Hope Amelia Solo ( U.S.A ) Female Goalkeeper Biography

Sunday, 13 November 2011

Hope Amelia Solo ( U.S.A ) Female Goalkeeper Biography

Full name: Hope Amelia Solo
Date of birth: July 30, 1981
Place of birth: Richland, Washington, U.S.
Height: 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Playing position: Goalkeeper

Solo played for several U.S. junior national soccer teams before joining the full U.S. national team in 2000. She was named a member of the Olympic team in 2004, making the 2004 Olympics in Athens as an alternate. Solo became the team's starting goalkeeper in 2005. She has recorded several clean sheets and once went 1,054 minutes without allowing a goal (a streak that ended in a 4-1 victory against France in the Algarve Cup).
As a forward in high school, Solo scored 109 goals, leading her team to three consecutive league titles from 1996-1998 and a state championship in her senior year. She was twice named a Parade All American.
At the University of Washington, Solo switched to the goalkeeper position and was the team's all-time leader in clean-sheets, saves, and goals-against average (GAA). She was a four-time All-Pac-10 selection and a three-time NSCAA All-American.
Following her college career, Solo was drafted for the now defunct WUSA team Philadelphia Charge in 2003. She also played for Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC of Göteborg, Sweden in the Swedish Premier Division in 2004 and for Olympique Lyonnais in the French First Division in 2005.
On September 16, 2008, Solo was one of the three players drafted for St. Louis in the WPS allocation of national team members, with the new league (a revival of the WUSA) set to start play in April 2009.

Beijing Olympics 2008
On June 23, 2008, it was announced Solo would be the starting goalkeeper for the U.S. team at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. In a reversal of roles from the 2004 Olympics, Brianna Scurry did not make the team (though she was an alternate). On August 21, the U.S. women's team won the gold medal by defeating Brazil 1–0 in extra time in no small measure due to Solo's outstanding performance as she stopped an energetic Brazil attack, making save after save.