Top 5 U.S. Women's Soccer Players of All Time
#5 Kristine Lilly
• Caps: 352
• Goals: 130
• Assists: 105
• Most capped player in world soccer history (male or female)
• Two Olympic Gold Medals
• One Olympic Silver Medal
• Both youngest and oldest player to score a goal for the U.S. national team
#4 Michelle Akers
• Caps: 153
• Goals: 105
• Assists: 37
• FIFA Female Player of the 20th Century
• World Cup Title
• Bronze Ball Award
• Akers should be recognized as the original face of women’s soccer. Her tenacity and skill propelled the women’s game to new heights.
#3 Abby Wambach
• Caps: 252
• Goal: 184
• Assists: 73
• Forward
• One of only five players to score 20 or more goals in a single year
• FIFA Player of the Year
• All time international goal scoring leader
• Wambach used her height to shield defenders while redirecting passes to the back of the net with precise header after precise header
#2 Hope Solo
• Caps: 202
• Shutouts: 102
• Only U.S. goalkeeper to reach 200 caps
• One World Cup Championship
• Two Golden Glove Awards
• Two Olympic Gold Medals
• Do not allow Solo’s off the pitch domestic issues to color your perception of her brilliance in net. The U.S. has never seen a more talented goalkeeper.
• Out of 202 caps, USWNT lost only 11 games with Solo in net
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#1 Mia Hamm
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• Caps: 275
• Goals: 158
• Assists: 144
• Two Olympic Gold Medals
• One Olympic Silver medal
• International goal scoring leader at retirement
• Female soccer players have not always been thought of as transcendent. That all changed when Mia Hamm and crew exerted its collective will over international competition. Hamm was the catalyst for the current worldwide expectation of U.S. women’s dominance.
