Christie Rampone

Christie (Pearce) Rampone is a defender and current captain for the U.S. women's national team. A member of the U.S. team that captured the 1999 World Cup title, she has also won two Olympic gold medals while playing for her country.

Christie Rampone was born on June 24, 1975 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, but grew up in New Jersey, where she was a four-sport athlete in high school. She went on to star as a basketball and soccer player at Monmouth University. A high-scoring forward with the college's soccer team, she started all 80 games of her career and contributed 79 goals and 54 assists.

Rampone made her debut with the U.S. senior national team in a match against Australia in February 1997. Selected to the U.S. team that won the 1999 World Cup title, she made just one appearance in that tournament, as a second-half substitute in a 3-0 victory over North Korea.

Moved from a college forward to a defender for the national team, Rampone made the 2000 Olympic team that won a silver medal. She was then a founding player in the WUSA for the New York Power, helping to lead the team to the league playoffs before tearing an ACL late in the inaugural 2001 season.

Remaining with the New York Power for two more seasons, Rampone recovered from injury in time to make the U.S team for the 2003 World Cup. She started four of her country's matches as the U.S. finished in third place. Rampone and her national teammates bettered that finish by capturing the gold medal in women's soccer at the 2004 Olympics.

Rampone continued to serve as the U.S. team's regular right back through the 2007 World Cup, where she played all six matches as the Americans finished in third for a second straight time, eliminated in the semifinals by Brazil. A year later, Rampone and the U.S. gained some revenge by defeating the South American side in the gold-medal match of the 2008 Olympics.

In 2009, Rampone helped lead Sky Blue FC to the inaugural WPS title in Women's Professional Soccer (WPS), even serving as player-head coach to end the season. Her achievement in rallying the team to win a championship earned her the 2009 WPS Sportswoman of the Year award. After an additional year with Sky Blue, Rampone joined the MagicJack team for the 2011 season. The team made the playoffs, but WPS terminated the franchise following the season's end.

Captain of the national team since 2008 and now married with two children, Rampone has been moved to a central defender in the lead-up to the 2011 World Cup. She was troubled by a groin injury early in the year, but was the top defender for U.S. at the World Cup, helping the team to two shutout wins in group play. She continued to perform solidly at the back in the knockout rounds as the U.S. advanced to the final before falling to Japan in a penalty shootout.