The U.S. Women’s Soccer Team wrapped up the year and their Achieve Your Gold Tour with a 1-0 win over China PR on Wednesday. More than 11,000 fans showed up at Ford Field in Detroit to watch the team finish off the year with its 33rd victory of 2008. Heather O’Reilly scored a first-half goal to become the sixth U.S. player to get at least 10 goals and 10 assists in a calendar year. It was a great way to end an historic year, not only with a victory - the USA’s 25th shutout of the year — but with a big and appreciative crowd.

The hugely entertaining WNT blog, which provides a great behind-the-scenes look at the team, will go on hiatus but they’ll  be back in late January when the U.S. women reconvene for a training camp. For now,  it’s time to focus on family and loved ones during the holidays and reflect warmly on all the great things that happened this year, on the field and off. 

Happy Holidays to all the women on the team. Thanks for your hard work and a great year!

The U.S. Athlete of the Year honor is the first for Lloyd who becomes the first midfielder since Shannon MacMillan in 2002 to take the award. In the five years since, forwards Abby Wambach and Kristine Lilly have traded the honor back and forth.

The U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year awards have a longer history than any major award in American soccer – more than 20 years. They join the FIFA Players of the Year as the only two awards to honor both the top male and the top female in the sport.

Lloyd took home her first Athlete of the Year award by playing a vital role in the United States’ march to a gold medal repeat at the Olympics. She started all six games in Beijing and played every minute of the tournament where she expended boundless energy and scored two of the most important goals of her career. Both goals were invaluable in the USA’s run to the gold medal. Her blast from the top of the penalty box in the USA’s 1-0 group game win over Japan kept the WNT alive in the tournament, and then her legendary strike in overtime of the gold medal game against Brazil lifted the Americans to Olympic glory.

“I’m truly honored to have won this award,” said Lloyd, who also totaled career highs in goals (9) and assists (9). “So many fantastic players have won this in the past and this year, so many players this year were deserving of the award, as it was such a great year for this team.”

We look forward to watching her play next year with the Chicago Red Stars.

Other Awards:

Best Assist: In the closest race of the 2008 “Best Of” Awards, Lindsay Tarpley just edged out teammate Abby Wambach to take the title for Best Assist. Tarpley had a career year for goals this year, but it is her intuitive one-time pass to set up Lori Chalupny against Ireland that took 25 percent of the vote and put her among the winners for this year’s “Best Of” awards.

Best Video: Tobin Heath’s juggling prowess is well known and she took to the streets again for the 2008 Best all_access Video winner. “Tobin Heath’s Walkabout” showcases the Olympic gold medalist juggling a ball around different San Diego locales as the WNT prepared for a friendly against Brazil.

December 14, 2008

Ellertson, a defender in her previous 32 caps for the USA, was a forward in college at the University of Washington and started at striker for the first time in her national team career.

Assisting on the goal was forward Amy Rodriguez, who returned to the U.S. team for the first time since the Olympics after completing her senior season at the University of Southern California. After coming on at halftime, Rodriguez’ trademark speed caused problems for the Chinese during the entire second half and it was her blistering pace that created the winning goal.

“I’m so excited, I’m grinning from ear to ear,” said Ellertson, who was out for most of 2008 after having her second child. “I wanted to be back playing and being out there. Today was so awesome. It’s been a while since I played up top but it felt great.”

Goalkeeper Hope Solo made four saves for her 13th shutout of the year and the 41st of her international career.

Veteran Kristine Lilly returned from a nearly 14-month hiatus after taking time off to have her first child and earned her 341st cap when she came on in the 55th minute. The Queen of Caps showed well in her 35 minutes of action, just missing wide at the near post in the 59th minute, and in the 76th minute forced Zhang to make the best save on the night as she dove right to block a low, line drive from 12 yards out.

Midfielder Shannon Boxx,  a SoCal local who grew up near the Home Depot Center, talked to the LA Times before the game. The 31-year-old was feeling burned out last year and credits her re-energized take on the game to U.S. Coach Pia Sundhage.

“I’ve just been enjoying myself so much,” Boxx said after a recent practice. “I’m having fun, I’m laughing, and all of a sudden my game is getting better.”

Nominated again this year for FIFA world player of the year, Boxx will be playing with the Los Angeles Sol when the Women’s Professional Soccer league launches next spring.

Last night’s victory was the USA’s third of 2008 over China after also winning 1-0 in January in Guangzhou and 4-0 in March at the Algarve Cup in Portugal.

With the win, the U.S. extended their record number of wins in a year to 32, with just one loss and one tie. The Achieve Your Gold Tour wraps up on Wednesday, Dec. 17, at Ford Field in Detroit as the U.S. hosts China again and Lindsay Tarpley and Kate Markgraf return to play in their home state.

December 12, 2008

What do you think?

Coach Tony DiCicco blogged about the competition allowing fans to follow the team’s journey to victory over champion North Korea 2-1. Covering both technical and personal issues, Tony’s updates provide a great behind-the-scenes look at the experience. From the latest installment:

Well, we are still in Chile. FIFA had a bit of a problem getting a flight back to America for us. All the other teams have left and the USA players have had two days to kick back and enjoy Santiago, our accomplishment and each other.

This team won for a bunch of reasons but one key reason was how close this team became. There were 20 sisters fighting for each other and it did not matter if you played or not - you were important and supportive. The staff was also totally tied into our vision and dream. You just don’t beat the world unless you have that component!

Relive the tourney through DiCicco’s eyes. And be sure to follow along as he preps the Boston Breakers for their inaugural WPS season.

December 10, 2008

The Women’s National Soccer Team is back together for the last stops of its post-Olympic Achieve Your Gold tour.  They start a week-long training camp today at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif.

The team started its historic year in China at the Four Nations Tournament, capped its run of five tournament titles this year at the Olympics in China, and will now end the year against China with matches at The HDC on Dec. 13 and in Detroit at Ford Field on Dec. 17.

The current USA roster includes 22 players, but injuries and illness have reduced the number of players available to head coach Pia Sundhage.

Forward Natasha Kai, the USA’s leading scorer this year with 15 goals, will miss the trip due to illness. Forward Lauren Cheney will also not join the team due to the battering her body took during the just completed college season as well as her preparation for final exams at UCLA. Midfielder Aly Wagner and defender Stephanie Cox are with the U.S. team in camp, but injuries to a calf and hamstring respectively have ruled them out of the matches.

So why is Kristine Lilly, who is now a mother and the oldest member of the U.S. team, returning to competition at age 37? Lilly will suit up with the Boston Breakers this spring in the debut season of the new U.S. women’s pro soccer league, Women’s Professional Soccer. She resumed soccer training in September and expects to play a strong role in the upcoming games against China. If she continues to play, Lilly will be 40 when the next World Cup takes place in 2011 and 41 at the 2012 London Olympics. Obviously this lady loves the game.

WNT nuggets from this historic year:
The USA set a record for most wins in a year in the 24-year history of the program and is now 31-1-2.

The only loss was in the opening game of the 2008 Olympics, from which the U.S. team famously rebounded to win the gold medal.

If the team wins or ties the two games against China, it will also set a record for best winning percentage in a year that it played more than 10 matches.

If you’re a soccer fan, you’ll want to take part in the on-line voting for U.S. Soccer’s “Best of” awards honoring standout performances on and off the field during the year.

Female Athlete of the Year: With the finalists announced for the U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year Awards,  fans collectively decide 50 percent of the final vote, with media and U.S. Soccer officials getting the other 50 percent of the vote.

Nominees:
Shannon Boxx - Midfielder
Lori Chalupny - Midfielder
Angela Hucles - Midfielder/Forward
Carli Lloyd - Midfielder
Christie Rampone - Defender
Hope Solo - Keeper
Vote

Best Goal - WNT: Best thing in soccer? Goals, goals, goals. This award crowns the top strike by a U.S. Women’s National Team player during 2008.

Nominees:
Carli Lloyd vs. BRA - Aug. 21
Carli Lloyd vs. JPN - Aug. 9
Lori Chalupny vs. JPN - Aug. 18
Amy Rodriguez vs. BRA - July 13
Kate Markgraf vs. IRL - Sept. 20
Heather O’Reilly vs. NZL - Aug. 12
Angela Hucles vs. AUS - May 3
Becky Edwards vs. CUB - June 20
Vote

In all, the “Best of” series has handed out 54 awards out to soccer players, bars, stores and even fans in the United States over the past five years check out the list of winner’s here.

Fans can vote once a day until Dec. 8th.

October 30, 2008

Other female nominees include Canadian Christine Sinclair, Birgit Prinz of Germany and Americans Hope Solo and Shannon Boxx.

On the men’s side 23 players are in the running for the accolade including front-runner Cristiano Ronaldo.

Three finalists for each award will be named in December, before the winners are announced at a gala event Jan. 12 at the Zurich Opera House. Voting is done by head coaches and captains of men’s and women’s national teams.

Full Women’s List: Nadine Angerer (Germany), Shannon Boxx (United States), Cristiane (Brazil), Daniela (Brazil), Marta (Brazil), Birgit Prinz (Germany), Christine Sinclair (Burnaby, B.C.), Kelly Smith (England), Hope Solo (U.S.), Ingvild Stensland (Norway).

August 21, 2008

By most accounts goalkeeper Hope Solo, who made six saves to earn the shutout victory, was the star of the game but let’s not forget the other 17 members of the team who all contributed whether on the field or on the bench. This was USA’s third gold medal since women’s soccer was added in 1996.

Hopefully injured striker Amy Wambach, as well as Leslie Osborne and Cat Whitehill who are out with ACL tears, were able to celebrate some of that much-deserved glory.

Source: US Soccer

Gymnastics:
China’s He edges Liukin on uneven bars - He Kexin has won a tiebreaker over all-around champion Nastia Liukin of the United States for the uneven bars gold medal Monday at the Beijing Olympics. Both scored 16.725, but He got the nod.

Soccer:
Brazil and US will compete for the gold - The United States and Brazil won their respective semi-finals to advance to the gold medal match.  Angela Hucles scored twice and Lori Chalupny and Heather O’Reilly added goals as the U.S. had a 4-2 come-from-behind victory against Japan.

Track & Field:
Isinbayeva wins pole vault gold, breaks record -Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia has broken her own world record in winning a second consecutive Olympic pole vault gold medal. Already assured victory over rival Jenn Stuczynski of the U.S., Isinbayeva set the mark of 16 feet, 6 3/4 inches (5.05 meters) on her third and final attempt.