Hope Solo

Just another Wednesday night inside the WPS.

The Washington Freedom finished their 5-match losing streak and 10-match winless streak by defeating the Philadelphia Independence 2-0 following a lightning delay in the Maryland SoccerPlex Wednesday, August 4.

Both goals had been headers by Abby Wambach, initial from a corner kick help by midfielder Sonia Bompastor, then minutes later from a really free kick by defender Cat Whitehill.

The last time the Freedom won was back in May 30, in a similar venue against exactly the same group. The match also served as the very first win and shutout of rookie Ashlyn Harris being a professional goalkeeper.

The victory has went the Freedom up to 4th spot (tied using the Chicago Red Stars), back in playoff contention. The Independence remain in 2nd location.

“They’re all playoff games from here on in. Each and every single video match can be a cup final,” mentioned Independence head coach Paul Riley. “You can see Freedom’s emotions tonight. They treated it like a cup final, we treat it like just a regular season [match] and that’s unacceptable.” (more…)

At the rate Kristine Lilly is going, Abby Wambach is never going to catch up.

Although admittedly a small “bummed” at that realization Saturday, Wambach accepts that a far more complicated ambition for her likely will make the U.S. women’s soccer group better. And she’ll take that.

Wambach scored twice Saturday to inch her up to fourth around the all-time career scoring record, while Lilly added a target to cushion her No. 2 ranking within the exact same list because the U.S. women’s soccer crew breezed past Germany, 4-0, at Browns Stadium. Goalkeeper Hope Solo recorded the shutout — the fifth with the year in seven games to the squad — in helping No. 1 USA hold off No. 2 Germany in front of a crowd of 10,321.

Lilly’s goal inside 62nd moment was her 1st score in 3 many years, as the 38-year-ancient midfielder played in just her fifth match with the U.S. national crew since giving birth to her daughter in July 2008. The intention, on a drop-back pass from Wambach, was the 130th of her career — 28 behind all-time leader Mia Hamm.

U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo soars above all others to grab a shot on intention against Germany from the 1st half of Saturday’s match. “Hope Solo most likely saved the match for us,” teammate Abby Wambach said. “There are nearly certainly three plans they should have had.”
Wambach’s two plans marked her 106th and 107th ambitions and went her to a tie for fourth all-time, past U.S. soccer legend Michelle Akers.

She’s even now behind Lilly, although. And Lilly, whose hold on the secure spot on the U.S. national crew grows stronger with every online match, is still adding to her total.

“She’s 38 years ancient and she scores a target against Germany,” an awed Wambach mentioned afterward. “I mean, come on. It really is ridiculous.”

Against Germany, the U.S. women weren’t sure what to expect — from their team or the opposition. They squeaked out a 3-2 victory over the Germans on March 3, but were cautious Saturday while trying to meld a mix of inexperienced and veteran players.

“Sometimes it’s an all defensive online match, sometimes it’s all attacking,” stated Solo. “It’s a lot of counters, it’s a high-scoring match, or occasionally it’s a low-scoring match. Anything goes with Germany.”

On Saturday, it was a shaky start where Group USA struggled to locate rhythm, and neither crew managed to set the tone or take control. That is certainly, until Wambach gave the Americans an early edge when she was knocked down in the penalty box by German defender Saskia Bartusiak. Although even Wambach admitted afterward that it may well have been a questionable foul call, she had no distress punching within the ensuing penalty kick from the lower left corner from the intention from the 29th minute.

Once within the scoreboard, the U.S. crew seemed to exhale and stick much more firmly to its attacking tempo. That aggressiveness yielded yet another objective six minutes later when midfielder Heather O’Reilly powered in a pass from Amy Rodriguez because the ball bounced in front with the goal after a USA corner kick.

From there, Staff USA relied heavily around the lethal offense of Wambach and a handful of standout saves from Solo.

Wambach first identified Lilly, dropping a pass back towards the midfielder about nine yards from the target in the 62nd moment, and Lilly learned the back of the net for the initial time in 3 years.

“I was just thinking, ‘Please don’t pop out,’” Lilly said. “It hit the post and it went across
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Nationwide Team, Athletica goalie Hope Solo will appear at Monday’s Marquette-Alton match; Many products of soccer memoribilia will likely be auctioned to raise dollars for Breast Cancer Awareness

Hope Solo is all about taking on challenges. And taking into consideration for the fight towards breast cancer, she’s far more than willing to lend a hand nevertheless she can.

Hope Solo, the U.S. Women’s Nationwide Soccer Team and St. Louis Athletica goalkeeper, are going to be available Monday at the yearly Marquette Catholic Large vs. Alton Higher Senior Night Match between the schools’ women soccer teams.

Hope Solo is plotted to be on the field as the seniors from each group are released earlier to the varsity online match at Public School Stadium. The ceremony will come pursuing a 4:30 p.m. junior varsity online match.

The Marquette and Alton teams have designated the match as Breast Cancer Recognition Night. The players will wear unique jerseys and a number of other unique occasions are plotted. All income will go to Breast Cancer Awareness to defray the price of screening treatments for underprivileged sufferers at local hospitals.

Several products of memorabilia have been donated and will probably be raffled as part of Monday’s fund-raiser. By way of the Athletica, Hope Solo has donated an autographed match-worn U.S. Women’s National Team jersey as well as an autographed match-worn goalkeeper glove. Athletica and past Nationwide Group teammate Tina Ellertson has contributed an autographed football shoe. The Athletica have donated a team-autographed pink Women’s Professional Soccer match ball used in last year’s Athletica Breast Cancer Recognition match.

Inside varsity match, participants will use pink WPS soccer balls, the same football balls which will be utilized in this year’s Athletica Breast Cancer Recognition Match, set for May 16 towards Sky Blue FC. The soccer balls were gathered via the efforts in the Athletica and also the Telegraph.

Solo, the starting goalkeeper for that Women’s Nationwide Group, is widely considered being the very best female goalkeeper inside the world. She was named WPS Goalie with the Year in 2009. A converted field player, she scored 109 targets in higher school, but made the switch to goalie although at the University of Washington, where she holds the group records for saves, shutouts and goals-against average.

Last season, she started six games for that National Team and posted a 5–1 record with four shutouts. She was also known as the Albarve Cup Player from the Tournament in leading the U.S. on the championship.

In 08,Hope Solo aided lead the U.S. towards the Olympic gold medal, playing just about every minute of each and every match in Beijing. In all, she started 16 games and had nine shutouts heading to the Olympic Games.

Athletica goalie Hope Solo went the first player in the chronicle of U.S. National Team soccer to stop two penalty kicks in one match as the U.S. women defeated Iceland 2-0 Wednesday in the beginning match of the Algarve Cup in Vila Real de San Antonio, Portugal.

Her first stop came 12 minutes into the match against Margret Vidarsdóttir, Iceland’s star forward, after Vidarsdóttir was taken down in the U.S. penalty field. Taking the kick herself, Vidarsdóttir hit it tough, but not that accurately, and Solo dove to her right, cutting her right hand down to turn the ball away.

Her secondly stop came during six minutes of extra time at the end of the match. In the 93rd minute, there was a three-player scramble in front of the U.S. net that included Solo. A foul was called on U.S. defender Rachel Buehler. Solo hurt her right arm in the scramble and needed a couple minutes to recover before the penalty kick. Berglind Björg Thorvaldsdóttir, who came into the match in the 63rd minute for Vidarsdóttir, took the PK. Solo took a step to her right and winged to the post to knock the ball down. It looked for a moment like Thorvaldsdóttir would be first to the rebound, but the U.S. defenders converged to clear the ball away.

“It’s very crazy, because Abby (Wambach) and I sat at breakfast for about an hour this morning speaking about penalty kick strategy and what I like and what she sees in goalkeepers when she takes a penalty,” Solo said. “We cleaned each other’s brains, so going in I kind of knew what I wanted to do.”

USA opened the scoring in the 60th minute on a ball that avoided in off an Iceland player. Lauren Cheney made it 2-0 just two minutes later by finishing on a breakaway.

Athletica freshman Shannon Box played 75 minutes in the match before being subbed off for youngster Casey Nogueira.

The U.S. women will face Norway in the second cup competition in Group B on Friday.

The U.S.’ greatest soccer goaltender, St. Louis’ own Hope Solo, told radio host McGraw Milhaven yesterday morning that she’s looking forward to a three-day trip to the Super Bowl in Miami this weekend.

“There’s a ton of parties and I have a feeling it’s going to be like Las Vegas You go for three days, you party tough, you socialise, you do all the events, you come back and you get sick for a week.”

Our kinda woman. But guess what, the St. Louis Athletica netkeeper is also nervous about the trip.

Image via
She might be able to get air with a football ball. But what about a pigskin?

ESPN requested Hope Solo on an all-expenses-paid junket so that she could kick some field goals in a pre-match competition held on Sunday.

Hope Solo said she’ll be vying against Robbie Gould of the Chicago Bears soccer squad….and she’s kinda freakin’ about it.

“I kicked a football probably three years ago, messing around, and I couldn’t even get it off the land. It’s going to be entertaining.”

The United States Soccer Federation gave out their yearly awards for 2009 on Monday. Among those honored was U.S. women’s national team goalkeeper Hope Solo, who took home the honor of “Female Athlete of the Year.”

Hope Solo‘s 2009 featured her grow to prominence on both the international and league scenes. She won both the MVP award at the Algarve Cup in Portugal as well as WPS Goalkeeper of the Year for her club team, the St. Louis Athletica.

In a video placed on USSoccer.com, Hope Solo gave thanks those who voted for her for the honor. Hope Solo said on the website, “It’s a huge honor but also a really nice surprise to be voted the female athlete of the year for U.S. Soccer. I particularly want to thank everyone for voting for a goalie, as well as our netkeeper manager Paul Rogers for helping me reckon about the position in a more sophisticated way, both technically and tactically.”

The other prize winners were Landon Donovan, who was named “Male Athlete of the Year,” plus Tobin Heath and Luis Gil, who were named USSF “Young Athletes of the Year.”

See video of Hope Solo having her award and giving thanks her fans below:

Speaking of US football, Hope Solo was the goalie for the team in the 2007 World Cup. She really was brought to our attention when she was yanked in a semifinal match (despite giving up just two goals in four games) for the older Brianna Scurry, who had played well against Brazil before, but hadn’t played in three months.

Obviously, the US lost, Hope Solo criticized her coach, which is how we came to know this hot small number. She took the tale from, “I could not care less” to “Hey, have you seen that netkeeper from the US team? Niceeeee.”

Here is the full list!

Former MetroStars goalkeeper Tim Howard and midfielder Michael Bradley have been named finalists for the U.S. Soccer men’s athlete of the year.

Also on the ballot are Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder Landon Donovan, Fulham FC forward Clint Dempsey and AC Milan defender Oguchi Onyewu.

Two players from the WPS Champion Sky Blue, Forward Heather O’Reilly and defender Christie Rampone were named finalists for the U.S. Soccer women’s athlete of the year. Also on the ballot were Shannon Boxx of the Los Angeles Sol, Abby Wambackh of the Washington Freedom and Hope Solo of Saint Louis Athletica.

U.S. Soccer also announced the finalists for the young female, and young male – athlete of the year.

Fans will have the opportunity to make their selections for each of the four athlete of the year categories once a day until Dec. 13.

The male and Female athletes of the year awards are the oldest awards of their kind, dating back to 1984 for the men and 1985 for the women, while the young male and young female awards were added in 1998.

The finalists for each award were nominated on the basis of:

* Competing and excelling at the highest level (at the national team and professional level) during the calendar year

* Exhibiting decorum on and off the field that reflects well on U.S. Soccer

* Contributing toward the growth, development, credibility and popularization of soccer in the USA. A player can only win a Youth Athlete award once in his or her career (past winners).

Online votes for the annual award will be tallied and equivalent to 50 percent of the total votes. As in years past, the other 50 percent will be represented by votes compiled from members of the national media and U.S. Soccer representatives (from national team coaches to the National Board of Directors).

Fans also can vote daily for the eighth annual edition of the Best of U.S. Soccer awards until Dec. 13. The 2009 Best of U.S. Soccer Awards span 12 categories in an eclectic ballot. The winners of the 2009 Best of U.S. Soccer awards are chose entirely by online fan votes submitted during the next few weeks.

Male Athlete candidates

Michael Bradley, Midfielder, Borussia Mönchengladbach
Clint Dempsey, Forward, Fulham FC
Landon Donovan, Midfielder, Los Angeles Galaxy
Tim Howard, Goalkeeeper, Everton
Oguchi Onyewu, Defender, A.C. Milan

Female Athlete candidates

Shannon Boxx, Midfielder, Los Angeles Sol
Heather O’Reilly, Midfielder, Sky Blue FC
Christie Rampone Defender, Sky Blue FC
Hope Solo, Goalkeeper, Saint Louis Athletica
Abby Wambach, Forward, Washington Freedom

Young Male Athlete candidates

Marlon Duran, Midfielder, U17 MNT/Latino American
Luis Gil, Midfielder, U17 MNT/Pateadores
Jared Jeffrey, Midfielder, U20 MNT/Brugge (Belgium)
Brian Perk, Goalkeeeper, U20 MNT/UCLA
Tyler Polak, Defender, U17 MNT/Capital Soccer Academy

Young Female Athlete candidates

Tobin Heath, Midfielder, North Carolina
Christine Nairn, Midfielder, Penn State
Sydney Leroux, Forward, UCLA
Kelley O’Hara, Forward, Stanford
Katie Schoepfer, Forward, Penn State

On the field, they’re all business. Off the field, hilarity ensues.

Exhibit A: Sand castle competition in Albufeira, Portugal.
Scenario: As a team building exercise for the ‘09 Algarve Cup, the team is divided into fours, grouped by position (poor goalkeepers).
Best moment: Angie Woznuk and Megan Rapinoe unintentionally making a kid weep.
Best line: “The mermaid wasn’t even original!”-Amy Rodriguez exclaims in the background while Head Coach Pia Sundhage tells the camera her favorite is the goalkeepers’ mermaid.
Runner-up: “A small overdressed.” Heather O’Reilly while Heather Mitts shows off her beach dress

Exhibit B: Stephanie Cox’s birthday party
Scenario: The team surprises Cox on her 22nd birthday in a hotel in Juarez, Mexico.
Best moment: Heather O’Reilly trying, unsuccessfully, to push Tobin Heath into the pool. Hope Solo sees an opportunity and pushes both of them to the pool (goalkeepers are powerful ninjas).
Runner-up: Natasha Kai hitting herself instead of the pinata.
Best line: “It’s my first…I didn’t know what was going on.” Swede fitness coach Helena Andersson on all the pinata madness

Exhibit C: Funnel match
Scenario: Heather Mitts and Natasha Kai team up to pull a prank on a few of their teammates
Best moment: Abby Wambach laughing at Heather O’Reilly (you gotta hear it to appreciate it).
Best line: “I knew you were gonna do something! It was against my better judgement!” Kacey White.

Exhibit D: Bus wave-back match
Scenario: Always competitive, even on a bus ride during the Olympics, the team starts a contest of which side of the bus will get the most waves.
Best moment: Picture this: Baby-faced Lori Chalupny, in a bus, with a lollipop, waving.
Best lines: “The back of the bus doesn’t count.” “Yes it does!” “Dude they’re gonna… they could get a lot.”

This week, women’s soccer has a matchup any sports promoter want to make.

The USA is ranked No. 1. Germany is No. 2.

The USA won the 2008 Olympics. Germany has won the last two World Cups and the 2009 European championship.

The USA has a well-established college match and a new professional league, WPS. Germany is the only major European country to keep its players home in its domestic league, the Bundesliga, which has three of the final 16 teams in Europe’s new Champions League.

Thursday’s match (1 p.m. ET) has no Olympic or World Cup ramifications but is nevertheless a clash of superpowers in Impuls Arena in Augsburg, Germany, one of the venues for the 2011 World Cup.

“I wouldn’t say it’s friendly,” U.S. coach Pia Sundhage says. “It is really an vital match for all of us.”

“The buildup to this match feels different,” goalkeeper Hope Solo says. “We’re having more meetings, we’re watching film on Germany. They just got done winning the Euros, putting on quite a performance in the final (6-2 over England). Everybody knows they’re on top of their match right now.

“We’re getting the opportunity not only to play one of the best teams in the world, as prepared as they could be at this point in time, but also in a stadium with 30,000-plus people. You really can’t beat that.”

The U.S. team has noticed excitement in Germany. The match is sold out and will be on live television in Germany, though not in the USA.

Solo says she has seen signs all over town and some animated ads in the subway, and a group of players traveling in Munich attracted some curiosity.

“You can tell there’s a sense of pride for their women’s football team,” Solo says. “The last World Cup, they brought home the trophy to thousands and thousands of fans waiting for them when they stepped off that plane. To this day, seeing that, it gave me hope for something so much larger for what football for women could be.”

Small wonder Germany is placing such an emphasis on its World Cup defense on home soil. The players are remaining in the Bundesliga to be closer together heading into the tournament.

“Some of the games and some of the teams in the Bundesliga are as excellent as WPS,” Sundhage says. “The largest difference — all the players are professional in WPS. Every single match is competitive. I wouldn’t say that’s the same thing in Germany or Sweden or Norway. That is unique for WPS.”

With WPS’ first season completed, this match is the first chance to answer a couple of questions: How much has that sort of week-to-week pressure helped the U.S. players? And how will WPS play change the talent pool?

Ella Masar (Chicago) and Brittany Bock (Los Angeles) are looking for their first international appearances, and WPS play has helped Amy LePeilbet (Boston), Lori Lindsey (Washington/Philadelphia) and Yael Averbuch (Sky Blue) emerge or re-emerge with the team.

“We’re a very different team right now, no doubt about that,” Hope Solo says.