Mother of twins. Professional soccer player. Gotham FC's Allie Long works to have it all.

One of the many new skills that Allie Long has perfected since giving birth to twins 14 months ago is a highly developed pair of mommy ears.

Even in the middle of the night after having gone through a grueling practice with Gotham FC of the National Women’s Soccer League, Long can be awakened instantly by the slightest whimper from her daughter, Max, or son, Trent. Looking to avoid a double meltdown, she will quickly grab the fussing baby and head downstairs to watch television.

Lately, there’s been something worth watching live in the wee hours as the FIFA Women's World Cup is being played in New Zealand and Australia. Long admits it’s a weird mix of feelings to be sitting with a baby on a sofa in New Jersey watching a tournament that four years ago she was playing in.

“It’s exciting to watch the games, but of course I want to be out there,” said Long, who grew up in Northport and still has family there. “It was such an amazing tournament when I was a part of it, the way you are representing your country. Now, it’s a different perspective when I’m with the babies and watching and telling them who the players are.

“I want to be out there again. To get back to the national team would be incredible, and it’s definitely a goal of mine.”

Watch out, says those who know Long well. When the 35-year-old midfielder sets her mind on doing something, there is usually no stopping her.

 There are a number of soccer players who are also mothers — including current World Cup team members Alex Morgan, Julie Ertz and Rockville Centre-raised Crystal Dunn.  What makes her journey even more jaw-dropping is that she was able to rejoin and train with her team at the end of last season, less than four months after her twins were delivered by emergency C-section.

Long played the final eight weeks of the NWSL 2021 season without realizing she was pregnant.

The real shock, however, came a week later when Casey Cordial, her partner and the father of her children, pulled out a pocket ultrasound. Cordial, a sports chiropractor  who has worked with a number of elite tennis players including James Blake, knew the device had an OBGYN setting but had never used it.

“He starts scanning me, and all of the sudden his face drops,” Long recalled. “He said either you are having twins or are internally bleeding. We started googling what twins look like at nine weeks pregnant and it was the exact same picture.”

Long had a rather uneventful pregnancy, until during a routine visit more than a month before her due date when doctors said they were worried about her son’s heart rate and that they were going to have to perform a C-section. The babies were born May 23, 2022, in Missoula, Montana, where Long and Cordial live in the offseason. Both were healthy but underweight. Max would spend 10 days in the neonatal intensive care unit while Trent was there for three weeks.

“Allie kicked herself out of the hospital in two days,” Cordial said. “We were spending 15 hours a day together with the babies — sometimes she was there for 24 hours – but she didn’t want to stay there as a patient.”

Cordial said Long was so determined to get back into playing shape that she wanted to start jogging two weeks after the birth and he had to hold her back. At five weeks, she as able to start running and doing “soccer stuff” on her own. Cordial also devised ways to incorporate the twins into the workout, like having Long do crunches while holding them as weights.

Long had hoped to play at least one game with her team last season and likely would have if Gotham FC had made the NWSL playoffs. 

When the club hired John Carlos Amorós to be their new coach this season, Long was one of the first players he reached out to.

“After becoming a mom, it was always going to be a challenge. But she was really up for it and I was really impressed,” Amorós said. “I already knew she had the passion for football and was up for the challenge and was working hard to get into the best shape possible. I was extremely impressed with her attitude and her commitment to be the best she can be again. She wasn’t coming back to prove anything to anyone. She wanted to be the elite athlete she was before, and she definitely did it.”

Long, who was voted one of the team’s four captains, has started 13 of 14 games this season, leads non-goalkeeping teammates in minutes played with 1,176  and has scored two goals. Gotham, which finished in last place last season and won just four games, is currently in third place with a 7-3 record as the regular season has been paused until the World Cup is over. Her twins have missed just two games this year, both of which involved long flights to the West Coast.

“The first game back this year was amazing,” Long said. “I think I teared up during the national anthem. I felt like I did it. I did it for my kids. I just wanted them to know that it’s possible to have kids and still have a dream. I brought these two beautiful babies into the world and I still reached my goal.”

Long’s biggest remaining goal is to return to the national team. She is one of four members of the 2019 World Cup championship team who is playing professionally but isn’t on this year’s team. The others are her Gotham teammate Ali Krieger, who plans to retire at the end of this season, Morgan Gautrat of the Kansas City Current and Jessica McDonald of Racing Louisville.

Even though she knew it was a longshot to play in this year’s World Cup, especially considering she had missed the entire 2022 season, it wasn’t easy initially for Long to be left off the team.

“She knew the chances were slim to zero,” Cordial said, “but it was heartbreaking at first. I think she went through all kinds of emotions. But then, her mindset is unbelievable. Like a lot of great competitors, she doesn’t dwell on the negative. She just refocuses and says what do I have to do to move forward. She’s like, ‘That’s someone else’s opinion. I’m just going to keep playing and show I’m the best player.' "

And so, when Long watches the World Cup in the middle of the night with one of her babies, she does it with both a sense of pride and purpose. The U.S. advanced to the knockout stage with a win over Vietnam and draws against the Netherlands and Portugal. The Americans will play Sweden on Sunday.

“When we played four years ago, we knew what we were playing for. It wasn’t just against our competition, it was for women everywhere,” Long said. “[Donald] Trump is tweeting [Megan Rapinoe] right before our quarterfinal and no one was fazed by it. We were just so focused.”

And now, four years after being a part of a team that put the spotlight on pay equity, Long would like to send another message to society and her own children.

“Your dreams and goals don’t have to stop just because you’re pregnant or want a baby,” she said. “Society makes it difficult for a lot of women. I hoping it’s moving in the right direction as far as childcare.

“I think it’s so important for my kids to see me work. Subconsciously, it’s in their mind. They might not remember it, but to show them what hard work looks like and to be able to balance their dreams and goals with the passion of being a mom, that’s important. I want them to know whatever dream they have they can accomplish it.”

By Barbara Barker

barbara.barker@newsday.commeanbarb

Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.