page_title: Christie Pearce
section_title: International
hierarchical_section_title: Christie Pearce / Playing career / International
caption_attribution_description: English: Christie Rampone of the US Women's National Team, in San Jose, California on 10 May 2015.
context_page_description: Christie Patricia Pearce is an American professional soccer defender. She is the former captain of the United States women's national soccer team. Pearce is a 3-time Olympic gold medalist, and also a 2-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion.
  Pearce has played in five FIFA Women's World Cup finals and four Olympics women's football tournaments. She is a 1999 and 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup champion, and a three-time gold medalist having won championship titles at the 2004 Athens Olympics, 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2012 London Olympics. She has finished no lower than third place in each of the World Cup or Olympic tournaments in which she has competed.
  Pearce played in the W-League from 1997 through 1998. She played in two American professional leagues the entire time they were in operation; from 2001 through 2003 in the WUSA and from 2009 through 2011 in the WPS. In 2009, while playing for Sky Blue FC, she simultaneously served as coach of the club while winning the 2009 Women's Professional Soccer Playoffs, and was named WPS Sportswoman of the Year.
context_section_description: Christie Pearce has represented the United States at the 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, and 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup finals, in addition to the 2000, 2004, 2008, and 2012 Summer Olympics.
  After training with the United States women's national soccer team during her senior year at Monmouth, she switched to playing as a defender.  Pearce's first game was February 28, 1997 versus Australia.  She tallied her first national team goal on May 2, 1997, in a match versus South Korea.  Pearce started 16/18 games in her first season and finished with two goals and three assists.  The following year, Pearce helped her team to its first undefeated season and led the United States to gold in the 1998 Goodwill Games by starting in both matches.
  Pearce played 2540 minutes with the national team in 2000, including five games at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.  The team finished with the Silver medal.  In 2001, Pearce tore her anterior cruciate ligament and missed a majority of the limited national team season.  Pearce was back with the team for two training camps in 2002, but focused on recovering from her surgery.  In 2003, she started in 15/17 national team games and all four World Cup matches to lead her team to the Bronze medal.
  In the 2004 Athens Olympics, she helped the United States win gold after defeating Brazil in what would be the final Olympic Games for a few of her senior teammates: Mia Hamm, Brandi Chastain and Julie Foudy.  It was in this same year that Pearce would become the fifth most capped defender in United States history.
  Pearce returned to the team in 2006, after taking off the 2005 season to have her first child.  In 2006, Christie returned to the team just 112 days after giving birth for China's Four Nations Tournament.  2007 brought Pearce's busiest year to date, starting in all 20 games in which she played and she became the most capped defender and second-most capped played on the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup team.  She started in all six matches of the World Cup.
  In 2008, Pearce was named captain of the Women's National Team and led the United States to the Gold medal once again, earning her 200th National Team cap at the 2008 Summer Olympics.  With the retirement of teammate Kristine Lilly in 2010, she became the most capped active player in the world.
  Pearce captained the USA team to win second place at 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup, losing to Japan 1–3 in the penalty shoot-out, having drawn the final match at 2–2 at the end of extra-time. She played all 600 minutes in all 6 matches USA played.
  In 2012 London Olympics, Pearce captained the USA team to a 2–1 gold medal win over Japan in the final; playing all 570 minutes in 6 matches and was a key free kick taker throughout the tournament. Pearce also saved a shot off the line from Japan in the Olympic final. The USA team won all six matches it played at the 2012 London Olympics, including 3 shutouts.
  As of September 20, 2015, Christie Pearce is currently second on the all-time cap list with 311.
  On July 5, 2015, she became the oldest woman to play in a FIFA Women's World Cup final, and in any tournament game, at age 40 years, 11 days, when she entered the final against Japan during the 86th minute.
  In 1999 she played against Korea DPR in the group stage,
  and in 2015 she played against Nigeria in the group stage,
  and in the final against Japan.
caption: Pearce training with the United States team in 2015.
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