Hope Solo

Hope Solo
Solo in training for the United States in 2012
Personal information
Full name Hope Amelia Stevens[1]
Birth name Hope Amelia Solo[2]
Date of birth (1981-07-30) July 30, 1981 (age 43)
Place of birth Richland, Washington, U.S.
Height 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Youth career
1996–2000 Richland High School
College career
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1999–2002 Washington Huskies 68 (0)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2003 Philadelphia Charge 8 (0)
2004 Kopparbergs/Göteborg 19 (0)
2005 Lyon 7 (0)
2009–2010 Saint Louis Athletica 23 (0)
2010 Atlanta Beat 16 (0)
2011 magicJack 4 (0)
2012 Seattle Sounders Women 3 (0)
2013–2016 Seattle Reign 54 (0)
Total 134 (0)
International career
1996–1997 United States U16
1998 United States U19
1999–2000 United States U21
2000–2016 United States 202 (0)
Medal record
Women's soccer
Representing  United States
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2008 Beijing Team
Gold medal – first place 2012 London Team
FIFA Women's World Cup
Winner 2015 Canada
Runner-up 2011 Germany
Bronze medal – third place 2007 China
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Hope Amelia Stevens (née Solo; born July 30, 1981) is an American former soccer goalkeeper. She was a goalkeeper for the United States women's national soccer team from 2000 to 2016, and is a World Cup champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist. After playing at the collegiate level for the University of Washington, she played professionally for the Philadelphia Charge in the Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA). When the WUSA folded after her first season, she traveled to Europe to play for the top division leagues in Sweden and France. From 2009 to 2011, she played in the Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) for Saint Louis Athletica, Atlanta Beat and magicJack. After the WPS ceased operations in early 2012, she played for the Seattle Sounders in the W-League. She most recently played for Seattle Reign FC in the National Women's Soccer League, the top division of women's soccer in the United States.

Solo is regarded as one of the top female goalkeepers of all time[3][4][5] and currently holds the U.S. record for most career clean sheets. She was the starting goalkeeper for the majority of the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup and helped lead the U.S. national team to the semifinals having given up only two goals in four games, including three consecutive shutouts. After a controversial move made by head coach Greg Ryan to bench Solo in favor of veteran goalkeeper Briana Scurry for the semifinal, in which the United States was defeated 4–0 by Brazil, Solo made headlines with post-game remarks that resulted in many teammates shunning her.[6] She later rebounded to help the United States win gold medals at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics. During the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup, her goalkeeping skills were highlighted, especially during a quarter-final match against Brazil, which the U.S. won on penalty kicks. Although the team lost to Japan in a match that ended in penalties, Solo received the Golden Glove award for best goalkeeper as well as the Bronze Ball award for her overall performance at the tournament.

Following her performance at the 2011 World Cup, Solo participated in the television show Dancing with the Stars and posed for various magazines, most notably the "Body Issue" of ESPN The Magazine. After the 2012 London Olympics, where she received her second Olympic gold medal, she published her bestselling autobiography Solo: A Memoir of Hope.[7]

As the starting goalkeeper at the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup,[8] Solo helped the U.S. win the national team's third World Cup championship since 1991.[9] The final against Japan was the most-watched televised soccer game ever in the United States.[10]

As of August 6, 2016, Solo holds several U.S. goalkeeper records including appearances (202), starts (190), wins (153), shutouts (102),[11] wins in a season (26), consecutive minutes played (1,256), and longest undefeated streak (55 games).[12][13][14][15]

  1. ^ "FIFA Women's World Cup Canada 2015 – List of Players: USA" (PDF). FIFA. July 6, 2015. p. 24. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 8, 2019. Retrieved August 21, 2019.
  2. ^ "FIFA Women's World Cup Germany 2011 – List of Players: USA" (PDF). FIFA. July 28, 2014. p. 16. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 22, 2019. Retrieved April 10, 2022.
  3. ^ "Hope Solo". US Soccer. Archived from the original on August 28, 2013. Retrieved August 30, 2013.
  4. ^ Isola, Frank (August 2, 2012). "U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo has proven to be a true team player". Yahoo! Sports. Archived from the original on September 21, 2013. Retrieved August 30, 2013.
  5. ^ Longman, Jeré (July 12, 2011). "U.S. Goalkeeper Made Quite a Comeback of Her Own". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 22, 2015. Retrieved August 30, 2013.
  6. ^ Longman, Jeré (May 25, 2008). "U.S. Goalkeeper Faces Difficult Save". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on September 6, 2015. Retrieved August 26, 2015.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference hope_ab was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Baxter, Kevin (July 5, 2015). "U.S. exorcises ghosts of '99 with rout in Women's World Cup final". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on July 6, 2015. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
  9. ^ "FIFA Women's World Cup Canada 2015(TM)". FIFA. Archived from the original on April 6, 2016. Retrieved March 31, 2016.
  10. ^ "Record-breaking FIFA Women's World Cup tops 750 million TV viewers". FIFA. December 17, 2015. Archived from the original on April 3, 2016. Retrieved March 31, 2016.
  11. ^ "Hope Solo earns 100th shutout, leads U.S. women past South Africa". July 9, 2016. Archived from the original on July 11, 2016. Retrieved July 9, 2016.
  12. ^ "USA Advances to 2015 World Cup Quarterfinal with 2–0 Win Against Colombia". Archived from the original on June 24, 2015. Retrieved June 24, 2015.
  13. ^ "U.S. Women's National Team". Archived from the original on June 26, 2015. Retrieved June 24, 2015.
  14. ^ "WNT Downs World No. 1 Germany 2–0 to Advance to 2015 World Cup Final". Archived from the original on July 2, 2015. Retrieved July 3, 2015.
  15. ^ "2015 Stats". Archived from the original on July 6, 2015. Retrieved July 3, 2015.