Tiffeny Carleen Milbrett (born October 23, 1972) 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 ...

forward who was a longtime member of the United States women's national team. In May 2018 the

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announced Milbrett will be enshrined in the Hall. A native of

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

, she starred at the University of Portland where she scored a then school record 103 goals during her career. She won an Olympic gold medal in 1996 in Atlanta and a silver medal at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. She also played in three World Cups, winning in

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

. She is in the top five all-time in the United States national soccer team in three offensive categories.

Early life

Milbrett was born 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, ...

, on October 23, 1972. She started her soccer career playing for the Hillsboro Soccer Club in

Hillsboro, Oregon Hillsboro ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon and is the county seat of Washington County, Oregon, Washington County. Situated in the Tualatin Valley on the west side of the Portland metropolitan area, the city hosts many High tech, high-te ...

, in the

Portland metropolitan area The Portland metropolitan area is a metropolitan area, metro area with its urban area, core in the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington (state), Washington. It has 5 principal cities, the largest being Portland, Oregon. The U.S. Office of Man ...

. Milbrett grew up in Hillsboro, attending W. Verne McKinney Elementary School in the northwest part of the city. She attended Hillsboro High School (Hilhi) in Hillsboro from 1987 to 1990, where she graduated holding Oregon's state record for goals in a season with 54; and in a career with 131. One of the fields at Hilhi is named after her. She was a three-time Oregonian 3A Player of the Year and a two-time ''

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'' All-American. She also was a talented

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player and

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participant, and she was offered college scholarships at those two sports.

University of Portland

Milbrett attended the University of Portland where she lettered with the Clive Charles-coached Pilots in 1990, 1991, 1992 and 1994. She left the school with various awards and

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

(NCAA) records. In 1990, she was named

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's Freshman Soccer Player of The Year, and in 1991, she led her team with 21 goals and six assists. In 1992, her 30 goals and 12 assists placed her second among the nation's scorers, and in 1994, she helped her team reach the soccer Final Four, making the All-Tournament Team. Milbrett also garnered West Coast Offensive Player of The Year awards in 1992 and 1994, and was a three-time

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All-American as well as a three time finalist for the Hermann Trophy and Missouri Athletic Club Award. Milbrett was her university's all-time leader in goals with 103, and assists with 40. She placed second in NCAA career goals with 103, and tied for fourth in career points with 246. She was also named to Soccer America's College Team of The Decade for the 1990s.

Club career

Shiroki Serena

Professionally, Milbrett began her career in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, when she traveled to after graduating in 1995 and joined the Shiroki Serena of the L. League. She played on that team until 1997.

WUSA

In 2001, she became a founding member of the

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in the

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). She was the league's MVP as well as Offensive Player of The Year. She scored the league's first hat trick ever, when the Power beat the

Boston Breakers The Boston Breakers were an American professional women's soccer club based in the Boston neighborhood of Allston. The team competed in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). They replaced the original Breakers, who competed in the defu ...

3–1. She was named to the WUSA's second team in 2002, when she finished eighth in the league in points.

Sunnanå SK, Linköpings FC, Vancouver Whitecaps

In March 2005, Milbrett went to Sweden for two months to fine-tune her game, scoring five goals for Sunnanå SK during her brief stint. She also played for

Linköpings FC Linköpings may refer to: *Linköpings ASS, Linköpings Allmänna Simsällskap is a Swedish swim team *Linköpings FC, an association football club *Linköpings FF, premier men's football team *Linköpings HC, Linköpings Hockey Club See also< ...

in the Swedish

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, having transferred there from the Vancouver Whitecaps Women of the

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W-League.

FC Gold Pride

In March 2009, Milbrett was selected to play with FC Gold Pride of the new

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 ...

and began play in April 2009. In her first appearance with FC Gold Pride, she scored the game-winning goal. For the 2009 season she scored 4 goals in 19 games.

International career

Milbrett was a member of the US-under 20 team from 1990 to 1993, and saw her first action 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 ...

in 1991, against

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. She scored her first goal with that selection in 1992, against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

, and helped the team win the International Women's Tournament in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

in 1993. She played a total of 21 games with the senior team during that period, and in 1995, she finally joined the senior team full-time. She was a member of the team that finished third at the

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that year in

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, and in 1996, she became a starter for the team that won the 1996 Olympic gold medal in

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, scoring the game-winning goal in the gold medal game against China. In 1997, she set a women's national team record with five assists in a game against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, and in 1998, she was a member of the team that won the gold medal at the

Goodwill Games The Goodwill Games were an international sports competition created by Ted Turner in reaction to the political troubles surrounding the Olympic Games of the 1980s. In 1979, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan caused the United States and other ...

. In 1999, she was the goal leader on the US team that won the

, and in 2000 she helped the team obtain Olympic Games silver in

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. She was named the

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Offensive Player of The Year that same year, as well as

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's female athlete of the year. She was also nominated along with Hamm and Sun Wen for the first ever

FIFA World Player of the Year The FIFA World Player of the Year was an association football award presented annually by the sport's governing body, FIFA, between 1991 and 2015 at the FIFA World Player Gala. Coaches and captains of international teams and media representative ...

award, and participated in the 2001 Nike Women's Cup. She also won the Chevrolet Female Athlete of the Year Award for the second time in a row in 2001. She stepped away from the national team in December 2003 due to philosophical differences with manager April Heinrichs. Milbrett preferred a more creative style of play to which she was more accustomed from her time at the University of Portland, while Heinrichs favored a more tactical brand of soccer which valued speed, athleticism and versatility. She argued, "My philosophy about the game, for instance, is that you have players out there who really do different things. You can't ask every player to do the same thing. That's why we have amazing midfielders, defenders, forwards and keepers. You can't ask them to be of the same mold." After Heinrichs resigned in February 2005 and was replaced by Greg Ryan, Milbrett returned to the national team, and finally earned her elusive 200th cap on June 30 in a friendly against rivals

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. Her 100th goal came in Team USA's next match, a friendly against Ukraine in her hometown of Portland at

Merlo Field Harry A. Merlo Field at the Clive Charles Soccer Complex is a 4,892-capacity soccer-specific stadium in Portland, Oregon on the campus of the University of Portland where it serves as home to the school's Portland Pilots men's soccer, men's and P ...

International goals

Coaching career

She coached at Northwest Soccer Camp as well as at day camps, personal training and Elite Team Training Sessions, and women's clinics. Milbrett is a member of the People to People Ambassador Programs. She coached the MVLA Tornado girls' team. She also coaches for the ECNL girls team.

References

Match reports

External links

*
FC Gold Pride player profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Milbrett, Tiffeny 1972 births Living people Sportspeople from Hillsboro, Oregon United States women's international soccer players Footballers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in soccer Olympic silver medalists for the United States in soccer Parade High School All-Americans (girls' soccer) Women's United Soccer Association players New York Power players Portland Pilots women's soccer players Vancouver Whitecaps FC (women) players FC Gold Pride players Expatriate women's soccer players in Canada FIFA Women's Century Club American women's soccer players Hillsboro High School (Oregon) alumni USL W-League (1995–2015) players Soccer players from Portland, Oregon Damallsvenskan players Linköpings FC 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 Sunnanå SK players Shiroki FC Serena players Nadeshiko League players American expatriate women's soccer players American expatriate sportspeople in Japan Expatriate women's footballers in Japan Expatriate women's footballers in Sweden Women's association football forwards Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Competitors at the 1998 Goodwill Games Women's Professional Soccer players National Soccer Hall of Fame members 20th-century American sportswomen 21st-century American sportswomen