Mia Gyau

Mia Irene Gyau is an American professional soccer player who currently plays as a defender for Première Ligue club Reims. She has previously played for the San Diego Wave in the National Women's Soccer League.

Early life
Gyau was born on June 22, 1998, in Silver Spring, Maryland, and is a native of Colesville. Gyau's father, Phillip Gyau, is a former professional soccer player and played in six games for the United States men's national soccer team. Her brother, Joe Gyau, plays for the Las Vegas Lights and has three international caps.

Gyau attended Bullis School, where she ran track and set the current school record for the 800–meter run and the 3200–meter run. Gyau did not play high school soccer, but she played club soccer with the Bethesda Lions boys team. She was a three-time NSCAA Youth All-America selection and was ranked seventh place overall in TopDrawerSoccer.com's class of 2016 list.

College career
Gyau attended Duke University and majored in evolutionary anthropology. In her freshman year at Duke, she played in all 23 games for the Blue Devils and scored one goal. The next three years of Gyau's college career would be riddled with injury. In her second season, Gyau tore her ACL and MCL, sidelining her for the majority of the season. She ended up only appearing in three games and playing 216 minutes in total. Following a smooth surgery and recovery, Gyau returned to the field for her junior year, only to tear her right Achilles tendon three matches back from her knee injury. Gyau underwent three surgeries to repair her Achilles and did not play for the remainder of her third season at Duke. In her senior year, Gyau played in 9 games and scored her second collegiate goal on September 26, 2019. Once again, her season was cut short after she tore her left Achilles tendon in a match against the University of North Carolina. In her fifth and final year of college, Gyau played in 21 games, starting each one. She scored one goal and played a college-high 1,737 minutes of soccer. Gyau finished her collegiate career with 59 games played and 3 goals over the span of five different seasons.

San Diego Wave, 2022–2023
On January 16, 2022, Gyau was signed by NWSL club San Diego Wave FC ahead of the team's inaugural season. Gyau made her professional debut on May 1, 2022, coming on as a substitute for Christen Westphal in a 1–0 victory over the Houston Dash. During the match, Gyau served up a cross that was flicked on by Katie Johnson and then kicked into the back of the net by Jodie Taylor, marking the Wave's first-ever regular season goal. Gyau went on to play sporadically, appearing in a total of 5 matches for the Wave during the 2022 NWSL Season and playing 137 minutes.

During the Wave's 2023 campaign, Gyau played one minute of the regular season in a May 20 game against Houston. Gyau found more playing time in the 2022 NWSL Challenge Cup, where she made two starts in the competition. First, Gyau played a full 90 minutes in a 3–0 defeat to the OL Reign on May 31, 2023. In her second career Challenge Cup appearance, Gyau played 45 minutes in a 2–1 loss to Angel City FC on June 28, 2023. During the away match, Gyau made a goal-line clearance in the 36th minute that prevented Angel City from scoring into the open net. The defeat would be Gyau's final game with the San Diego Wave.

On November 21, 2023, the Wave waived Gyau as part of the club's end-of-season roster decisions. Gyau ended her time in San Diego having played in 6 regular season games and 2 cup matches.

Stade de Reims, 2024–
In January 2024, French club Stade de Reims signed Gyau on a contract through 2025. Gyau arrived in Marne at the tail end of January and made her club debut with Reims on February 9, 2024, in a 3–0 defeat to Montpellier. In the game, Gyau came on as a substitute in the 76th minute for teammate Jade Rastocle. Later on in the campaign, Gyau played a full match in Reims' playoff defeat to Lyon on May 12, 2024. She also started in the third-place playoff, which ended up being a defeat to Paris FC on penalty kicks. Despite joining Reims midway through the season, Gyau ended her first year in France with 8 league appearances and 802 minutes in all competitions.

International career
Gyau has represented the United States as a member of several different youth national teams. She trained with the U-14 and U-15 teams as a teenager and was a member of the U-17, U-18, and U-20 teams.

Club


Honors
San Diego Wave


 * NWSL Shield: 2023