I agree with you wholeheartedly. The truth is though that those two are unicorns. Gates had mommy's money and connections and some brilliant classmates. Not to mention he recognized that the Xerox platform that was the basis for windows was the future and getting them to give it to him was brilliant. Zuckerberg stole someone's idea and was able to make it work. He's lucky that they took the 8 figure settlement and didn't realize the true potential of their own idea.
That was Jobs who went to Xerox PARC and then put the GUI in the Mac. Microsoft was selling MS-DOS until Windows was copied from the Mac.
As for anyone else bringing up Gates, Zuckerberg, Dell or whoever for leaving or not going to college, its not relevant unless you are comparing them to someone else who already has a massive alternative opportunity. None of those guys just "left". Gates took the biggest flyer, but he didn't quit school until after Microsoft was going. He took a leave of absence. Zuckerberg had FB already going and left because VC was offering him life changing money in a booming industry. Dell was already running his business out of his UT dorm room. None of them left a scholarship behind.
Pugh is giving up significant value in dumping that scholarship. It will work out for her if she gets significant endorsements. The soccer pay isn't worth it. If she just ends up as a good player on the USWNT, its may not be worth it. If it doesn't work out, she can always go back to school, and its not necessary to spend big tuition to get a college education. Playing internationally is even more unique an experience than going to college, so from a life experience standpoint, why not?