Briana Collette Scurry (born September 7, 1971) is an American retired soccer goalkeeper. Scurry was the starting

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

for 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 governed by the United States Soccer Federation and competes in CONCACAF (the Confederation of North, Central Ameri ...

at the 1995 World Cup (3rd place),

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

(gold medal), 1999 World Cup (champions), 2003 World Cup (3rd place), and the 2004 Summer Olympic Games (gold medal). She played in the semi-final and playoff for third place in the 2007 Women's World Cup (3rd place). She was a founding member of the WUSA, playing three seasons as starting goalkeeper for the Atlanta Beat (2001–2003). Her career total of 173 international appearances is the second most among female soccer goalkeepers. It is also the fifteenth most of any American female player, and the thirty-second most among all women. Scurry was elected to the

National Soccer Hall of Fame The National Soccer Hall of Fame is a public-private partnership among FC Dallas, the City of Frisco, Frisco Independent School District, and the U.S. Soccer Federation, and currently located in Toyota Stadium (Texas), Toyota Stadium in Frisco, T ...

on August 3, 2017. She was the first woman goalkeeper and first black woman to be awarded the honor. She is openly gay, and on June 1, 2018, she married Chryssa Zizos, CEO of Live Wire Strategic Communications, LLC. In 2022, Scurry released her best-selling memoir, ''My Greatest Save''. Scurry was also the subject of ''The Only'', a CBS feature-length documentary chronicling her life that was released in 2022.

Early life

Scurry was born in

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

to parents, Ernest and Robbie Scurry. She is the youngest of nine children, with three brothers and five sisters. She played goalie for the Anoka High School Tornadoes for four years and was instrumental in their Minnesota State Championship win in 1989 which ended in a shootout victory. In high school, Scurry ran track and played floor hockey and softball, but basketball was her first and deepest love. Scurry was named Anoka High School's Athena Award winner as the school's top female athlete. She was also named High School All American and Minnesota's top female athlete. In 2010, she was inducted into the Minnesota State High School Hall of Fame. In September 2011, Scurry was named to the inaugural class of the Anoka High School Hall of Fame.

University of Massachusetts

Scurry attended the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) is a public land-grant research university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Massachusetts system and was founded in 1863 as the ...

and completed her four-year collegiate career with 37 shutouts in 65 starts and with a career record of 48–13–4 and a 0.56 goals-against-average She split time in the net in 1992 during her junior season, starting 13 games and earning seven shutouts. Scurry played three games in 1992 as a forward. In 1993, she helped lead the

UMass Minutewomen The UMass Minutemen are the athletic teams that represent the University of Massachusetts Amherst; strictly speaking, the ''Minutemen'' nickname applies to men's teams and athletes only — women's teams and athletes are known as ...

to a 17–3–3 record, to the semifinals of the NCAA Women's Soccer Championship and the titles of the Atlantic 10 Conference regular season and tournament. In her senior season, she started all 23 games and recorded 15 shutouts and a 0.48 goals-against average, the third best in the nation. Scurry was named the National Goalkeeper of the Year in 1993 by the

Missouri Athletic Club The Missouri Athletic Club (often referred to as the MAC), founded in 1903, is a private city and athletic club with two locations. The Downtown Clubhouse is in Downtown St. Louis, Missouri, USA and the West Clubhouse is located in the St. Lou ...

Sports Foundation and was a 1993 second-team All-American, All-Northeast Region and All-New England first-team selection.

Playing career

Club

Scurry was a founding player for the Atlanta Beat in the Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA), the world's first women's league where the players were paid as professionals. She was the starting goalkeeper for the three seasons (2001–2003) of the league. She helped the Beat to two WUSA Championship Games and was named the league's Goalkeeper of the Year in 2003. On March 13, 2009, Scurry was named to the preseason roster of the

Washington Freedom Washington Freedom may refer to: * Washington Freedom (cricket) * Washington Freedom (soccer) {{dab ...

, in the inaugural season of Women's Professional Soccer (WPS). She suffered a season-ending concussion early in the 2010 season, and announced her retirement later that year on September 8.

International

Scurry was a goalkeeper for the

for most of the years between 1994 and 2008, earning a record 173 caps for the United States. She started 159 of those games and finished her international career with a record of 133–12–14. She also earned 71 shutouts. Scurry's first appearance for the

was March 16, 1994, versus Portugal. Her first shutout was recorded the same day. In her first year with the US, she earned seven shutouts in 12 starts. She was a member of the Gold Medal-winning US Women's National Team at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta where she started and played in every minute of the team's five matches conceding only three goals. Scurry played every minute of the 1999 Women's World Cup allowing only three goals and recording four shutouts. She saved one penalty during the shootout in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

against China and the United States won. Following the World Cup, Scurry announced her intention to play in the WNBA. She started for the US in the

2003 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup was the fourth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial championship of women's association football, women's national soccer teams organized by FIFA. It was held in the United States from September ...

and 2004 Summer Olympic Games. She also played two matches for the US in the

2007 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, the fifth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, was an international football competition for women held in China from 10 to 30 September 2007. Originally, China was to host the 2003 edition, but the outbreak o ...

and was the alternate goalkeeper on the 2008 Olympic Team. On June 23, 2008, United States Women's Olympic soccer coach

Pia Sundhage Pia Mariane Sundhage (, born 13 February 1960) is a Swedish football manager and former professional player. Currently, she is coaching Switzerland. As a player, Sundhage played most of her career as a forward and retired as the top scorer fo ...

announced that Scurry would not be on the Olympic team. Her last match for the United States was on November 5, 2008, against the Korea Republic.

Traumatic brain injury and recovery

While playing in the Women's Professional Soccer league in 2010, Scurr
suffered a traumatic brain injury
when a player from the opposing team collided with her knee into Scurry's right temple. The injury left Scurry temporarily totally disabled and she dealt with severe depression. To address her symptoms, Scurry underwent occipital nerve surgery in 2013. Scurry has since rebuilt her life and become an advocate for increased concussion awareness and research, testifying before Congress twice.

Sports administration

Scurry was appointed

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

of the WPS franchise magicJack beginning with the 2011 season. In February 2021, ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' reported that

Chelsea Clinton Chelsea Victoria Clinton (born February 27, 1980) is an American writer. She is the only child of former U.S. President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, a former U.S. Secretary of State and U.S. Senator. Clinton was born in Little Rock, Ar ...

, Jenna Bush Hager,

Dominique Dawes Dominique Margaux Dawes (born November 20, 1976) is a retired American artistic gymnast. Known in the gymnastics community as 'Awesome Dawesome', she was a 10-year member of the U.S. national gymnastics team, the 1994 U.S. all-around senior Nat ...

and Scurry were part of an investment group investing in the

Washington Spirit The Washington Spirit are an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). It is a continuation of the D.C. United Women of the USL W-League (1995� ...

Broadcasting

Scurry was part of the rotation of studio commentators for

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

's telecasts of the

2011 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup was the sixth FIFA Women's World Cup competition, the world championship for List of women's national association football teams, women's national association football, football teams. It was held from 26 June to ...

. Since 2021, Scurry has served as a broadcast analyst for CBS soccer coverage. In 2022, she served as the lead desk analyst for the 2022 CONCACAF W Championship.

Coaching

On December 6, 2017, Scurry was announced as the First Assistant Coach of the

and would serve as Technical Advisor for the Spirit Academy programs in Maryland and Virginia.

Honors and awards

* 1989 High School All-American * 1989 Minnesota's High School Female Athlete of the Year * 1993 All-New England, All-Northeast Region, and All-American * 1993 National Collegiate Goalkeeper of the Year * 1994 Most Valuable Player, Chiquita Cup * 1994 Algarve Cup 2nd Place * 1995 World Cup Bronze Medalist * 1996 Olympic Gold Medalist * 1998 Goodwill Games Gold Medalist * 1999 Algarve Cup 2nd place * 1999 World Cup Champion * 1999 Best Goalkeeper Award -World Cup * 2000 Algarve Cup runner up * 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup Champion * 2000 Olympic Silver Medalist * 2001 All-WUSA Second Team * 2002 All-WUSA Second Team * 2003 All-WUSA First Team * 2003 WUSA Goalkeeper of the Year * 2003 Algarve Cup Champion * 2003 World Cup Bronze Medalist * 2004 Algarve Cup Champion * 2004 Olympic Gold Medalist * 2006 CONCACAF Gold Cup Champion * 2007 Algarve Cup Champion * 2008 Peace Queen Cup Champion * 2008 Four Nations Tournament Champion * 2008 CONCACAF Tournament Champion * 2014

#1 retired * 2017 National Soccer Hall of Fame * 2019: For their first match of March 2019, the women of the

each wore a jersey with the name of a woman they wanted to honor; goalkeeper

Adrianna Franch Adrianna Nichole "AD" Franch (born November 12, 1990) is an American professional soccer player who plays for Birmingham City. She previously played for Kansas City Current, and Portland Thorns FC, winning the NWSL Championship in 2017 with th ...

chose Scurry. * In Dayton, Minnesota where Scurry grew up, there is a soccer park named in her honor. * Her U.S. national soccer team jersey is in a permanent display at the Smithsonian's

National Museum of African American History and Culture The National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), colloquially known as the Blacksonian, is a Smithsonian Institution museum located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in the United States. It was established in 2003 an ...

Film and television

Scurry appeared as a fictionalized version of herself in the 2000 film '' Air Bud: World Pup''. She was also the subject of the 2022

Paramount Plus Paramount+ (formerly known as CBS All Access in the United States and 10 All Access in Australia) is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Paramount Global. The service's content is drawn primarily ...

documentary ''The Only'', which was directed by Anthony J. Cortese and featured interviews with other USWNT players such as

Mia Hamm Mariel Margaret "Mia" Hamm (born March 17, 1972) is an American former professional Association football, soccer player, two-time Women's Football at the Summer Olympics, Olympic gold medalist and two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion. Haile ...

Brandi Chastain Brandi Denise Chastain (born July 21, 1968) is an American retired soccer player, two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion, two-time Olympic gold-medalist, coach, and sports broadcaster. She played for the United States national team from 1988 ...

Kristine Lilly Kristine Marie Lilly Heavey (; born July 22, 1971) is an American former professional soccer player. She was a member of the United States women's national team for 23 years and is the most-capped football player in the history of the sport (m ...

, and

Abby Wambach Mary Abigail Wambach (born June 2, 1980) is an American retired Association football, soccer player, coach, and member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame. A six-time winner of the U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year award, Wambach was a regular on ...

References

External links

*
Bio on Soccer Times website

Briana Scurry player profile

Briana Scurry Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scurry, Briana 1971 births Living people African-American soccer players United States women's international soccer players Footballers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in soccer Olympic silver medalists for the United States in soccer University of Massachusetts Amherst alumni UMass Minutewomen soccer players Women's United Soccer Association players Washington Freedom (soccer) players Atlanta Beat (WUSA) players FIFA Women's Century Club American women's soccer players 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup players 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup players 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup players 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup players FIFA Women's World Cup–winning players Sportspeople from Minneapolis Soccer players from Hennepin County, Minnesota Women's association football goalkeepers Women association football commentators National Soccer Hall of Fame members Competitors at the 1998 Goodwill Games Anoka High School alumni 21st-century American sportswomen 21st-century African-American sportswomen 21st-century American LGBTQ people 20th-century American sportswomen 20th-century African-American sportswomen 20th-century American LGBTQ people Women's Professional Soccer players Sports coaches from Minneapolis Washington Spirit non-playing staff Washington Spirit owners American lesbian sportswomen American LGBTQ soccer players