Kristine Lilly

Kristine Lilly
Lilly-2010-stl.jpg
Personal information
Full name Kristine Marie Lilly Heavey
Date of birth 22 July 1971 (1971-07-22) (age 39)
Place of birth New York City, New York, United States
Height 5 ft 4 in (1.63 m)
Playing position Forward/Midfielder
Club information
Current club Boston Breakers
Number 13
Youth career
1989–1992 North Carolina Tar Heels
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
1994 Tyresö FF
1995 Washington Warthogs
1998 Delaware Genies 4 (5)
2001–2003 Boston Breakers 59 (14)
2005 KIF Örebro DFF 19 (8)
2009– Boston Breakers 20 (3)
National team‡
1987– United States United States 347 (130)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 23:20, 27 October 2009 (UTC).

† Appearances (Goals).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 17 July 2010

Kristine Marie Lilly Heavey (born Kristine Marie Lilly on 22 July 1971, in New York City, New York) is an American soccer forward/midfielder currently playing for Boston Breakers of Women's Professional Soccer and is a member of the United States women's national soccer team. She is the most capped men's or women's soccer player in the history of the sport.

Contents

Career

Early years and university

Lilly attended Wilton High School in Wilton, Connecticut. While still attending high school, Lilly became a member of the United States Women's National Team. She was recruited by, and eventually chose to attend, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Lilly competed as a student-athlete, playing for the university's North Carolina Tar Heels women's soccer team from 1989 to 1992. During her time there, she won the NCAA Women's Soccer Championship every year she played (4 total). She won the Hermann Trophy as a junior in 1991.[1] To honor her time with the school, North Carolina retired her #15 jersey in 1994.

Professional clubs

Lilly began her career with Tyresö FF of Sweden in 1994. She spent one season with the club before coming back to the United States.

On 20 August 1995, Lilly joined Washington Warthogs of the now-defunct Continental Indoor Soccer League. She was the only woman in the all-male professional indoor league, following in the footsteps of Collette Cunningham and Shannon Presley who had played in the league sparingly at best in 1994.

Lilly joined W-League side Delaware Genies in 1998. With the club, she appeared in 4 games, scoring 5 goals and 2 assists.

February 2001 saw the formation of the world's first women's professional soccer league in which all the players were paid. Women's United Soccer Association, or WUSA for short, had its inaugural season in 2001. Lilly was the team captain and a founding member of Boston Breakers. In her first season with the team, she appeared in all 21 matches and played every minute of the season. She led the league in assists with 11 and added an additional three goals. For her performance, she was named First Team All-WUSA. 2002 saw her play, and start in, a further 19 games. She increased her point total for the season, scoring 8 goals and assisting on 13 others. She was again named First Team All-WUSA and was a starter on the WUSA North All-Star Team. 2003 saw much of the same with Lilly starting all 19 games she played in, chipping in 3 goals and 4 assists and again being named to First Team All-WUSA, the only player in the history of the league to do so. Fortunately following the 2003 season, the WUSA ceased operations.

Following the termination of the league, Lilly followed former Boston Breakers head coach Pia Sundhage to Sweden to player for Damallsvenskan club KIF Örebro DFF in 2005. There she was joined by fellow USWNT teammate Christie Welsh as well as USWNT and Boston Breakers teammate Kate Markgraf.

In late 2006 & early 2007, the formation of a new women's league took shape under the name of Women's Professional Soccer. On 16 September 2008, Lilly was allocated to Boston Breakers along with USWNT teammates Angela Hucles and Heather Mitts. The inaugural 2009 Women's Professional Soccer season saw Lilly appear in all 20 games (playing every minute) and score 3 goals with 3 assists.

International

Lilly (LEFT) along with Mia Hamm in St.Louis 1998.

Lilly made her debut for the United States women's national soccer team in 1987, when she was still attending high school. During her international career, she surpassed the previous women's world record of 151 caps, held by Norway's Heidi Støre, on 21 May 1998.[1] On 30 January 1999, she surpassed what was then the men's record of 164 caps, held by Adnan Al-Talyani of the United Arab Emirates.

Lilly has participated in the 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, and 2007 editions of the FIFA Women's World Cup. She is a two-time World Cup champion, winning in 1991 and 1999. When she played against North Korea on 11 September 2007 in the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, she became the first woman (and only the third player overall) to participate in five different World Cup Finals; by scoring a goal against England on 22 September 2007, she became the oldest woman to score in the World Cup.

Lilly has also competed in the 1996, 2000, and 2004 editions of the Olympic Games. She won a Gold medal in 1996 and 2004, and a Silver medal in 2000. She missed the 2008 Summer Olympics due to the birth of her child.

Unlike several of her longtime teammates (among them Joy Fawcett, Julie Foudy, and Mia Hamm), she did not retire after the team's "farewell tour" of the United States, which finished on 8 December 2004.

On 18 January 2006, Lilly made her 300th international appearance in a game against Norway, a world record for both men and women (in the same match, she equaled Michelle Akers for second place on the team's all-time goal scoring list with 105). Lilly was named as a finalist for the 2006 FIFA Women's World Player of the Year. She finished second in the voting to Brazil's Marta.

Personal

Despite being born in New York City, New York, Lilly grew up in Wilton, Connecticut, and now resides in Brookline, Massachusetts.[2]. Kristine is married to local Brookline native/firefighter David Heavey, a former hockey and golf star at the University of Connecticut. Lilly gave birth to daughter Sidney Marie Heavey on her birthday, 22 July 2008.

She appeared in the HBO documentary Dare to Dream: The Story of the U.S. Women's Soccer Team.

Career statistics

Year Team League Games
Played		 Goals Assists Points
1994 Tyresö F.C. Sweden
1995 Washington Warthogs CISL
1998 Delaware Genies W-League 4 5 2 12
2001 Boston Breakers WUSA 21 3 10 16
2002 Boston Breakers WUSA 19 8 13 29
2003 Boston Breakers WUSA 19 3 4 10
2005 KIF Örebro DFF Sweden
2009 Boston Breakers WPS 4 4 3
totals 63 19 29 48

Honours

Year Team Championship/Medal
1989 University of North Carolina NCAA National Champion
1990 University of North Carolina NCAA National Champion
1991 USA WNT FIFA World Cup Champion
1991 University of North Carolina NCAA National Champion
1992 University of North Carolina NCAA National Champion
1995 USA WNT FIFA World Cup Bronze
1996 USA WNT Olympic Gold
1999 USA WNT FIFA World Cup Champion
2000 USA WNT Olympic Silver
2003 USA WNT FIFA World Cup Bronze
2004 USA WNT Olympic Gold
2007 USA WNT FIFA World Cup Bronze

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Soccer profile:Kristine Lilly". Soccer Times. http://www.soccertimes.com/usteams/roster/women/lilly.htm. Retrieved 2009-06-22. 
  2. ↑ "She scores goals. They fight fires. They share a bond". The Boston Globe. 22 September 2007. http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2007/09/22/she_scores_goals_they_fight_fires_they_share_a_bond/. 

External links

Preceded by
Julie Foudy		 WNT captain
2004–2008		 Succeeded by
Christie Rampone