Winning the World Cup is definitely the highlight of my career. I thought the gold medal at the Olympics would peak it, but winning the World Cup, the reception... it's what we all dreamed of when we were little.
— Becky Sauerbrunn
I'm naturally competitive, and I always want to win and always want to help our team win. So I always want to be on the field.
I kind of had to convince myself when I was playing for the Washington Freedom that this was the highest level that I'm going to reach. 'I'm going to be a professional player, and I'm going to try and be the best one I can be, but it's maybe just not in my cards to be an international player. I won't play in a World Cup.' That was hard for me.
You think about the legacy that you leave behind, and I've been very fortunate to be part of a very successful team, but I think the fight for equal pay and respect is something that goes beyond the field. I think it is very important, something that I'm very willing to take on to help the generations that come behind me.
A lot of sport is being comfortable with being uncomfortable.
I've always been very hard on myself, and I never want to get to a point where I'm like, 'Alright, I'm kicking butt,' but I know I need to be confident because I think that will take my game to the next level.
Although offensive play is important, it's defending that gets you titles.
I know that I'm not the fastest or the strongest or the best in the air, so from a very early age, I had to be positionally sound, or I was going to get beat. So you just kind of learn as you grow.
Defending is mostly about focus.
It's almost ludicrous that I'm playing a game and getting paid for it. I'm just going to ride it as long as I can.
We joke that St. Louis people love their own.
It's lucky I haven't been in a bad tackle. I could be prepared, but if my body gets wrenched in the wrong way, I can't help that.
If you've done the work, done the training sessions, when you go into these games, you should feel ready. All you can ask is, 'Did you do your best, and try your best,' and then what happens, happens.
I always have oatmeal before training or a match. It's easy on the stomach, offers so many vitamins and minerals, and is slow-burning, so it won't leave me hungry at half-time.
U.S. Soccer has no justification for paying us as little as they do.
St. Louis has a super-rich history of soccer, so I was very fortunate growing up to have coaches that played.
The way I play, it's very much more a mental game than a physical game. I'm looking for space and where are players leaving space. Defensively, where are we at numerical disadvantages? Do I shift more to the left because they have more players on their right side? It's about reading the game before the game happens.
I'm a pessimist.
Defenders don't really get any sort of notoriety or anything like that.
We like to be kind of at the forefront for how all football federations should treat their female athletes.
The women's national team is a very successful team, and that success has given us a platform to speak on gender equity issues. Millions of young women play soccer in this country, and it's empowering for them to see that our contribution to the game is valued.
When I'm on the field, I don't want to be worrying about my cleats. I want them to enhance my playing style.
If they don't score, we can't lose.
The game can be quite dangerous when you look at certain injuries, especially head injuries.
Defenders must be careful yet decisive when taking action.
I think everyone, including myself, was pretty surprised the first Freedom goal came from me. So when I think about that goal, all I can really do is laugh at the incredibility of it.
Anytime that you're getting games in, you're going to get better.
I wasn't shuffling from one sport to the next that much. I had downtime to just be a high school student.
I'm impassioned about injury prevention as an athlete.
I think a lot of where I find my confidence is knowing I've prepared as well as I could have.
In soccer, female athletes across the world wear shoes that are not meant for us, our feet, or our game.
Soccer is always changing and evolving, and I think our national team has had to change with the times.
At the Olympics, I'm representing the United States as well as the town and people who helped shape me.
When it comes down to it, it's about putting the players on the field that will be the best 11.
I always wanted to write a book. Not a romance novel. Maybe a crime thriller. Something with action. Maybe that will happen some day.
When you have somebody like Christie Rampone, with the vast experience she has had, you're going to defer to her line because she has played in so many huge games, and she knows what she's talking about.
We put in the same amount of time, effort, and we do the same amount of work requirements. We feel like that should be equal, and we should get the same amount of money as the men.
Success doesn't motivate me as much as integrity does. Everyone loses. I enjoy the pressure of showing up every single day, being focused, putting forth my best effort, getting the best out of my teammates, and enjoying the journey.
There's no justification to not be paid the same as the men. We do everything the men do.
Even when matches don't work out the way you planned, you've always got to stay strong in defence; it's a matter of willpower and intelligence.
When I started with the national team, it was made very clear I was going to be the backup to Christie Rampone and Rachel Buehler. So for the first few years, it was just me training my heart out and pushing those centerbacks to be the best they could be.
A lot of goals are scored when defenders lose their concentration for a split second and a forward makes a run in behind or gets that one extra step that leads to a shot.
As a defender, how much ground I cover isn't up to me. I'm defending against a forward, so her movement determines my movement.
It's a rare treat to be able to play in front of friends and family.
Anything you train can be improved upon. If you do it over and over again, your body is going to remember these moves and not be surprised in the game.
It's always been a dream of mine to be an Olympian.
With soccer, it's such a dynamic sport. It's important that however you play, you should be training like that.
It's really indescribable. All the hard work you put in and all the sacrifices.
I actually got my start playing indoor soccer with the boys, a bunch of boys I played with. We eventually became a club team and then essentially got to the point where I couldn't be a girl on the boys' team, so I switched over to JB Marine.
I'm very hard on myself. I think that drives me because I don't want to let people down or let myself down. That fear of failing drives me from being complacent.
