the abrupt end to her time in Kentucky meant she wasn’t able to properly say goodbye.
“I had a great experience with her (at Louisville). I wouldn’t say, we were the best of friends or anything,” she said.
“I think when you’re in Louisville, Kentucky, and there’s only three black girls on the team naturally, you start to hang out and like gravitate towards each other.
“Jess was just a really good resource and she still is, but at that time… you can ask her a question and she’ll be able to give you an honest answer.
“When I left Louisville, the timing was terrible. I didn’t get to say goodbye to anybody… There were a select few who I was like, ‘hey, like I got the news that I’m not getting signed… I’d love to grab dinner’ and some people I said bye to, but Jess was not one of those people.
“I thought about texting her and I was like, ‘oh, I don’t know’, we weren’t that close, but she made a very big impact on me and it’s one of those things where I was just a blip in her life, but she was a thing in mine… At the end of the day, I decided not to.”
However, it wouldn’t be the last time their paths would cross, as they were reunited months later close to 16,000 kilometres away from Kentucky.
“When it was decided she was coming and she was on her way here, I was like: ‘oh god, how do I go about this?’,” she said.
“I don’t want to seem like this weird little person where I’m like: ‘Jess, you mean so much to me’ and she goes: ‘who the hell are you’?
“First day I was thinking: ‘ok, it’s fine… whatever she’s your teammate’. It’s the same as when I went there (Louisville), I was kind of fangirling and then I was like, well, whatever, it’s just your teammate and then first day she said: ‘hey Syd, how are you?’ That was so gratifying!
“Having Jess here was great… I don’t have any sisters, so having somebody who I felt like I could look up to as a sister and someone who I felt like I could go to about things that you just don’t go to, to any other teammate was really important.
“I felt like in that time having her here and being able to talk about whatever under the sun was really important for me as well and it was, it’s nice to have people around who understand references to the US or whatever, as lame as that might sound.
“Having her here was great and I think being in a team like this, not any superstar can do it and Jess did it tremendously. She doesn’t think of herself as I’m here and you guys are beneath me and I think that was really good.”
McDonald helped United surge up the table in her nine games at the club, but after departing, Cummings believes the team felt the gravity of her departure off the field as the positive results began to wane.
However, even after departing, McDonald is still everpresent in their team group chats, messaging after every game and still watching on from afar as she returned to action with Louisville in the 2023 NWSL season.
“I don’t feel like we would have been where we are without Jess. She was so important on the field, but we’ve proven we can still play, we could still get by,” she said.
“I think what she brought leadership wise is why we struggled when she left.
“We had a Zoom call with her a few weeks ago when we were going through that difficult period. She talks after every game. She’s still so involved, which is great.”
Playing for Guyana
Cummings has also had a taste of international football, tallying caps for South American nation Guyana.
Her dad was born in the South American nation, which made her eligible to play for Guyana, debuting in her freshman year of college. Since then, she’s gone on to play a number of games, scoring goals in both their 2018 and 2022 CONCACAF W Championship qualification campaigns.
“It’s not my home, obviously, but if it wasn’t there, I wouldn’t exist,” she said about Guyana.
“There is that sense of home to it and I do have family that still lives there, so being able to see them when I don’t always get to because either I miss them when they come to the States or they’re not there for long or they don’t, whatever the case may be.
“The experience has been great. I’ve met great people who have done great things for the country, playing and almost qualifying multiple times, whereas before that just wasn’t happening for us.
“It’s not as consistent as we would like, especially because a lot of girls are based out of Canada, then you have girls in Guyana and then you have girls in the US. It is difficult when you’re not actually all in one place, and then you don’t have the funds to get everybody in one place.”
However, playing for Guyana is all the more special, given the fact her dad also represented the country playing sport at the highest level.
“It’s just been an honour, my dad played basketball for the Guyana national team as well, so it is something that is very special that only him and I can share that we’ve experienced,” she said.
“I definitely think it’s brought me and my dad so much closer, because obviously I know it meant a lot to him and then it meant a lot to me. It’s really special and every time I’m able to go there and meet new people or see my family it means a lot.”
What it would mean to win a Championship
On Sunday, Western will be hoping to finish the story.
The last expansion side to win a Championship in their first season was Melbourne City in 2016 and Western can do the same if they do what they’ve done twice already – including once in the finals – beat Sydney FC.
Should they win it all, it will cap off one of the great underdog stories in league history and Cummings believes winning on Sunday carries a much greater importance.
“I think playing for a team where people kind of write you off, I’ve done a few times and I think when you can kind of show everybody this isn’t a fluke we’re meant to be here, we’re good enough. I think that’s really important,” she said.
“The next step for this league is building up every other team that’s not City, Sydney and Victory. They’re obviously really great sides, they’ve proven that time and time again, but you want to make the gap from the top team to the lowest team as small as possible.
“I feel like us coming in as an expansion side helps do that and obviously there will be an expansion team next year as well.
“I think what this weekend means for the league is a really big deal as well and obviously we want to win. I’d be lying if I said we didn’t, or I’d be lying if I said that’s not what we’re entirely focused on and that’s what we dream of and that’s all we want.
“It means a lot to my team, so it means a lot to me, like a lot of these girls have been written off from those teams and so getting a chance to show their worth and, they’re meant to be in this league. I play with them everyday, they’re fantastic people and they’re fantastic players.”
For Cummings personally: “I just want to win. I’m a competitor during the day, I want to win.
“Whatever helps everybody I think is the most important thing, but I refuse to lose.
“I don’t want to have any regrets every time you step on that field. I would hate to step off and be like, oh, should have done this or I still have gas in the tank – that was one of the things my dad taught me very early on.
“You should need to be carried off the field every game because you’ve literally given it your all and I feel like this game, especially because there’s nothing after this.”
