US Women's National Soccer Team

U.S. Soccer president Carlos Cordeiro is backing away from disparaging and sexist comments the federation made in a legal filing against the United States Women's National Team in its quest for equal pay.   

After approving of language that called the reigning World Cup champions inferior to their male counterparts and noted an "indisputable science" on the matter, Cordiero has released a statement apologizing for the tactic:

"On behalf of U.S. Soccer, I sincerely apologize for the offense and pain caused by language in this week's court filing, which did not reflect the values of our Federation or our tremendous admiration of our Women's National Team. Our WNT players are incredibly talented and work tirelessly, as they have demonstrated time and again from their Olympic Gold medals to their World Cup titles.

"Even as we continue to defend the Federation in court, we are making immediate changes. I have asked the firm of Latham & Watkins to join and guide our legal strategy going forward. I have made it clear to our legal team that even as we debate facts and figures in the course of this case, we must do so with the utmost respect not only for our Women's National Team players but for all female athletes around the world. As we do, we will continue to work to resolve this suit in the best interest of everyone involved."

The apology may have been a few hours too late for the USWNT. 

Ahead of clinching the 2020 SheBelieves Cup with a 3-1 victory over Japan, the Americans took the field with their warm-ups inside out, effectively covering up the U.S. Soccer logos. 

Here’s @mPinoe on USSF ... pic.twitter.com/x3neROeOQG

— Steven Goff (@SoccerInsider) March 12, 2020

"We've sort of felt that those are some of the undercurrent feelings that they've had for a long time," Megan Rapinoe said on the televised broadcast after Wednesday's win. "But to see that as the argument, as sort of blatant misogyny and sexism, as the argument against us, is really disappointing.

"But I just want to say: It's all false. To every girl out there, to every boy out there who watches this team, who wants to be on this team or just wants to live their dream out, you are not lesser just because you're a girl. You are not better just because you're a boy. We are all created equal and should all have the equal opportunity to go out and pursue our dreams. And for us, that means playing on the soccer field."

U.S. Soccer directly tied its claims in the filing to its argument that paying women less did not violate the Equal Pay Act or Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.

That was more than enough to catch the attention of the USWNT and supporters around the country who rallied to defend women in sports.

The suit is expected to head to trial on May 5. 

The United States women's national soccer team qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo courtesy of a 4-0 win over Mexico in the CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Championship semifinals Friday in Carson, California.

Samantha Mewis led the way with two goals. Rose Lavelle and Christen Press added one apiece.

The USWNT got on the board with a fifth-minute goal by Lavelle, who unleashed a low left-footed strike that bounced in.

Julie Ertz and Megan Rapinoe deserve as much credit for setting up the goal, with Ertz causing a turnover in the Mexico half by heading an attempted clearance to Rapinoe. The captain then found Lavelle, who did the rest and unleashed her shot from outside the 18-yard box.

Nine minutes later, Rapinoe and Ertz set up a goal once again, this time on a set piece.

Rapinoe launched a corner kick to Ertz, who flicked the ball back to Mewis. The game's leading goal scorer then one-timed it into the top-right corner for a 2-0 lead.

A rough tackle just outside the penalty area led to a free kick, and Mewis delivered once again by sending a low laser past a mass of teammates and opponents for her second score in the 67th minute.

Press closed the scoring six minutes later by collecting the ball after her own blocked shot and lofting a chip from outside the six-yard box into the net.

Vlatko Andonovski moved to 6-0 as the USWNT head coach.

The United States will face Canada in the championship final at 6 p.m. ET Sunday in Carson, but that matchup will solely determine the tournament winner.

The two teams will be CONCACAF's representatives in the Olympic Games, which already feature Japan, Great Britain, Sweden, Netherlands, New Zealand and Brazil.

Team USA will go into the final having outscored its four opponents 22-0. Canada outscored its four opponents 23-0. It beat Costa Rica in the semifinals 1-0.

Four Olympic berths remain open: two from the Asian Football Confederation, one from the Confederation of of African Football and one featuring the winner of a playoff between South American Football Confederation runner-up Chile and the loser of the CAF championship featuring Cameroon and Zambia.

The Olympic draw will be held April 20. Group-stage play starts July 22, with the gold-medal match occurring Aug. 7.

The United States will be looking for its fifth gold medal in seven Olympics since the sport debuted at the Games in 1996.

Germany, which won the 2016 gold medal, did not qualify this year.    

The United States women's national team will play their 24th and final match of 2019 on Sunday when they take on Costa Rica at TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville, Florida.

The two sides will face off in new head coach Vlatko Andonovski's second game in charge.

Andonovski replaced Jill Ellis after she stepped down in October after five years. The world champions won his first game 3-2 when they took on Sweden on Thursday.

                 

Date: Sunday, November 10

Time: 8 p.m. ET

TV: ESPN2, TUDN

Live Stream: Watch ESPN, Univision Now

                    

The USA started 2019 with a 3-1 defeat to France, but with their victory over Sweden last time out, they've been unbeaten in the 22 games since.

In their 23 matches in 2019, they've netted an incredible 73 goals, their tally bolstered by their record-breaking 13-0 demolition of Thailand at the FIFA Women's World Cup.

Against Sweden, Carli Lloyd scored twice either side of Christen Press' 50th international goal:

What a start for the USWNT! 🇺🇸

Christen Press feeds Carli Lloyd for the early 1-0 lead vs Sweden. pic.twitter.com/N1fLoCyvcD

— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) November 8, 2019

That is just unfair! 😱

Carli Lloyd with a sublime chip makes it 3-0, USWNT! 🏌️♀️ pic.twitter.com/vahcuDhMr5

— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) November 8, 2019

Julie Foudy, who earned 274 caps and won the World Cup twice with the USWNT, was impressed with Andonovski's management of the team against Sweden:

Loved that Vlatko Andonovski confident enough to not feel need to make big changes to stamp his new era. He knows this team is damn good & he can make even better. He will bring formation flexibility, fresh looks & a new voice. Team seems understandably energized by that. #USWNT https://t.co/g217p6dVnF

— Julie Foudy (@JulieFoudy) November 8, 2019

They'll be looking to add some more goals against Costa Rica, against whom they've won all 14 of their past meetings.

The United States have bagged 24 goals and conceded just twice in their last four games against Las Ticas, the most recent of which was a 4-0 win in 2016.

Costa Rica come into the game on the back of 2020 Olympic qualifying victories over Nicaragua and El Salvador in October, in which they scored seven unanswered goals.

Breaching USWNT's defence will be much tougher, though, even if the Americans did concede two quick-fire goals to Sweden.

The Swedes finished third at the World Cup, while Costa Rica did not even qualify, so their chances of making life difficult for the USA should be slim.

Four clear jars sit atop a wooden shelf, each containing a human brain. An actual human brain. A faded-yellow liquid, the color aging books turn, surrounds each brain, almost seeming to make them float. These brains are just for display, but nearby a hundred or so others are waiting to be examined for various neurodegenerative diseases on this morning in early August at Boston's VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank, tucked discreetly behind the Veterans Affairs Hospital.

There will be a brain dissection in a few hours. Most of the brains are housed in large freezers, set at minus 80 degrees Celsius. It's eerie, peering inside those freezers. Each is filled with dozens of small, square containers, which hold various portions of brains. The containers are stacked on top of one another, identified by seemingly indecipherable coding.

These are people. People who had dreams, athletic prowess. Families, memories. Shortcomings, talents. Joys, disappointments. People now reduced to letters and numbers.

Almost all were younger than age 32 when they died. About half took their own lives. Forty percent have been found to have CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease found in people with a history of repetitive brain trauma.

Most of the brains belonged to men. To football players.

Less than 5 percent belonged to women.

Yet, we know that female athletes have endured repetitive blows to the head, too. Girls soccer players, in particular, have been found to be about as likely to suffer concussions as boys football players—and three times more likely than boys soccer players. But very little is known about what that means for the future, because researchers are hardly studying the long-term consequences of repetitive hits over time in women.

"They're definitely still focused on football. They can't get past football," says neuropathologist Dr. Ann McKee, the director of the VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank, whose research has been integral to our expanding understanding of CTE. "Women aren't even on the radar."

That's a problem, McKee goes on, because while we don't have enough research to know how differently head trauma affects women than men over time, we do know that the effect does seem to be different. And more high school girls are playing soccer than ever—394,105 in 2018-19, up from 356,116 in 2009-10 and 17,970 in 1978-79, according to the NFHS. It's a trend that will likely only accelerate after the U.S. women's national team's gold medal-winning run at the World Cup this summer.

Over the past decade, women have played a major role in the narrative of men's football brain trauma. Mostly, they've been quoted in articles as advocates, as confidantes. The image has become increasingly familiar: the mothers, wives, girlfriends, sisters, daughters, cast in supporting, caregiving roles, mourning and questioning why this happened to the men close to them who have suffered playing a game they love.

But women are not only on the tragic periphery of CTE and head-trauma issues. They're at the heart of them. Though their place in it has mostly gone unexplored, untold, female athletes have their own stories to tell.

---

The only thing stopping Briana Scurry from taking her own life was thinking of the woman who gave her life. Robbie Scurry, her mother. I can't do that to her, Scurry would think. She didn't want anyone to have to tell her mother that she was gone.

But Scurry felt gone. Gone from the woman she used to be: the Hall of Fame goalkeeper, World Cup champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist.

Who am I? she'd ask herself.

A brutal concussion ended her career in 2010. Caused her to spiral down through three years of darkness, three years of "wilderness," as Scurry, now 48, calls them. She didn't recognize herself. Didn't know how to stop her head from pounding. How to stop suicidal thoughts from swarming her.

She was deeply depressed, rarely leaving her apartment because of light sensitivity and the intensity of her headaches and anxiety. She couldn't work and struggled to make money. She was receiving disability benefits. She'd forget where she put things. "I could barely function," she says. "I went from someone who could focus on the panel of a ball with 90,000 people watching on the biggest stage to save a penalty kick to someone who couldn't hold a thought in my head."

She saw doctor after doctor, none understanding what she was going through. They told her that she was past the point of recovery, that this was who she was going to be. "I wouldn't accept it," Scurry says. Finally, she had occipital nerve release surgery in 2013, which helped tremendously.

She is in a better state nowadays but has pledged her brain to be studied when she dies—one of many former national team players to do so, including Megan Rapinoe, Abby Wambach, Michelle Akers, Brandi Chastain and Cindy Parlow Cone.

Most of those players declined to be interviewed for this story. They've acknowledged the issue through their actions but don't seem to want to talk about it.

Out loud, at least.

Scurry thinks often of the teammates who suffered in secret, eventually drifting from the game.

"There's silence; that's the other problem," Scurry says. "Nobody talks about it. At the time, nobody was willing to discuss, 'OK, I left behind my beloved sport because my head hurt.'

"You think, 'I just don't want to play anymore,' but it's actually a symptom of your head injuries. It's part of the emotional changes, the mood changes and the very powerful ways a concussion can change you as a person."

Concussions are known to cause emotional distress and other symptoms, such as depression, anger, paranoia and impaired judgment. In 2016, researchers found that concussions significantly increased the long-term risk of suicide among adults.

Scurry understands why brain injuries are hard to discuss out loud. She used to cry after sharing her story. For some, there can be shame and fear and confusion. Not wanting to be perceived as weak or vulnerable or "hysterical," labels that have long been unfairly attached to women. It's taken female athletes decades to be seen. To be respected as this powerful, talented, brilliant.

There is also fear that people won't fully understand the pain of a brain injury because they can't see its effects on the body. But that doesn't mean they're not there. Or won't be there, down the line.

"I'm a knower. I would rather know than not know," Scurry says.

But she has noticed that others don't want to know. That the unknown is uncomfortable.

"It's a dark pool," Scurry says, "and you don't know where the bottom is." She pledged her brain to inspire visibility. "It's basically myself and my teammates coming out of the dark," she says.

"This is like a little black box, and we're basically saying, 'Hey, here, open the box.'"

---

Several elderly men in wheelchairs wearing "Korean War Veteran" hats await doctor's appointments on the ground floor at the VA Hospital.

McKee, 66, is best known for her landmark 2017 American Medical Association study that found the incidence of CTE to be considerably higher in football players than in the general population—the one in which 110 of 111 players examined had CTE. She studies veterans too.

Today, she's sitting upstairs in one of her offices. It's small, cozy. A microscope hovers above her desk. An old magazine cover of Vince Lombardi is tacked onto one wall. Multicolored Post-its are scattered with reminders about brains, about phone calls, like the one she's scheduled to have in an hour with the mother of a deceased 26-year-old former college football player who had CTE.

McKee has spent the past 12 years making hundreds of calls like this, to women like this.

She opens a cardboard box filled with slides revealing tau, the protein found in high levels in the brains of people who have CTE, forming clumps throughout the organ and killing brain cells. "These are all guys' brains, of course," she says, laying a few flat on the table. A 30-year-old man. A 25-year-old man. Then 27-year-old Aaron Hernandez, the former New England Patriots tight end who took his life while in prison for murder. He had CTE. She puts his slide under the microscope, revealing two darkened lines, each about a half-inch long, indicating a tau deposit: "You can't believe that people aren't taking this seriously."

Take her seriously, too. She's been told her research is garbage. That she is trying to ruin football. Ruin men. Ruin American life. "The NFL treated me like a dizzy dame," she says.

She is hesitant to speak out about the kind of vitriol she faces. She feels physically and psychologically drained from people saying nasty things about her work. "It bleeds your energy," she says.

But she keeps going. She's committed to the work. She's still accustomed to being the only woman at conferences. She remembers one in the '90s, in Moscow, where men asked her if she was a "real" doctor. They also discussed whether women were less intelligent because their brains are smaller.

Few inroads have been made in studying female athletes' long-term brain health since those days. "It's a major unaddressed issue," McKee says. She is eager to study more women, but there's only so much one person can do. As a woman who has spent her life studying men, constantly told stay in your lane, she already occupies a tricky position: "I still feel marginalized as a woman."

"We've had such a hard time pushing the rock up the hill, focusing just on football and traditionally male sports," she says. And as much as she and others, such as Dr. Bennet Omalu, have discovered about CTE, there is still so much unknown about how the disease manifests, even in men. It's extraordinarily complicated. There's still no way to detect CTE in a live person.

And hardly anything is known about how CTE might manifest differently in women. Which again is a problem because, according to Dr. McKee, there's every reason to believe that an accumulation of hits—hits that may not result in immediate, post-concussive symptoms but nonetheless rattle the brain—may have a different and possibly great impact on women. As would differences in injury treatment and management in women's sports.

Biologically, women have thinner, weaker necks, and according to Chris Nowinski, Ph.D., co-founder and CEO of the Concussion Legacy Foundation, that's been found to make them more susceptible to concussions, though there has been almost no research focusing on the effects of heading exclusively in girls and women's soccer. Only one study has been published on the topic, according to the CLF. "We're further with women veterans than we are with women athletes," McKee says.

That's partially because female athletes, in this case soccer players, are just now reaching the ages of 40, 45, 50, the point at which long-term consequences from recurring hits typically would begin to be felt. Women have mostly only been full-time athletes since Title IX in 1972. The U.S. women's national team played its first match in '85. The first FIFA Women's World Cup occurred in '91.

"I wouldn't have expected to see much until now," says Dr. Robert Stern, Professor of Neurology at Boston University School of Medicine and Director of Clinical Research at B.U.'s CTE Center. "And if there is something, I would expect it to be a major growing problem over the next 10 to 20 years."

---

Up until 2016, when the U.S. Soccer Federation banned heading before the age of 10 (and limited heading for children aged 11 to 13 to 30 minutes per week), coaches weren't restricted from having girls (and boys) head the ball as often as they wanted, as young as they wanted. But we know that kids' brains are still developing at that age, and that trauma can impact that development.

Plenty of research has pointed out potential negative consequences of heading. But again, the bulk of that research has not focused on girls and women. A recent study led by Dr. Michael Lipton at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine found that heading can alter cognitive function, but 78 percent of the study's participants were male.

The question is: Do blows to the head affect girls and women differently? And what about in the future?

Akers, a member of the '91 and '99 Women's World Cup championship teams and one of only two women to score five goals in a single World Cup match, aims to spread awareness. She suffers from chronic migraines. "I've headed the ball a million times, so how has this possibly affected me?" Akers says. "What might have happened to my brain?"

"My point is," she adds, "why aren't we talking about this more?"

Part of the reason has to be limited awareness of women's sports as a whole. In 2015, a study found that women's sports receive just 4 percent of all sports media coverage. Concussions and CTE have spread to public consciousness largely because of football and the newspapers, magazine stories, movies and documentaries that bring an abundance of awareness to those issues.

And death.

There are a number of high-profile football players who were found to have CTE: Junior Seau, Aaron Hernandez, Ken Stabler. Women's soccer doesn't have those examples. With less public awareness, most people still likely conflate brain trauma with football, with men's sports.

"It's the same reason why men get paid more than women, or why the U.S. women's national team is asking for equal conditions compared to the men's team," Akers says. "The priority isn't necessarily on how things can affect women. There's an inequality there that's cultural."

There are other reasons for lack of study: Sample size. The slow process of science. Securing funding for any topic is challenging, especially without compelling preliminary data.

There are some signs of progress, though. A nonprofit called Pink Concussions has devoted itself to improving "the pre-injury education and post-injury medical care for women and girls challenged by brain injury including concussion incurred from sport, violence, accidents or military service." And as a result of advocacy from players like Akers, and with funding by the Concussion Legacy Foundation and the National Institute on Aging, there will be a landmark study beginning in October led by Stern and Dr. Jesse Mez called SHINE (Soccer, Head Impacts and Neurological Effects). They'll examine 20 former women's soccer players over age 40 who have played at the game's highest levels and will compare their findings to those of other studies of neurodegenerative diseases involving both women and men.

It's a start, but it's still nowhere near gaining the momentum that is needed.

"You don't get that same sense of urgency," Nowinski says. "People aren't funding studies on long-term effects. They're not investing in it."

---

Emily Oliver didn't yet realize she had suffered a concussion during her high school game. But later that night, when her coach asked her to drop off a ball bag at her car, she found herself aimlessly walking around the parking lot. She had forgotten why she was there and where she needed to go.

The next day, she was diagnosed with the first of four concussions she'd suffer as her career continued. She'd later help Stanford win the 2011 national championship as starting goalkeeper and NCAA College Cup Defensive MVP. But few outside of the Cardinal program knew how hit after hit shattered her sense of stability. Made her question if she'd ever recover.

"You get to a point where you don't even remember what being normal feels like anymore," says Oliver, now 27. 

The worst one came in a game against Santa Clara. A player undercut Oliver while she was jumping up to catch a free kick. She landed on the back of her head. A referee asked her if she felt OK, and she said yes and kept playing.

In the days that followed, she struggled to read, skipping paragraphs. Her eyes failed to track words. She couldn't go outside because it was too bright, so she'd stay in her room with the shades closed. She was depressed and emotionally irritable over the next five months.

"It was demoralizing. I felt hopeless," Oliver says. "Every day you wake up and you're not better. It was like, 'Am I ever going to get better? Is this my life?'"

When she was finally cleared to play, in the fall of her junior year, she was still dealing with heavy mood swings because of the medication she was taking. She battled migraines heading into the Final Four game against North Carolina. Her symptoms worsened that winter break and through the next semester. She started to feel better, though, by the fall and was elected a team captain.

Then three games into the season, against Portland, she was hit again. After the game, the athletic trainer asked her to name the months backward. She missed April twice. "We're diagnosing this as your fourth concussion," the athletic trainer told her. "The medical staff is recommending you go down the road of medical retirement."

Oliver was stunned. Devastated. But proud of the decision she then made to retire. She knew it was right, even if she would miss her senior season and miss out on a professional career. These days, she misses soccer most during August. The start of the season. She misses the urge to compete. She feels jealous of the women who can.

She feels much better than she did back then but doesn't necessarily want to think about possible future impacts of the hits she took.

"I don't know that I want to know what that means for me," she says.

Living through them was hard enough.

---

McKee spends most of her days in B.U.'s brain bank. Her team is about 100 brains behind. There are just that many to examine, and it's a slow, meticulous process. In efforts to work less, McKee says she isn't going to give any more talks. She finds that difficult. On stage, she isn't talking about a brain like some abstract object in a textbook. She's talking about someone's brain.

Someone's life that mattered beyond sports.

Someone's life that still matters to those he is survived by.

There are so many questions, and she doesn't have all the answers. No one really does.

It is difficult for McKee to give answers, in particular, about women, because much of this generation is still alive. It's also true, McKee surmises, that those alive might be hesitant to discuss brain donations or their symptoms in fear of being perceived as weak or vulnerable. "Especially for the military population, women with brain trauma," McKee says. "I think they are even less likely to come forward than a man because they don't want to be marginalized, because we already feel that." B.U.'s bank has yet to declare a woman with CTE.

CTE does exist in women, though, recorded in two instances: One, in 1991, of a 24-year-old woman with autism who banged her head often; the second, in '90, of a 76-year-old woman whose husband had physically abused her for decades.

There have been several men's soccer players who have been diagnosed with CTE, including Jeff Astle, Brazilian star Bellini, Patrick Grange and Curtis Baushke. But of course, there are simply more cases of men's soccer players to study, because of their game's longer history and the greater number of men who have played than women.

And because CTE can only be diagnosed posthumously, it's difficult to learn much about the disease for anyone. One question multiplies into so many more: Why do some people get it and others don't? How does a person's genetic history factor into the equation? What is the effect of other variables that might increase or decrease the resilience to showing manifestations of CTE? If bias in healthcare causes some doctors to take women's pain, and especially the pain of women of color, less seriously, how does that affect the data? Are researchers considering how transgender women and women who don't have XX chromosomes might be affected? Does CTE affect different parts of the brain in men and women?

Research is advancing, however, most notably with an April study in the New England Journal of Medicine. Stern, the lead author, used PET scans in attempting to detect tau buildup, and thus perhaps CTE, in a living person. The researchers tested 26 living former NFL players between the ages of 40 and 69 and found that "tau PET levels were significantly higher in the former NFL players than in the control group, and that the tau was in the same areas of the brain as in post-mortem cases of diagnosed CTE." It was an important step. But the study didn't include one woman.

It's not all about CTE either. There are other long-term problems stemming from repetitive head trauma. We just don't know how exactly that manifests in women yet, and more inclusive research could help. "If repetitive headers and the collisions that are caused by attempting headers are causing CTE or other neurogenerative diseases," Nowinski says, "if we can establish that today, we can save a bunch of women and girls a lot of trouble in the future by changing how we play the sport.

"Until we have these answers, we're still going to have 11-year-olds heading soccer balls."

---

The ball seemed bigger than Esther Lovett's body when she began playing soccer at three. Like a little bumblebee, buzzing up the field, she was energized, focused. She headed the ball many times before age 10—the year of her first concussion. Sometimes she felt a little dazed after a header, but she'd snap right back. That's soccer. That's playing year-round. That's dreaming of the pros.

She is 20 now, heading into her sophomore year of college. She struggles to answer the question How many concussions have you had? because there are ones she knows she's had and ones she doesn't know she's had, and a number doesn't convey what having pounding headaches every single day for the past six years feels like.

She chooses five. Five diagnosed concussions. "Definitely more than that," Lovett admits. The worst one came at age 13, back in April 2013. A girl took a shot on goal and hit her in the back of her head. Few noticed it happened because it was not a particularly obvious, gruesome hit. Her coaches didn't take her out. She really thought she was good. "I played the rest of the game," she says, "even though I could barely see. I didn't really know which side of the field I was on."

A horrible, nauseating headache throbbed the next day. She couldn't read the whiteboard at school a few days later. Pain continued for weeks, months. "It was terrifying," says Barbara Piette, her mother. Lovett can only wonder if she is still suffering because of years of hits that came before, like the time in middle school she was on defense, marking the goal post for a corner kick. A girl on offense ripped a shot on goal that hit her straight in the face. Her head smacked back against the post. Her nose was bleeding, and her coaches checked to see if it was broken. No one thought to also check for a concussion.

There are times she is frustrated, thinking about that moment, but she didn't have control. She was a child who just wanted to play the game she loved. A child who did not have the medical knowledge or wherewithal in the moment of trauma to understand what was happening. Because that medical knowledge didn't exist then and, in some ways, still doesn't now.

"It's a lot for a kid," she says. "The onus sort of falls on you to self-diagnose: Come out if you think you have a concussion. What does that mean?"

Her doctor told her she'd have to stop playing after the 2013 concussion. She did stop playing but was more susceptible to additional concussions and suffered three more that were diagnosed after that, non-sports concussions, including one in 2015 that led her to take a medical leave and defer junior year.

Leaving soccer was painful. Lonely. Especially when the ball had almost been a best friend. But she has morphed into an advocate, sharing her story so she can help other girls.

She stayed up all night before her 18th birthday to pledge her brain right after the clock struck midnight. She sent in the form at 12:01. She is the youngest person to ever pledge to the CLF.

Lovett still suffers daily headaches. Migraines occasionally. Some dizziness still, some nausea. "There are so many people silently suffering with this and soldiering on and thinking, as I did, that there isn't anybody else going through this," Lovett says. "You think something's crazy about your case. About you."

---

When B/R reached out to FIFA for comment about concussions and repetitive subconcussive hits in soccer, a FIFA spokesperson said protecting the health of players is a "top priority" and that it takes these issues "very seriously" but that: "To our very best knowledge, there is currently no true evidence of the negative effect of heading or other subconcussive blows. Results from studies on active and former professional football players in relation to brain function are inconclusive."

However, the idea that repetitive subconcussive injury can have neurological consequences is widely accepted by the medical community at large, as well as the Centers for Disease Control.

"This is a corporate response to a problem that they may be responsible for," Nowinski says, referring to FIFA's comments. "It's not that different from the NFL's original response to research on long-term effects, or the smoking industry's original response to research on the long-term effects of smoking."

The SHINE study will involve neurological examinations, motor examinations, cognitive assessments, MRI scans of the brain, blood tests, lumbar punctures and more. "If girls are more prone to concussion," Stern says, "they also may be more prone to subconcussive injuries that are so much more common and are associated with heading—that may possibly be a critical factor for later-life disease."

The hope is that with increased knowledge will come increased awareness and, in turn, increased attention paid to what can be done to make the game safe as it continues to grow in popularity.

"The imperative," Stern says, "is that we must study it.

"We don't want to wait until it's too late."

                 

Mirin Fader is a staff writer for B/R Mag. She's written for the Orange County Register, espnW.com, SI.com and Slam. Her work has been honored by the Associated Press Sports Editors, the U.S. Basketball Writers Association, the Football Writers Association of America and the Los Angeles Press Club. Follow her on Twitter: @MirinFader.

The United States' 2019 Victory Tour will continue with another friendly against Portugal on Tuesday, just days after the two sides clashed in Philadelphia.

The Stars and Stripes cruised to a 4-0 win in the first meeting and will once again be heavy favourites when they face off in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Kick-off is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET, and ESPN 2 will broadcast the match.

Here are the highlights from the first match between the two:

Guess what? You’ve made it through the week! So now go ahead and enjoy these highlights. You deserve it. 👏 pic.twitter.com/R4oTSvS0lW

— U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (@USWNT) August 30, 2019

Portugal were never expected to put up much resistance in these two friendlies, as they're relative minnows of women's football, especially compared to the USA. The Americans were sporting a 14-match win streak going into the first game and have lost just once this calendar year.

Portugal have never qualified for a World Cup or European championship.

The low level of opposition didn't stop the fans from turning out in force, however, per sports writer Seth Vertelney:

49,504 is the attendance at Lincoln Financial Field, a new USWNT record for a stand-alone friendly pic.twitter.com/uaTIBJmppD

— Seth Vertelney (@svertelney) August 30, 2019

In all likelihood, fans in Minnesota can expect more of the same on Tuesday, with the Stars and Stripes pushing for goals and Portugal hoping to limit the damage.

Defending crosses was their biggest issue in the first friendly, and that could once again be a problem. The likes of Christen Press and Tobin Heath are experts at finding space in behind their marker before squaring the ball, and Portugal lack the raw athleticism to keep up with the world champion forwards.

Their best chance of scoring might be from set pieces, where the American team didn't always look comfortable during the World Cup and somewhat struggled again on Thursday. But scoring even a single goal would be quite the accomplishment; the Stars and Stripes haven't conceded in their last three matches.

Prediction: USA 5-0 Portugal

Carli Lloyd is a two-time World Cup winner and one of the greatest players in the history of women's soccer, so it was no surprise that she booted through a few field goals when she attended a Philadelphia Eagles practice.

But when she made a 55-yarder, people took notice, and the moment went viral. 

.@CarliLloyd from distance. 🚀

Love to see it. pic.twitter.com/FW8iZlzGCG

— U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (@USWNT) August 20, 2019

Lloyd told Peter King of Pro Football Talk that she was surprised by the reaction but felt it could be an important moment for women in sports:

"The texts, the videos, everything going viral. I had no idea. It was insane. It still is insane. I could not believe the attention on social media. I just had a conversation with Randy [Brown], actually. The coaches and his GM, they all saw the video. They were like, 'What is she doing next week?' I'm laughing about it, but the more I think about it, this has the chance to be sort of a pioneering moment for women."

Lloyd told King she believes she could make an NFL team as a kicker if she ever decided to go for it.

"I know that I could actually probably do it" she said. "Put on the helmet, strap on the pads, go for it. The mindset I have, I think with practice, I know I have to work on my steps and my technique, but I think I could do it and do it well. It could be a huge pivotal moment. There is no reason why a woman could not do this."

She continued:

"It’s worth having some conversations about it. With practice and someone showing me, I know I can do it. I have one of the most accurate shots in our game. Big thing would be getting used to the big boys out there. But nothing scares me. You hold yourself back if you’re afraid. What’s the worst that can happen? I don’t make the team? Let’s just say I did try. Maybe I change the landscape a lot."

She also believes a woman making an NFL team would be an inspiration to young female athletes.

"Oh, that would be massive. Pretty massive," she said. "If I was a little girl watching and I saw an NFL kicker that was a female, that would be cool."

A number of women are attempting to make their mark in football. Becca Longa, a kicker from Adams State, received a partial scholarship with the program, becoming one of the first women to be under scholarship for football.

Toni Harris, a safety, became the first position player to sign a national letter of intent in February:

Here 👏 for 👏 this 👏 pic.twitter.com/Aez92GvHOG

— espnW (@espnW) February 27, 2019

And a number of NFL teams have women as assistant coaches. Maral Javadifar (assistant strength and conditioning coach) and Lori Locust (assistant defensive line coach) were both hired by Bruce Arians for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Ten women either served as coaches or coaching interns during the 2018 season.

For the entirety of its history, the NFL has been a boys club. But that is a trend that is slowly starting to change, and Lloyd nailing 55-yard field goals with ease is another reminder of the shifting tides.

Kate Markgraf will reportedly be named as the United States women's national team's first-ever general manager.

Doug McIntyre of Yahoo Sports reported multiple sources have signalled the imminent appointment of the former USA defender, who won two Olympic gold medals and the FIFA World Cup during her playing career.

According to Sports Illustrated's Jenna West, Markgraf will play a role in appointing the U.S.' next head coach after the departure of Jill Ellis.

Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated tweeted he believes Utah Royals FC coach Laura Harvey is the front-runner to succeed Ellis, but Markgraf will consider all candidates.

Markgraf has recently worked in broadcasting, providing commentary and punditry for ESPN. The 42-year-old made 201 appearances for her country from 1998 to 2010, and she has remained a respected voice in her field.

The Michigan-born former player recently described the current U.S. side as the best collection of players to ever wear the country's shirt.

The USWNT swept to victory at the 2018 FIFA Women's World Cup in France, winning their fourth world championship. Ellis' team defeated the Netherlands 2-0 in the final in Lyon on July 7.

Ain't no party like a World Cup party 'cause a World Cup party don't stop.

The U.S. Women's National Team announced Wednesday that their Victory Tour will snake through Philadelphia and St. Paul, Minnesota, on Aug. 29 and Sept. 3 respectively for two matches against Portugal. 

The Victory Tour will begin at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California—where the U.S. won its second Women's World Cup—against the Republic of Ireland on Aug. 3.

Locations and opponents for the remaining Oct. 3 and Oct. 6 dates have yet to be revealed. 

The U.S. claimed back-to-back World Cups, and the program's fourth overall, by defeating the Netherlands 2-0 in France on July 7. 

U.S. women's national team midfielder Allie Long had her wedding ring, honorary key to New York City and money stolen from her Los Angeles hotel room.

"After the ESPYS show someone stole my wedding ring, cash and the key to my favorite city after just receiving it from my hotel room," Long tweeted Thursday night. "Do you make copies @NYCMayor? I would love a new one."

According to TMZ Sports, Long's room was burglarized Thursday afternoon. "Sources tell us there were no signs of forced entry," the outlet added, "and police believe the door may have been left ajar."

The soccer team had been in L.A. for the 2019 ESPY Awards Wednesday night to cap off what has been a whirlwind celebration since winning a second consecutive FIFA Women's World Cup.

Long and her teammates were awarded keys to the city during a ticker-tape parade Wednesday morning through Manhattan's Canyon of Heroes. 

Long is a native of Northport, Long Island, New York, and has been married to Jose Batista since Oct. 2016. 

The 31-year-old has 45 international caps for the U.S. since debuting for the team in 2014. 

According to TMZ Sports, the Los Angeles Police Department is investigating the theft on site. 

Rapper Snoop Dogg has called for the U.S. women's national team to be paid as much as their male counterparts following their success at the FIFA Women's World Cup.

The United States beat the Netherlands 2-0 in Sunday's final, making it back-to-back world titles and four overall in their history.

On his Instagram account (h/t Josh Thomas of Goal), Snoop Dogg compared the fortunes of the women's side to the men's, who were beaten 1-0 by Mexico in the CONCACAF Gold Cup on Sunday, and said Jill Ellis' squad deserve more compensation for their success:

"What I want to talk about is that they [USWNT] only get $90,000 per player, but the men, if they win it, they get $500,000 per player.

"The sorry ass f--king men from the US men's soccer team may never win s--t, ain't ever win s--t, can't even get out the f--king first round. Man, pay them ladies, man. Pay the girls what they're worth.

"The women should be getting $500,000 per athlete. Snoop Dogg says so. Them girls have won four World Cups and only $90,000—man please."

The subject of equal pay has been prominent for some time, and before the World Cup quarter-final with France, U.S. sportswriter Grant Wahl waded into the debate.

The secondary ticket market for #USA-#FRA is exploding. Women's World Cup TV audiences around the world are setting unexpected records. USWNT revenues exceeded USMNT's for 3 years. The message is clear for FIFA and national federations:

Pay. The. Women.pic.twitter.com/MrpQ6h1pWE

— Subscribe to GrantWahl.com (@GrantWahl) June 26, 2019

The topic of payment in the women's game has been discussed throughout the World Cup. FIFA President Gianni Infantino recently said he wants to expand the number of teams and double the prize money on offer for winning the Women's World Cup to $60 million (£49 million).

Per Rob Harris of the Associated Press, even that amount would not put the purse for the tournament close to that of the men's game for the upcoming 2022 World Cup in Qatar:

Infantino says will double Women's World Cup prize money for 2023 tournament - so jump from $30m to $60m (but also talking about expanding from 24 to 32 teams)
2022 men's 32-team World Cup prize money $440m

— Rob Harris (@RobHarris) July 5, 2019

Megan Rapinoe, who starred for the United States with six goals at the World Cup in France, said strides need to be made.

"Everyone is kind of asking what's next and what we want to come of all of this," she said, per ESPN FC's Graham Hays. "It's to stop having the conversation about equal pay and are we worth it and should we and the investment piece. What are we going to do about it?"

After the United States' success, fans in the stadium in Lyon, France, made their feelings on the matter known:

Fans in the stadium chanted "equal pay" after the USWNT's win yesterday

(via @minapark) pic.twitter.com/0kfT0vK9Lo

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) July 8, 2019

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren said she thinks the team deserves equal pay regardless of their accomplishments:

They bring home the ratings, the revenue, and the wins. But even if they didn’t, the players of the @USWNT deserve equal pay. https://t.co/HhX0VDk0Qa

— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) July 8, 2019

Per Meg Kelly of the Washington Post, in March the USWNT sued the United States Soccer Federation, saying they received less pay and less support than the men's team despite the greater success they've enjoyed.

The USMNT failed to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in France and were unable to defend their Gold Cup title, as they lost 1-0 to Mexico in Sunday's final.