Savy King started for Angel City on Saturday, in a 3-1 victory at Bay FC. It was her first start of the season and she played 80 minutes.
It certainly appears the 20-year-old defender is fully recovered from a serious cardiac event during a home game last May. King’s return is one remarkable story, but the change she brought about in the league is just as impressive.
King doesn’t remember a whole lot about her collapse. She said something didn’t feel right and realized she couldn’t go on. Then everything went black.
King’s heart had stopped. Trainers performed CPR on her for some 10 minutes before she was whisked off the field and to the hospital. A couple of days later, she underwent open heart surgery for a rare condition that had previously gone undetected.
While King was hospitalized, the league came under fire because Angel City’s game against the Royals was resumed, with some 12 minutes of stoppage time, despite the shock of King’s teammates over her collapse and the crowd’s obvious stunned concern.
The NWSL Players Association, as well as Trinity Rodman on social media, criticized the league for the decision. The NWSL went on to admit it made a mistake.
Later in the season, when Racing Louisville’s Savannah DeMelo collapsed during a game in Seattle, the game was stopped and resumed a couple of days later.
Commissioner Jessica Berman said there’s now a “decision tree” at the league offices, so that such decisions are made quickly and with care.
But that wasn’t the only change to come about. While King was recovering, she wanted to do more. Surely there was a way to create something positive out of a scary situation?
So King and her family founded “Savy King of Hearts,” a non profit that serves to educate people about heart conditions and how CPR can improve survival outcomes.
King’s foundation helps get AED machines to communities that need them. CPR is taught at her soccer camps, and she regularly speaks to both kids and adults who are dealing with the some condition that she had.
She also pushed the league to adopt a program that teaches CPR to all of the league’s teams. The San Diego Wave was the latest team to get the training.
King says she’s a generally positive person, always looking to make the best of each moment.
“I for sure have gone through ups and downs, but for the most part, I just am grateful that I’m able to play again,” she said. “I feel like that comes from my perspective of life just completely changing. I feel like sometimes when you do something over and over again, you get comfortable and not necessarily complacent, but you take things for granted of being able to just go out there and do what you love every day. And for a second I thought that that was taken from me.”
A Southern California native, King’s mother, Karrie King, was a professional biathlete. After a season at North Carolina, King was the second-overall pick in the 2024 NWSL draft by expansion Bay FC and played 18 games for the club. She was traded to Angel City in February 2025 and had started in all eight games for the team before she collapsed.
“You don’t always have to let what happens to you define you and how you decide to go about your life in the future. Because I can very easily just stop playing and be like, ‘Yeah, this is scary. I’m going to stop.’ But I have so much that I want to accomplish in my life, and I didn’t want that to be the reason that I just stopped altogether, especially if there’s a chance that I could keep going and continue to inspire young girls that go through the same thing.”
I spoke to King at the NWSL Media Days in Los Angeles in late January, and wrote about her for The Associated Press. My story is here!
Links
FIFA does a good thing: Women coaches must be included on staff for women’s teams
Iranian women’s soccer team returns to Iran
The situation surrounding the Iranian team is fraught
The NY Post said the women looked terrified upon arrival
Bunny Shaw is the best striker in women’s football, from The Athletic
Japan downs Australia 1-0 to win Asian Cup
Marietta approves Atlanta NWSL team’s facilities
Opening weekend shattered attendance records
How Gotham built its roster, from The Athletic
The BBC looked at women’s soccer stadiums, and asks whether WSL will follow
Denver adds Ryan and Sheehan from the Dash
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