HIGHLANDS RANCH — Horace Pugh can still hear the steady drumbeat of a soccer bouncing against the wall of his garage. DA-da-da, DA-da-da, DA-da-da became the soundtrack to the Pugh household, provided by their daughter, Mallory, who took ownership of the garage in the dead of winter at age 14 to practice her juggling and footwork, like a boxer rhythmically beating a speed bag.

Hours later, she’d come in from the cold to a warm house littered with soccer balls. Rarely was one not tethered to her feet.

“At any point, there’d be balls laying everywhere and she’d walk by to talk to you and she’d swoop it with her foot,” Horace says. “To us, it’s weird.”

But also meant to be, he says.

The juggling act Mallory has spent years mastering at her Highlands Ranch home and on the nearby fields has gained the spotlight on a new stage — the biggest stage — in women’s soccer. Only six months after being called up to the U.S. national team training camp, and only two months after graduating from Mountain Vista High School, the 18-year-old striker is bound for Brazil as the second-youngest Olympian in the history of U.S. women’s soccer.

Mallory’s resume and list of accolades has expanded faster than her legs can move, putting her among veterans more than a decade older than her. She has been described as the future of women’s soccer, as a special talent that comes around maybe once every 10 years.

But that “phenom” label carries an element of surprise. Peel back the layers, and this ice cream- loving teenager plays with a resolve far beyond her years.

“She’s talented, but because of her mental (maturity),” says Sterling Joseph, Pugh’s longtime trainer who owns Team Speed Training in Centennial. “That’s what gets her what she wants. If you see her on the field, it’s as if she’s supposed to be there.”

Cerebral advantage

Horace eases into his chair at his dining room table to issue a disclaimer that he knows may not be fully understood.

“You got to understand,” he starts, “a lot of people, they ask us questions and that’s where it’s kind of hard to do an interview because we’re like, ‘You don’t understand. It’s Mallory.’ Even after a game, she’ll come back and you’ll ask her about (certain plays) and she’s like, ‘Oh, I don’t remember doing that.’ It’s not standoffish. Her thing is, ‘I don’t understand what the big deal is. I like to play soccer. I’m halfway decent at it.’ She never likes to say she’s good at it.”

Make no mistake: Mallory Pugh isn’t blind to her accomplishments. But for more than 14 years, soccer has been a joy, not a job. And it still is. Even at the top. Even when balancing national team camps and matches with AP calculus and college-level English homework. Even when she’s mobbed outside stadiums by younger girls just hoping for a high-five or a hello.

While others see her as this rare star, she still sees the girl who just wanted to play alongside her older sister in the backyard, and who would watch Spanish-broadcast matches on her Hello Kitty TV and scream “GOOOOOOOOOOALLL!’ because it was the only phrase she could understand.

“I don’t like it,” she says of the added attention. “Like the other night, me and my friends went to dinner because I’m not going to be seeing them for a while. Some people came up and said, ‘Can I take a picture with you?’ I’m like, ‘Are you sure? With me? Yeah, if you want.’ It’s cool to have people just come up to you, but it’s just weird. It’s been really weird for me.”

Horace and his wife, Karen, are no strangers to the elite sports scene. Their older daughter, Brianna, rose through the ranks of club soccer and the Olympic Development Program before starring at the University of Oregon. But Mallory, they say, “took it to the next level.” And her ability to compartmentalize still confounds.

“When she gets back from these trips, she checks out. She’s working out and stuff like that, but it’s weird because she’s also so goal-oriented,” Horace says. “It’s big to us and everybody else. But to her it’s just — Mal has never been one who has been starstruck. Although, Justin Bieber. And Messi and Neymar.”

Less than two years ago, Mallory was a 16-year-old competing in the under-20 Women’s World Cup in Canada. Last December she was a 17-year-old captain and leading scorer of the U-20 team that won the CONCACAF World Championship in Honduras and earned its way to the 2016 World Cup in Papua New Guinea in November. And this past January she made her biggest leap yet, becoming the youngest player in 11 years to debut with the senior national team when the U.S. defeated Ireland 5-0 in front of more than 23,000 fans at San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium.

Horace and Karen stood at their seats, nerves coursing their veins as they watched their daughter warm up and then take the field. In the 83rd minute of play, Mallory fielded a cross from the left side of the box from Christen Press and headed the ball into the back of the net.

“We looked at each other like, ‘Did she just do what we thought she did?’ At 17 years old, you’re with the national team and I thought she’s got to screw up, because her nerves have just got to be — she’s just got to be rattled,” Horace says. “I’m thinking she’s going to whiff a ball or kick it out of bounds. To be 17 and finally be at that level that you’ve always wanted to be at, and not to just to be sitting on the bench but to finally be in — I can’t imagine.”

Lindsey Horan could. The Golden native can vividly remember the nerves she felt when she debuted with the national team as a teenager. But in watching Mallory, her training camp roommate who has a team-high seven assists plus three goals this year, it was obvious the game was like any other. Just another chance to play.

“She doesn’t get frazzled much,” Horan says. “It really amazes me, because when I first got called up when I was 18, I was starstruck the whole time and nervous before every game. Mal stepped in and in her first game she gets a goal. That’s amazing in itself, but I see it day in and day out. She doesn’t play like an 18-year-old. She doesn’t let anything get in her head, which is really cool.”

New challenge, same Pugh

The call came around 1 p.m. MDT on July 10 as Mallory and her parents sat on a runway at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, bound for Denver.

The flight attendant’s mandate to turn all portable electronic devices to “airport” mode had been issued. The captain had already turned on the fasten seat belt sign. And the cabin crew had already prepared for takeoff.

But Mallory’s phone lit up like a firefly in the night sky and, well, she couldn’t ignore this one.

“OK,” Mallory quietly replied to the voice on the other end. “All right.”

Then she strapped on her headphones, pulled over her hoodie and settled in for a two-hour nap. Twenty-four hours earlier, Mallory notched her team-high seventh assist, a left-footed cross that served up the U.S. team’s lone goal in a victory over South Africa at Soldier Field. It was her last audition before coach Jill Ellis chose the 18-player roster for the Rio Olympics.

“So we were like, OK, what’d she say? ‘Congratulations,’ ’’ Horace recalls Mallory telling him. “Are you on? Are you an alternate? ‘Yeah, I made it.’ And that was it. Most people would be like, ‘Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God!’ And she was just like, ‘OK, all right.’ All business.”

As usual, the switch in Mallory’s mind had flipped long before Ellis could congratulate her on the historical achievement.

“When she got back (from Chicago), she said ‘I’m going to get ice cream. I’m going to the pool,’ ” Karen says. “Two hours ago, she was on that couch watching SpongeBob SquarePants.”

Karen’s wide grin and laugh is interrupted as Horace hands her the phone. It’s Mallory. Returning from her training session with Joseph, wondering what’s for dinner.

“Fish tacos? Do you not want fish tacos? OK, bye,” Karen says before quickly hanging up.

“Same old Mal.”

Mallory Pugh file

Age: 18

Hometown: Highlands Ranch

High school: Mountain Vista

Club: Real Colorado

College: UCLA (January 2017 start)

Played three seasons at Mountain Vista; named to All-Colorado team as a freshman, helped MVHS to Class 5A state title that year. Graduated this past spring.

2014-15 Gatorade national girls soccer player of the year

2015 U.S. Soccer young female player of the year

Captain of 2015 U-20 national team that won the CONCACAF championship. Winner of Golden Ball (best player) and Golden Boot (most goals, seven) awards in the tournament. Will lead team to FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Papua, New Guinea, in November.

Earned first cap and goal with senior national team in 5-0 victory vs. Ireland, Jan. 23 in San Diego.

Youngest player (17 years, 9 months, 12 days) in women’s national team history to play in an Olympic qualifying match, against Costa Rica on Feb. 10.

Second-youngest U.S. women’s soccer Olympian in history. Will be 18 years, 3 months, 5 days old when Team USA begins group play in Rio on Aug. 3.

They said it

How those closest to Pugh describe her:

“It’s not so much of a surprise that she’s with the national team. I think we expect her to do something great, because she’s very talented. She was born with some stuff that we coaches can’t teach, and we just refined her tools. That’s all we did.”

Lorne Donaldson, executive director of coaching/president of Real Colorado

“I just knew she was special. In every capacity — on the field, in fitness testing, anything she was doing. Just in the way she carried herself, you could tell that she was a player that had a bright future.”

Jill Ellis, U.S. women’s national soccer team coach

“You can tell she’s a little bit giddy, but doesn’t want to get too worked up about it. She doesn’t want to talk about it a lot. Just only what’s necessary.”

Karen Pugh, mother, on the Rio Olympics

“As her parents, we know how she is. She’s not hard on herself; she’s just always looking to get better. We go to the games now and we’re excited. Like, ‘What is she going to do?’ That’s the fun part of it: What is she going to do?”

Horace Pugh, father

“If I say anything about her, what’s special about her, is that kid is grounded. This stuff doesn’t affect her in any way, and I love that. I just can’t even stress how proud I am of her. I’m more proud of her with that than anything else.”

Sterling Joseph, longtime trainer and owner of Team Speed Training

“I’ve never seen her get, in any way, frazzled. That’s just the person she is. She loves playing and she loves the game.”

Lindsey Horan, Golden native and U.S. Olympic midfielder