The U.S. women's soccer national team won an Olympic bronze medal against Australia in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The Americans followed their 2019 World Cup triumph with the third-place finish.
Seventeen out of the 18 players on the roster played NCAA soccer, many of them former collegiate stars, with some winning national championships.
That includes Megan Rapinoe, who won a national title with Portland in 2005 and later earned 2008 West Coast Conference Player of the Year honors. Rapinoe helped the Pilots finish undefeated in 2005 (23-0-2). In 2019, she won the Golden Ball and the Golden Boot at the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup.
Former Rutgers star Carli Lloyd and UNC standout Tobin Heath are both on the Olympic team for the fourth time. Lloyd is a two-time FIFA player of the year and scored 50 goals in college.
| Player | Position | College |
|---|---|---|
| Abby Dahlkemper | D | UCLA |
| Tierna Davidson | D | Stanford |
| Crystal Dunn | D | North Carolina |
| Julie Ertz | MF | Santa Clara |
| Adrianna Franch | GK | Oklahoma State |
| Tobin Heath | F | North Carolina |
| Lindsey Horan | MF | N/A |
| Rose Lavelle | MF | Wisconsin |
| Carli Lloyd | F | Rutgers |
| Kristie Mewis | MF | Boston College |
| Samantha Mewis | MF | UCLA |
| Alex Morgan | F | California |
| Alyssa Naeher | GK | Penn State |
| Kelley O'Hara | D | Stanford |
| Christen Press | F | Stanford |
| Megan Rapinoe | F | Portland |
| Becky Sauerbrunn | D | Virginia |
| Emily Sonnett | D | Virginia |
The 17 former college players come from 12 different schools. Stanford tops the list for most former players with three on the USWNT roster. North Carolina, Virginia and UCLA all have two apiece. However, NCAA representation isn't limited to the USA. Christine Sinclair, who is on Canada and previously starred at Portland, is the all-time international goal scorer — men or women — with 186.
The United States has won four gold medals going back to the first event at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. USA also won gold in 2004 (Athens), 2008 (Beijing) and 2012 (London). Sweden upset USA in the quarterfinals on penalties at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Seventeen of the 18 players were on the 2019 Women's World Cup championship team. Kristie Mewis is the only one who wasn't. She's the older sister of fellow USWNT team member Samantha. The Mewis sisters are joined by Dahlkemper, Davidson, Sonnett, Lavelle and Franch as first-time Olympians.
Here's USA's schedule for the group stage:
- 4:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday, July 21 vs. Sweden – Sweden def. U.S. 3-0
- 7:30 a.m. ET on Saturday, July 24 vs. New Zealand – U.S. def. New Zealand 6-1
- 4 a.m. ET on Tuesday, July 27 vs. Australia – Tie 0-0
