All-Star shortstop Dansby Swanson and U.S. women’s national soccer team star Mallory Pugh officially tied the knot Saturday. The wedding took place at the Ritz Carlton Reynolds Lake Oconee in Greensboro, Georgia, according to People.
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“To get married in front of our family and friends is so special,” the couple said. “It means that we are becoming one and get to impact God’s Kingdom together.”
Both the bride and groom shared pictures from their special day on Instagram.
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They got engaged last December and scheduled their wedding so neither of them would be in season.
In an interview with Sports Spectrum in May for a Summer 2022 magazine feature, Pugh shared a conversation she had with Swanson early in their relationship. She told him the only way the relationship was going to work was if God was at the center of it.
“When Dansby and I first started dating, I told him if we’re going to be a thing and we’re going to have a future together, Jesus and God, that is our foundation,” Pugh said. “I look back at the past four and a half years, and it’s amazing how much growth that we both have had in our faith.”
The Chicago Red Stars attacker was a finalist for National Women’s Soccer League MVP after an 11-goal, six-assist season in 2022. She also helped the U.S. win the CONCACAF W Championship over the summer.
Her career year immediately followed an incredibly challenging 2021 that included an injury and missing out on the Tokyo Olympics. All the disappointment and frustration Pugh experienced led her to a place of surrender.
“One thing I did learn through this whole process of kind of finding myself again on the field, but also the spiritual growth that I’ve had, was just letting God take it all,” she told Sports Spectrum. “Letting Him take it all and whatever He wants me to do, I’m going to do.”
Swanson is also coming off a career year in which he was named an All-Star and won a Gold Glove while playing all 162 games for the Atlanta Braves. He is currently a free agent for the first time in his career.
The former No. 1 overall draft pick joined the Sports Spectrum Podcast in January to discuss what it’s like becoming a World Series champion and the importance of letting God guide every aspect of his life.
“He’s the one doing the leading, and I’m just the one on earth that’s doing the leading,” Swanson said on the podcast. “But He’s leading through me, and I really feel like that’s kind of the challenge for me as I grow in my spiritual relationship with Him and as I grow in my relationships with Mallory and with my friends and family.”
The newlyweds will enjoy some down time before the 2023 NWSL season begins March 25, and opening day for the 2023 MLB season is March 30.
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