LI's Phallon Tullis-Joyce hoping to be in goal for USWNT

Phallon Tullis-Joyce took a dive off the Solomon Islands. She was 18 then, her first time out of the country, and the view from under the water in the South Pacific was just so stunning. It opened the eyes of a young woman from Long Island.

“A very remote island,” she said from California Friday, flashing back to what she called “one of my best moments in the ocean.”

“It took like a whole day to get there, three boat rides, the whole shebang. There was no electricity. And then you get into the water and it was the most pristine landscape that you could imagine. The corral looked like these flower pedals in the water. The bug bit me. It bit me hard. That’s why I want to go into protecting these areas. There are a lot of areas in this world that are just gorgeous.”

So the game plan for this 28-year-old certified scuba diver raised in Middle Island is to become a marine biologist after her first career comes to an end. But that first career is going rather well these days for a former All-Long Island goalkeeper at Longwood High.

Tullis-Joyce’s regular job is to make saves as the No. 1 keeper for one of the world’s marquee names in soccer — Manchester United.

But now there’s an opportunity on this side of the ocean. The U.S. women’s national team needs a No. 1 goalkeeper with the retirement of Alyssa Naeher from international play. Tullis-Joyce may get a chance to audition for coach Emma Hayes after being called up to the team last week for the second time.

She didn’t play the first time in two friendlies in Europe late last year. The U.S. has two friendlies scheduled in California Saturday and Tuesday against Brazil. There have been indications from Hayes that Tullis-Joyce could start at least one of them.

“I think growing up, being a small girl on Long Island, playing the sport and how big it was and big it is for our country, the national team was always in the spotlight and it was always something I wanted to be part of,” Tullis-Joyce said. “But I never quite connected the dots of playing professionally to get there, to play for the national team.”

Her soccer journey took her from Longwood to the University of Miami, then to start her pro career in France, then back to the U.S. to play for the NWSL’s Reign in Seattle.

And then in September of 2023, it was on to England. Manchester United paid a transfer fee for her that was said to be $160,000, unprecedented for a women’s goalkeeper.

She became the starter for the Women’s Super League team last September. She currently leads the league in clean sheets with 12 and in save percentage at 87.5.

“It’s a crazy journey that I’ve had so far,” Tullis-Joyce said. “… But it is pretty nuts that I play for Manchester United.”

In order to play regularly for the women’s national team as well, the 6-foot keeper will have to foster communication and chemistry with her teammates.

“We all know Phallon's qualities,” Hayes told reporters on a recent conference call. “She's had a really good season with Manchester United, but you have to put the whole thing together.

“… She’s very introverted, very quiet, and she's got to build the relationships with the players in and around her, because you have to build trust and build connections.”

Patricia Joyce, whom Phallon called “super mom,” would drive her daughter everywhere for soccer when she was younger.

It helped that “super mom” worked delivering newspapers, dispensing Newsday to area homes.

“I would be in the car with her at the crack of dawn, throwing out newspapers,” Phallon said. “And that’s how she got to stay home with me and my brother and actually be able to drive me to soccer practices, because she was a paper deliverer in the early hours.”

Phallon still calls Long Island home when she’s in the U.S. She visits her family in Medford and trains on the Island in her offseason and holiday times.

She played club soccer for Farmingdale United when she was young, among other teams. She started for four years at Longwood, making first-team All-Long Island as a senior in 2013.

There were two traits that stood out to her coach there.

“For one, she’s very athletic,” said Austin Manghan, now 76, retired from coaching and teaching at Longwood and living in Shoreham. “No. 2, she had the mindset of improving. Even though she was great when we got her, she was never satisfied with the status quo. … She just had a very strong work ethic.”

Manghan isn’t surprised that Tullis-Joyce has this opportunity now.

So what would it mean to her to play for the U.S. women’s national team for the first time in one of these two matches?

“Surreal is the word, I would say,” Tullis-Joyce said. “… It would be a great moment here in California to be able to play for my country. That would be enormous.”