You may not realize it when you’re sucked into a nail-biter of a match (or merely ogling all of that . . . athleticism), but every time you tune to the World Cup this year in the U.S., you’re witnessing history. And said history has nothing to do with who is winning, losing, flopping, suffering injury, or banking red cards. That voice you hear calling the shots? That’s Aly Wagner, and she’s the first woman ever to announce men’s World Cup games for the tournament's U.S. broadcasts. And by most accounts (more on that later), she’s killing it.

When we first speak, she’s fresh off the Iceland-Nigeria match: a little exhilarated, and a lot spent. As a two-time Olympic gold medalist and two-time World Cup bronze winner herself, Wagner is no stranger to performing on a massive stage, but calling the World Cup for millions of viewers is enough to douse anyone in the flop sweat of performance anxiety. Add to that being the first woman ever to do so in the U.S., and it’s no wonder that Wagner says that actually playing in those high stakes games was, comparatively speaking, kind of a cakewalk.

“The gravity of calling World Cup matches is like nothing I’ve ever experienced,” she says. Initially, her reverence for the tournament and her soccer-first perspective overshadowed the whole glass ceiling thing, only for that part to sneak up and knock the wind out of her later: “I realized what a big deal it is for a woman to do this, and the huge responsibility that’s been placed on my shoulders.”

She tackled the challenge like the elite athlete she is, throwing herself into the prep as intensely as if she were lacing up to hit the field. But instead of physical conditioning and fine-tuning her mechanics, this preparation involved planting herself on the couch with her iPad. And notebooks. So many notebooks. Tasked with calling 10 games, she schooled herself on the basics and subtleties of 20 different teams—and each of those team’s 23 players. (Little did she know Fox would spring a last-minute schedule change on her, too.)

“There’s so much background you have to know to get into the specific match and break it down, provide context,” she explains. “It was insane, the hours. My poor family; since January, every moment I wasn’t doing something for the kids I was watching games and taking notes.”