Sara Whalen

Olympic medal record
Competitor for  United States
Women's Football (soccer)
Silver	2000 Sydney	Team Competition

Sara Whalen Hess (born Sara Eve Whalen) was born on April 28, 1976, in Natick, Massachusetts.^[1][2] Whalen played for the United States Women's National Soccer Team from 1997 to 2000, and was a founding player of WUSA.^[3]

Soccer career

Whalen attended Harborfields High School in Greenlawn, New York. There she played varsity soccer, basketball, and track (as a sprinter). After high school,

Whalen went to The University of Connecticut, where she was a defender and forward for their women's soccer team. While playing soccer for Connecticut, Whalen was a three-time All-American and was the 1997 NSCAA Division 1 National Player of the Year as well as being named to Soccer America's Collegiate Team of the Decade for the 1990s. Whalen scored both goals in the 1997 NCAA Final Four semifinal match against Notre Dame, as Connecticut won 2–1 to record one of the biggest upsets in NCAA women's soccer history by defeating the previously unbeaten Irish. Whalen was the 1995 and 1996 Big East Defensive Player of the Year, before playing striker her senior season where she recorded 21 goals and 22 assists to lead her team in scoring.

In 1997, Whalen joined the US Women's National Soccer Team as an outside defender and earned her first cap against France, while still in college. The following year, 1998, Whalen had a very successful season scoring two goals and garnering three assists.^[1] In 1999, Whalen helped the US Women's National Team win the Women's World Cup, playing every minute of extra-time in the final against China. Whalen was pictured on the cover of Time Magazine hugging Brandi Chastain. The following year, Whalen won a silver medal as a part of the US Women's team at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

In 2001, Whalen began to play for the New York Power, a team in the Women's United Soccer Association, which she was a co-founder along with the US Women's National Soccer Teamm including Power teammates Christie Pearce and Tiffeny Milbrett. On June 26, 2002, in a game against the Carolina Courage, Whalen tore her ACL and MCL after a collision with German international Birgit Prinz. This was after just recovering from a broken rib. Whalen had surgery, but noticed her knee was infected shortly thereafter. During her second surgery Whalen had a severe allergic reaction, nearly dying. The doctors realized that the infection was in one of the screws, within the ligament of her knee, which had to be removed. Whalen had to go through five surgeries, including moving ligaments from her right to left knee, to repair her injury. This marked the end of Whalen's professional soccer career.

Personal life

Whalen, who is Jewish,^[4][5][6] graduated from the University of Connecticut with a degree in psychology. She received her masters degree in psychology from Fordham University,^[1] Now Whalen supervises the research database at SUNY Optometry in midtown Manhattan, and lives in the West Village with her husband, Jon Hess, a Nasdaq trader and former Princeton University lacrosse player. In 2004 she ran the New York Marathon in 4 hours 19 minutes 38 seconds—remarkable considering her physical condition.^[7]

See also

• List of select Jewish football (association; soccer) players

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} "soccer profile: Sara Whalen". Soccertimes.com. http://www.soccertimes.com/usteams/roster/women/whalen.htm. Retrieved December 23, 2010. 
2. ^ "Sara Whalen". Soccerdivas.com. http://www.soccerdivas.com/sara_whalen.htm. Retrieved December 23, 2010. 
3. ^ "Sara Whalen". Soccerdivas.com. http://www.soccerdivas.com/sara_whalen.htm. Retrieved December 23, 2010. 
4. ^ "Jewish Olympic Medalists". Jewishsports.net. http://www.jewishsports.net/medalists.htm. Retrieved December 23, 2010. 
5. ^ "Jewish Sports Hall of Fame". Jewishsports.org. March 25, 2001. http://www.jewishsports.org/jewishsports/detail.asp?sp=209. Retrieved December 23, 2010. 
6. ^ Day by day in Jewish sports history. http://books.google.com/books?id=dAq4TGQsWwwC&pg=PA340&dq=Sara+Whalen+jewish+soccer&hl=en&ei=FAQTTcLNLIKKlwfYxsHjCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved December 23, 2010. 
7. ^ Litsky, Frank (November 8, 2004). "An Erstwhile Soccer Star Finds a New Life in Running". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/08/sports/sportsspecial/08sara.html. 

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