LaKeysia Rene Beene (born March 9, 1978) is an American former

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

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 ...

who played 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 ...

and the

San Jose CyberRays San Jose CyberRays was a professional soccer team that played in the Women's United Soccer Association. The team played at Spartan Stadium on the South Campus of San José State University in San Jose, California. Stars included U.S. National T ...

Women's United Soccer Association The Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) was the world's first women's soccer league in which all the players were paid as professionals. Founded in February 2000, the league began its first season in April 2001 with eight teams in the Uni ...

(WUSA).

Playing career

College

Beene attended and played

college soccer College soccer, called college football in some countries, is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. While it is most widespread in the United States, it is also prominent in Japan, South Kore ...

as goalkeeper for the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...

. She graduated in 1999 having majored in environmental geoscience. With the Fighting Irish, Beene was a two-time All-American and backstopped the team to a runners-up finish in the 1999

NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship The NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship, sometimes known as the Women's College Cup, is an American college soccer tournament conducted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and determines the Division I women's natio ...

Club

In 2000, Beene became one of the 24 founding players of the

, (WUSA), the first official

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who work (human activity), works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the partic ...

women's soccer league in the United States. From 2001 to 2003, she played for the

. In

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

, Beene was named WUSA goalkeeper of the year, as the CyberRays won the

championship game A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional/provincial/state, national, continental and world championships, and ...

, beating Atlanta Beat on a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

. Beene previously played for

pro–am Pro–am (or pro/am, pro am, ProAm; a contraction of professional–amateur) refers to a sporting event where both professional career athletes and amateurs compete. It could also refer to a collaboration between professionals and amateu ...

Women's Premier Soccer League The Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL) is an amateur women's soccer league in the United States. History The WPSL is the longest-running active women's soccer league as it enters its 25th season in 2023. The WPSL is also the largest women ...

(WPSL) team

California Storm California Storm is an American women's soccer team, founded in 1995 as the Sacramento Storm, before changing its name the following season. The team is a member of the Women's Premier Soccer League and the USL W League, both semi-profession ...

. She returned to the Storm when WUSA collapsed after the 2003 season.

International

Beene's first appearance on the

was on January 7, 2000, in an 8–1 win over

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, Australia. She collected a total of 18

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

over the following three years, but was not included in the US squads for the

2000 Sydney Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

, or 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 ...

International statistics

Personal life

Beene was a teenage

Tang Soo Do Tang Soo Do (; ) is a Korean martial arts, Korean martial art based on karate which can include fighting principles from taekkyeon, subak, as well as northern Chinese martial arts. From its beginnings in 1944 to today, Tang Soo Do is used by ...

champion. She graduated from the

in January 2005 with a B.S. in environmental geosciences. She was admitted to The State Bar of California in 2009 and currently practices environmental law in Sacramento.

References

External links

*
Profile
at

Notre Dame player profile
Living people 1978 births American women's soccer players Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's soccer players United States women's international soccer players Women's United Soccer Association players Soccer players from California San Jose CyberRays players Women's association football goalkeepers California Storm players Women's Premier Soccer League players California lawyers African-American soccer players 21st-century African-American sportswomen 21st-century American sportswomen 20th-century African-American sportswomen 20th-century American sportswomen {{US-women-footy-goalkeeper-stub