Ohio’s Pride: Meet the Dynamic Duo on the US Women’s Soccer Team

No matter what your favorite professional women’s soccer club is, the FIFA Women’s World Cup gives soccer fans in the United States the chance to join behind one banner and support the same team in a show of national pride. The United States Women’s National Team (USWNT) has taken the nation (one notoriously resistant to making soccer popular, mind you) by storm in the 21st century with three Olympic gold medals, a pair of Women’s World Cups, and six CONCACAF Gold Cups since the year 2000.

The big names can change quite a bit in the four years between major tournaments like the World Cup or the Olympics. Take a look at Megan Rapinoe, the face of women’s soccer in the States for the better part of a decade, who has barely played this year as she recovers from injury and looks toward retirement at the conclusion of the 2023 season.

In a nation covering more than 3.797 million square miles with more than 167.51 million females, one might expect a pretty wide distribution of hometowns for the various players who make up the USWNT.

While that’s largely the case, there are two notable exceptions: Rose Lavelle and Aubrey Kingsbury, who both hail from Cincinnati, Ohio, and are on the roster for this year’s team, which looks to become the first team ever, men’s or women’s, to win a third consecutive World Cup title.

USWNT: How Are Their Chances In This Year’s World Cup?

The tournament currently sits in the Knockout Stage. In the Group Stage, the USWNT teed off against the Netherlands, Portugal, and Vietnam as part of Group E, located in Auckland, New Zealand.

The United States shut out Vietnam 3-0 in their opening game of the stage before struggling to a 1-1 tie against the Netherlands on July 27 (local time, the game took place on July 26 for viewers in the states). Vietnam fell to Portugal 2-0, eliminating them from the possibility of advancing to the Knockout Stage.

The Netherlands already defeated Portugal, so after the ugly draw, the USWNT needed to win or tie against the Portugal women’s national football team on August 1 in order to ensure that they’ll move on to the next round. They managed a draw, which mean they advanced to the Round of 16.

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Here’s a look at the role the Cincinnati duo looks to play in The Stars and Stripes’ title defense.

Keeping Up With Kingsbury

Kingsbury won a pair of Ohio state championships in 2007 and 2008 for St. Ursula Academy, a Cincinnati prep school. The best goalkeeper in program history for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons by a number of marks, Kingsbury has enjoyed an excellent club career with the Washington Spirit of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), earning a reputation as a top target as a loan player.

Sydney FC of the Australian W-League picked her up for parts of the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons, where she helped lead the team to a pair of Grand Final appearances (winning the league tournament in 2018-19 and receiving league Goalkeeper of the Year honors).

She’s been on the USWNT since 2022, and if all goes to plan, Kingsbury won’t see many minutes during the United States’ attempt at a championship run. The 31-year-old goalkeeper holds the No. 2 spot on the depth chart behind incumbent Alyssa Naeher, who’s held the top spot since 2017.

Naeher will be 36 next season ahead of the 2024 Summer Olympics, though, so Kingsbury’s time spent waiting in the wings could pay off in a big way once Naeher is ready to hang up her cleats: it’s not a slight to Kingsbury’s talent to sit behind one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time.

A Look at Lavelle

A first-team all-state player growing up in Ohio, Lavelle, a midfielder, helped the Wisconsin Badgers women’s soccer team win a Big Ten title in 2014.

As a pro, she teamed up with Kingsbury on the Spirit from 2018 to 2020, rising to international fame in 2019 with three goals in the Women’s World Cup, including the final tally of the tournament, icing the game when she put the USWNT up 2-0 over the Netherlands in the 69th minute.

Lavelle, like Kingsbury, bides her time as a substitute this year as she eases her way back to game speed following a knee injury. Without her, though, the USWNT could be staring down one of the most embarrassing upsets in the history of the sport. She scored a goal against Vietnam off the bench in the opening match and entered against the Netherlands with the United States trailing 1-0 to open the second half.

Even on a hobbled knee, the 28-year-old displayed her ability to turn it on under the brightest lights of the sport, notching an assist via corner kick on Lindsey Hiram’s game-tying goal. Lavelle has a major role to play in the success of the USWNT.

Featured image via Freepik.com

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