Sarah Eileen Huffman (born March 5, 1984) is an American former professional

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 ...

player who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

Early life

Huffman was born in

Danbury, Connecticut Danbury ( ) is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, located approximately northeast of New York City. Danbury's population as of 2020 was 86,518. It is the third-largest city in Western Connecticut, and the seventh-largest ...

. She grew up in

Flower Mound, Texas Flower Mound is an incorporated town located in Denton and Tarrant counties in the U.S. state of Texas. Located northwest of Dallas and northeast of Fort Worth adjacent to Grapevine Lake, the town derives its name from a prominent mound loca ...

and attended Marcus High School.

University of Virginia

Huffman attended the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

. A four-year starter, she is one of the top players in the school's history. She was a two-time NSCAA All-American, a two-time Soccer America MVP, and a three-time first team All-ACC selection. In 2004, she was named the ACC Defensive Player of the Year and was also Co-MVP of the ACC Tournament as the Cavaliers won the first conference championship in school history. She was named Virginia State Player of the Year and was a finalist for Soccer Buzz National Player of the Year. As a senior in 2005, she was named Soccer Buzz All-American, Soccer America MVP, and NSCAA All-American. She ended her collegiate career with 12 goals and 28 assists (second most assists in school history).

Playing career

Club

Becky Sauerbrunn Christie Rampone Sarah Huffman

Huffman was a member of the 2007 W-League champion,

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

. In 2008, she played for Norwegian team,

Røa IL Røa IL is a Norwegian sports club from Røa in the borough of Vestre Aker, Oslo. It was founded on 11 November 1900, and has sections for football, gymnastics, bandy, and cross-country skiing. Football, bandy, and Nordic skiing have been domi ...

, and helped the team win the

Norwegian Women's Cup The Norwegian Women's Cup () is a single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in Norwegian women's association football, football. It has been organised annually since 1978. The final is usually played on a Saturday, the day before the ...

. In 2009, Huffman was the number one pick in Round 1 of the 2008 WPS General Draft and signed with the

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

Women's Professional Soccer Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) was the top-level professional women's soccer league in the United States. It began play on March 29, 2009. The league was composed of seven teams for its first two seasons and fielded six teams for the 2011 ...

. Under new ownership, the team moved to Florida and was renamed

magicJack (WPS) magicJack (stylized with the first letter in lower case) was an American professional soccer club based in Boca Raton, Florida. The team competed in Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) for one season until legal challenges caused the team's owner ...

. In 2012, after the WPS folded, Huffman signed with the

Pali Blues Pali Blues was an American women's soccer team, which played from 2008 to 2014. The team was a member of the United Soccer Leagues USL W-League, the second tier of women's soccer in the United States and Canada. The team played in the Western ...

in the W-League. She helped the team to an undefeated season and the Western Conference championship title. In 2013, Huffman signed with the

Western New York Flash The Western New York Flash (WNY Flash) was an American women's soccer club based in Elma, New York, that most recently competed in the United Women's Soccer league in 2018. They won league championships in four different leagues: the USL W-Leag ...

. April 5, 2014 Huffman was traded with a player to be named later to the

Portland Thorns Portland Thorns FC is an American professional soccer team based in Portland, Oregon, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Established in 2012, the team began play in 2013 in the then-eight-team NWSL, which received supp ...

for Courtney Wetzel, Kathryn Williamson, and a first-round pick in the 2015 NWSL College Draft. That pick later became Jaelene Hinkle. Huffman had earlier decided to live in Portland in the house she bought with her spouse

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 ...

, who will play 2014 with

. April 7, 2014, Portland Thorns revealed that the player to be named later was

Verónica Boquete Verónica Boquete Giadáns (born 9 April 1987) is a Spanish professional association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward or midfielder for Italian Serie A (women's football), Serie A club ACF Fiorentina ( ...

. On November 18, 2014, Huffman announced her retirement from professional soccer.

International

Huffman was a member of the U-16, U-17, U-19, U-21, and U-23 United States women's national soccer teams. She helped her team win the

2002 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship The 2002 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship was held from 17 August to 1 September. It was the first sanctioned youth tournament for women put together by FIFA. The tournament was hosted by Canada. FIFA granted the tournament to Canada in March ...

and won the Nordic Cup with the U-21s in 2004, 2005, and 2007. In 2010, she was called to play 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 governed by the United States Soccer Federation and competes in CONCACAF (the Confederation of North, Central Ameri ...

Coaching career

Huffman is a volunteer assistant coach at her alma mater,

Personal life

Huffman resides in

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

. Her nickname is "Huffy." Huffman came out as gay in a statement on the Athlete Ally website supporting equality in sports. On October 5, 2013, she married her longtime girlfriend,

, in Hawaii. In September 2016, in a new autobiography, Wambach announced that she and Huffman were divorcing. Their divorce was finalized in 2016.

Honors

Western New York Flash *

NWSL Shield The NWSL Shield is an annual award given to the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) team with the best regular season record as determined by the NWSL points system. The NWSL Shield has been awarded annually since 2013 and is recognized as a ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

Individual * ACC Defensive Player of the Year: 2004

References

External links

*
US Soccer player profileWomen's Professional Soccer player profile

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Huffman, Sarah 1984 births Living people Virginia Cavaliers women's soccer players Røa IL players American expatriate women's soccer players American expatriate sportspeople in Norway Expatriate women's footballers in Norway Washington Freedom (soccer) players Soccer players from Texas MagicJack (WPS) players Sportspeople from Flower Mound, Texas National Women's Soccer League players Western New York Flash players LGBTQ people from Texas American LGBTQ soccer players American bisexual sportspeople American bisexual women LGBTQ people from Connecticut American women's soccer players 21st-century American sportswomen Women's association football midfielders Portland Thorns FC players Bisexual sportswomen United States women's international soccer players Women's Professional Soccer players Edward S. Marcus High School alumni United States women's youth international soccer players