- Christie Rampone
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Christie Rampone 
Personal information Full name Christie Patricia Rampone Date of birth 24 June 1975 Place of birth Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States Height 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) Playing position Defender Club information Current club magicJack Number 3 Youth career 1993–1996 Monmouth Hawks Senior career* Years Team Apps† (Gls)† 1997 Central Jersey Splash 1998 New Jersey Lady Stallions 2001–2003 New York Power 55 (0) 2009–2010 Sky Blue FC 30 (0) 2011– magicJack 0 (11) National team‡ 1997– 
United States240 (4) Teams managed 2009 Sky Blue FC (caretaker player/manager) HonoursCompetitor for United StatesWomen's Football (soccer) Silver Sydney 2000 Team Competition Gold Athens 2004 Team Competition Gold Beijing 2008 Team Competition * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 03:23, 22 October 2009 (UTC).
† Appearances (Goals).
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 13 July 2011Christie Patricia Rampone (née Pearce born 24 June 1975) is an American soccer defender currently playing for magicJack of Women's Professional Soccer. She is a member and current Captain of the United States women's national soccer team.
Contents
Early years
High school
Born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Christie Rampone grew up in Point Pleasant, New Jersey. During her high school years, she was a four-sport athlete in soccer, basketball, track, and field hockey. While attending Point Pleasant Boro High School, she scored 2,190 career high school basketball points,[1] and was the first female athlete in New Jersey history to lead her conference in scoring in three different sports. This accomplishment led her to all-state honors in all three sports. Rampone was heralded as the best athlete Ocean County, New Jersey had ever produced.[citation needed]
University
Rampone attended Monmouth University, located in West Long Branch, New Jersey, after being highly recruited by nearly every major college in the country.[citation needed] At Monmouth, she excelled as a three-sport athlete in soccer, basketball, and lacrosse. During her senior year, she opted to ease away from her starting point guard basketball position to train and travel with the United States women's national soccer team. On the Monmouth soccer field, Rampone was a two-time Northeast Conference Player of the Year selection and First Team All Mid-Atlantic Region selection, posting ten multiple-goal games in her senior year. She finished her collegiate soccer career with a start in all 80 games, led her team with 79 career goals and 54 assists, and was Monmouth's record holder for goals, assists, and points in a season.[2]
When not on the field, Rampone studied towards a degree in Special Education, which she completed in 1996. She also worked as a volunteer basketball and soccer coach when completing her student teaching with Monmouth. As a tribute to her achievements and for the worldwide fame she brought to her alma mater, the university awarded her with an honorary degree in Public Service in 2005. Furthermore, the university inducted her into the Monmouth University Hall of Fame in 2007 and honored her 2008 Olympic accomplishments by declaring 5 October 2008 as Christie Rampone Day.[3]
Club career
After college, Rampone played for Central Jersey Splash and New Jersey Lady Stallions, in 1997 and 1998 respectively, of the W-League.
In 2001, she was selected as a member of New York Power, a professional soccer team in Women's United Soccer Association. In the first year, Christie played every minute of the first 18 games until tearing her anterior cruciate ligament, sidelining her for the rest of the season. In 2002, Christie bounced back to play in 1699 minutes over 19 games, and another 18 games in 2003 in addition to her national team duties. Shortly after concluding its third season, the WUSA suspended all operations. In anticipation of an eventual relaunch, WUSA preserved its rights in the team names, logos and similar properties.[4]
The next attempt at women's professional soccer in the United States kicked off in 2008 under the name of Women's Professional Soccer. On 16 September 2008, the initial WPS player allocation was conducted and Rampone was chosen as captain for New Jersey's Sky Blue FC with fellow US Women's National Team players Heather O'Reilly and Natasha Kai.[5]
In its inaugural season, Rampone and Sky Blue FC struggled, including the suspension of their first head coach Ian Sawyers and the resignation of his successor, Kelly Lindsey. In July 2009, the Sky Blue organization announced that Rampone would serve as the caretaker coach, in addition to her playing duties, for the remainder of the WPS season.[6] After taking on the position as head coach, the third in one season for Sky Blue FC, Rampone took her team on to win the 2009 Women's Professional Soccer Playoffs. It was later revealed she was almost three months pregnant with her second child at the time of the match.[7] One week later, Rampone was named WPS Sportswoman of the Year.[8]
She remained with Sky Blue in a playing role for 2010 before switching to magicJack ahead of the 2011 Women's Professional Soccer season.[9]
International career
Christie Rampone has represented the United States at the 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup finals, and at the 2000, 2004, and 2008 Summer Olympics.
After training with the United States women's national soccer team during her senior year at Monmouth, Rampone switched to playing as a defender. Rampone's first game was 28 February 1997 versus Australia. She tallied her first national team goal on 2 May 1997, in a match versus South Korea. Rampone started 16/18 games in her first season and finished with two goals and three assists.[10] The following year, Rampone helped her team to its first undefeated season and led the United States to gold in the 1998 Goodwill Games by starting in both matches.
Rampone played 2540 minutes with the national team in 2000, including five games at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. The team finished with the Silver medal. In 2001, Rampone tore her anterior cruciate ligament and missed a majority of the limited national team season. Rampone was back with the team for two training camps in 2002, but focused on recovering from her surgery. In 2003, she started in 15/17 national team games and all four World Cup matches to lead her team to the Bronze medal.
In the next Summer Olympics, she helped the United States win gold after defeating Brazil in what would be the final Olympic Games for a few of her teammates, including Mia Hamm. It was in this same year that Rampone would become the fifth most capped defender in United States history.[11]
Rampone returned to the team in 2006, after taking off the 2005 season to have her first child. In 2006, Christie returned to the team just 112 days after giving birth for China's Four Nations Tournament. 2007 brought Rampone's busiest year to date, starting in all 20 games in which she played and she became the most capped defender and second-most capped played on the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup team. She started in all six matches of the World Cup.
In 2008, Rampone was named captain[12] of the Women's National Team and led the United States to the Gold medal once again, earning her 200th National Team cap at the 2008 Summer Olympics. With the retirement of teammate Kristine Lilly, Rampone is currently the most capped active player in the world, and is fourth on the all-time cap list with 240, behind Lilly, Hamm, and Julie Foudy.
Personal life
Rampone married Chris Rampone on 9 November 2001 in Jersey City, New Jersey. They currently have two daughters, Rylie Cate, born on September 29, 2005, and Reece Elizabeth, born on March 6, 2010.[13]
In July 2011, Rampone revealed she had Lyme disease. [14]
References
- ^ "Christie Rampone Stats". Team USA. http://soccer.teamusa.org/athlete/athlete/804.
- ^ "Rampone Biography". Axiom Sports & Entertainment. http://www.axiomsport.com/clients/christierampone.htm.
- ^ "Monmouth University declares October 5th Christie Rampone Day". Monmouth University. http://www.gomuhawks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=14300&ATCLID=1590648.
- ^ "WUSA Suspends Operations". CBC Sports. 15 September 2003. http://www.cbc.ca/sports/story/2003/09/15/wusa_shutdown030915.html.
- ^ "WPS Allocation List". The Washington Post. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/soccerinsider/2008/09/wps_allocation_list.html.
- ^ "Christie Rampone to serve as player-coach for remainder of season". http://www.nj.com/sports/njsports/index.ssf/2009/07/sky_blue_fc_coach_quits_abrupt.html.
- ^ "U.S. WNT Captain Christie Rampone Expecting Second Child". USSF. 2009-08-25. http://www.ussoccer.com/News/Womens-National-Team/2009/08/Rampone-Expecting-Second-Child.aspx. Retrieved 2011-06-29.
- ^ "Rampone Named the 2009 Hint Water Sportswoman of the Year, Leads WPS All-Stars to Victory". OurSports Central. 2009-08-30. http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=3896782. Retrieved 2010-11-07.
- ^ "Christie Rampone signs with Washington Freedom/magicTalk SC". Potomac Soccer Wire. 2011-01-18. http://www.potomacsoccerwire.com/news/460/14769. Retrieved 2011-07-09.
- ^ "Christie Pearce Rampone Profile". Soccer Times. http://www.soccertimes.com/usteams/roster/women/pearce.htm.
- ^ "PearceRampone Christie - Women's Sports Foundation". WomensSportsFoundation.org. 2005-09-29. http://www.womenssportsfoundation.org/Content/Athletes/P/PearceRampone-Christie.aspx. Retrieved 2010-11-07.
- ^ "Meet Your New Captain, USA". http://mainstusa.blogspot.com/2008/01/your-new-captain-christie-rampone.html.
- ^ Sky Blue FC. "Congratulations to Christie Rampone!". WomensProSoccer.com. http://www.womensprosoccer.com/Home/ny/news/press_releases/100306-reece-rampone.aspx. Retrieved 2010-11-07.
- ^ http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/grant_wahl/07/16/wwc.final.preview/index.html
External links
- Christie Rampone – FIFA competition record
- Official Site
- US Soccer player profile
- Sky Blue FC player profile
- WUSA player profile
- Sports agency player profile
Preceded by
Kristine LillyWNT captain
2008–2009Succeeded by
Lori ChalupnyUnited States squads Categories:- 1975 births
- Living people
- Olympic soccer players of the United States
- United States women's international soccer players
- College women's soccer players in the United States
- Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics
- Footballers at the 2004 Summer Olympics
- Footballers at the 2008 Summer Olympics
- Olympic gold medalists for the United States
- Olympic silver medalists for the United States
- Women's United Soccer Association players
- New York Power players
- Monmouth University alumni
- People from Fort Lauderdale, Florida
- People from Point Pleasant, New Jersey
- Sky Blue FC players
- MagicJack (WPS) players
- FIFA Century Club
- American women's soccer players
- 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup players
- 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup players
- Olympic medalists in football
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