Women’s National Team Captain Christie Rampone Earns Historic 300th Cap
U.S. Women’s National Team captain Christie Rampone earned an historic 300th cap tonight as the U.S. sealed their place in the 2015 World Cup in Canada. A 3-0 win over Mexico in the semifinal of the CONCACAF Women’s Championship at PPL Park in Chester, Pennsylvania was enough to see the home side through.
The U.S. dominated the game with two goals from Carli Lloyd in the 8th and 30th minutes and a third from Christen Press in the 56th minute.
Lloyd opened the scoring with a header off a bouncing cross from Tobin Heath to give the United States the early lead. She then added a goal from a dubious penalty kick on the 30th minute mark.
Christen Press then rounded the scoring off as she rounded Mexico goalkeeper Pamela Tajonar to slot home.
The U.S. women will now face Costa Rica in the CONCACAF Woman’s Championship match on Sunday. Costa Rica earned their place in the final and in their first World Cup by defeating Trinidad and Tobago on penalty kicks after a 1-1 draw in an earlier match at the same venue on Friday night.
The top three finishers in the championship for the North, Central American and Caribbean region earn World Cup spots and the fourth-place finisher will have another chance in a play off match against Ecuador next month.
Mexico will play Trinidad and Tobago in the third-place match on Sunday.
It was a proud night for Christie Rampone, who made her debut for the USA in 1997, and is now just the second player in soccer history to play 300 times for their country. Rampone follows former teammate Kristine Lilly into the record books and Lilly finished her illustrious career with a world record 352 games from 1987-2010.
Rampone, 39, is currently the most capped active player in the world. Even more remarkable, she is a rare player who has achieved international success with the USA after playing at a small soccer school. She was a two-sport star at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, N.J. where she was also the starting point guard on the basketball team. As a college striker, she scored 79 career goals.
She switched to defense for the U.S. WNT under then head coach Tony DiCicco, and aside from a brief stint at flank midfielder, has played on the back line since.
Rampone was named captain by former head coach Pia Sundhage in 2008, and since then, the USA has compiled an 88-8-13 record with the New Jersey native wearing the armband.
Additional Notes:
- Rampone has played in four Women’s World Cups (1999, 2003, 2007, 2011) and four Olympic Games (2000, 2004, 2008, 2012) with the USA.
- She has played the most games in her career against Canada (29), followed by China (27), Brazil (22) and Mexico (22).
- Rampone has played for the USA in 134 cities in the USA and around the world.
- She has earned caps in 17 different countries and 32 different U.S. states plus the District of Columbia.
- Rampone has four career goals, two of them coming against Iceland on April 5, 2000.
- Rampone has played for six U.S. WNT coaches, with the most games coming under Pia Sundhage (93).
- She has played 157 friendly matches and 142 matches in various tournaments, including 22 Olympic matches and 17 Women’s World Cup matches.
