Sport: Soccer
Town: Far Hills
Born: April 11, 1997
Alana Simone Cook was born April 11, 1997 in Worcester, Massachusetts and moved to Far Hills, NJ during high school. The daughter of an American mother (Florence) and British father (Bryan), Alana and her older sister, Brianna, excelled in a wide range of sports. Brianna was an ace softball pitcher for Amherst College. Alana used her speed, anticipation and powerful body to become a standout in the youth soccer leagues of Massachusetts.
The family moved to Somerset County after her sophomore year and she enrolled at the Pennington School in Mercer County. As a junior and senior, she scored 22 goals and had 14 assists, playing mostly as a midfielder. She led the Red Hawks to the state title and was named New Jersey Player of the Year as a junior in 2013. In 2014, she distinguished herself as the nation’s top scholar athlete. Alana’s club team, the MatchFit Colchesters, did not lose to another New Jersey team while Alana was on the field and won the 2013 Youth Soccer National title in 2013.
Alana joined the USA Soccer program and continued to develop her playing and leadership skills as a defender. She captained the Under-17 squad and later the Under-23 squad. She played her first match for the women’s national team in the fall of 2019. A month earlier, she was invited to train with England’s national team. She was eligible because of her father’s British citizenship.
Alana was heavily recruited and accepted a scholarship to Stanford University, where she was named to the conference’s All-Freshman team in 2015. At Stanford, Alana was the star of an impenetrable defense. The Cardinal won four straight Pac-12 titles during her varsity career and she captained the team to a national championship in 2017 as a junior. Alana was named Defender of the Year as a senior in 2018 and was a semifinalist for the Hermann Award.
Alana signed with Paris Saint-Germain of France’s Division 1 women’s league in 2019. She would go on to play in 21 league matches for PSG over the next two-plus seasons, starting in 17 of them and providing rock-solid defense. In 2020-21, she helped the club knock longtime powerhouse Lyon off the top of the league table. Alana also made 9 Champions League appearances and scored a memorable header against Barcelona.
In 2020, PSG arranged a three-game loan with the OL Reign of the National Women’s Soccer League so she could suit up for the NWSL playoffs. In the spring of 2021, the OL Reign worked out at transfer deal with PSG and inked Alana to a three-year contract with an option for 2024. She helped the club fashion a 13–8–3 record in 2021 and was named to the league’s Best XI. In 2022, the Reign went 11–4–7—the best record in the NWSL and she repeated as a Best XI pick. That year Alana was a member of Team USA’s CONCACAF champions
In April 2023, Alana scored her first international goal in a friendly with Ireland.