Hope Solo » soccer

American soccer stars Wambach, Lilly, Hope Solo lead the way to 4-0 U.S. women’s soccer victory above Germany

admin — Sun, 23 May 2010 12:30:15 +0000

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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Goalie Hope Solo Is Gonna Kick Some Field Goals at Super Bowl

admin — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 05:44:37 +0000

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.”

Hope Solo up for U.S. Soccer women’s award

admin — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 01:14:38 +0000

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

USA WNT