Joy Lynn Fawcett (; February 8, 1968) is a retired

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

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soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player. She earned 241 caps with the

United States women's national soccer team The United States women's national soccer team (USWNT) represents the United States in international women's soccer. The team is the most successful in international women's soccer, winning four Women's World Cup titles ( 1991, 1999, 2015, an ...

(WNT) and retired from the WNT in 2004 as the highest scoring defender for the U.S. WNT. Fawcett was a founding member of the WUSA and was elected for induction into the

National Soccer Hall of Fame The National Soccer Hall of Fame is a private, non-profit institution established in 1979 and currently located in Toyota Stadium (Texas), Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. The Hall of Fame honors Association football, soccer ...

in 2009. She was in the movie '' Soccer Mom'' as herself.

Youth

Fawcett grew up in southern California, where she attended Edison High School in

Huntington Beach, California Huntington Beach is a seaside city in Orange County in Southern California, located southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. The city is named after American businessman Henry E. Huntington. The population was 198,711 during the 2020 census, mak ...

. Her high school team won four league championships. She then attended the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant un ...

where she played on the women's soccer team from 1987 to 1989. She was a three-time, first team All-American. She holds the school record for single-season scoring with 23 goals in 1987. Fawcett graduated from UC Berkeley in 1992 with a BA degree in Physical Education. Cal inducted her into the school's Hall of Fame in October 1997.

Club

Fawcett and forward Carin Jennings both were members of the Manhattan Beach club women's soccer team Ajax in the late 1980s and early 1990s and routinely played at Columbia Park in

Torrance, California Torrance is a city in the Los Angeles metropolitan area located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city is part of what is known as the South Bay region of the metropolitan area. Torrance has of beachfront on the Pacific O ...

. In 1991 and 1993, Ajax won the U.S. women's amateur championship. In 1998, she played for Ajax in the first season of the Women's Premier Soccer League. In 2001, Fawcett signed with the

San Diego Spirit The San Diego Spirit was a professional soccer team that played in the Women's United Soccer Association. The team played at Torero Stadium on the campus of the University of San Diego in San Diego, California. The team began play in 2001. The ...

in the newly established Women's United Soccer Association. She missed most of the season due to an early season pregnancy. She rebounded in 2002 to lead the team in playing time with 19 games. In 2003, she had ankle injury early in the season but came back to play 18 games and gain the first team WUSA All - Star recognition.

National team

In 1991, Fawcett and Jennings helped the U.S. national team win the first women's World Cup that was held in China. She was the only WNT member to play all minutes of the 1995,

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and 2003 Women's World Cups, as well as the

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and 2000 Olympics. She retired from the WNT in 2004 as the highest-scoring defender for the U.S. WNT. She appeared in the HBO documentary '' Dare to Dream: The Story of the U.S. Women's Soccer Team.''

International goals

Coaching career

She was the head coach at UCLA from 1993 to 1997.

Personal life

Joy and her husband Walter Fawcett have three daughters, Katelyn Rose (b. May 17, 1994), Carli (b. May 21, 1997), and Madilyn Rae (b. June 5, 2001). Their oldest daughter Katey played soccer for the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seatt ...

from 2012 to 2015. Her brother

Eric Biefeld Eric Biefeld is a former U.S. soccer defender. He played three seasons in the Western Soccer Alliance and one season in the American Professional Soccer League. He also earned two caps with the U.S. national team in 1986. Youth and college Bi ...

had a brief career with the

United States men's national soccer team The United States men's national soccer team (USMNT) represents the United States in men's international soccer competitions. The team is controlled by the United States Soccer Federation and is a member of FIFA and CONCACAF. The U.S. team h ...

. She is also the current assistant soccer coach for the United States Deaf Women's National Team.

References

Joy Fawcett's U.S. Olympic Team bio

External links

Official Player Profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fawcett, Joy 1968 births Living people American women's soccer players California Golden Bears women's soccer players National Soccer Hall of Fame members United States women's international soccer players Women's Olympic soccer players of the United States Olympic gold medalists for the United States in soccer Olympic silver medalists for the United States in soccer Footballers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Women's United Soccer Association players San Diego Spirit players Washington Freedom players FIFA Century Club Sportspeople from Inglewood, California 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup players 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup players 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup players 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup players FIFA Women's World Cup-winning players Women's association football defenders Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics UCLA Bruins women's soccer coaches American women's soccer coaches Ajax America Women players Women's Premier Soccer League players