Christie Rampone

Christie Rampone

Personal information
Full name	Christie Patricia Rampone
Date of birth	24 June 1975 (1975-06-24)
Place of birth	Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States
Height	5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)
Playing position	Defender
Club information
Current club	magicJack
Number	3
Youth career
1993–1996	Monmouth Hawks
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1997	Central Jersey Splash
1998	New Jersey Lady Stallions
2001–2003	New York Power	55	(0)
2009–2010	Sky Blue FC	30	(0)
2011	magicJack	11	(0)
National team‡
1997–	United States	250	(4)
Teams managed
2009	Sky Blue FC (caretaker player/manager)
Honours Competitor for United States Women's Football (soccer) Silver Sydney 2000 Team Competition Gold Athens 2004 Team Competition Gold Beijing 2008 Team Competition
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 03:23, 22 October 2009 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of February 18, 2012

Christie Patricia Rampone (née Pearce born 24 June 1975) is an American soccer defender currently playing for magicJack of Women's Professional Soccer. She is a member and current Captain of the United States women's national soccer team.

Early years

High school

Born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Christie Rampone grew up in Point Pleasant, New Jersey. During her high school years, she was a four-sport athlete in soccer, basketball, track, and field hockey. While attending Point Pleasant Boro High School, she scored 2,190 career high school basketball points, and was the first female athlete in New Jersey history to lead her conference in scoring in three different sports. This accomplishment led her to all-state honors in all three sports. Rampone was heralded as the best athlete Ocean County, New Jersey had ever produced.^{[citation needed]}

University

Rampone attended Monmouth University, located in West Long Branch, New Jersey, after being highly recruited by nearly every major college in the country.^{[citation needed]} At Monmouth, she excelled as a three-sport athlete in soccer, basketball, and lacrosse. During her senior year, she opted to ease away from her starting point guard basketball position to train and travel with the United States women's national soccer team. On the Monmouth soccer field, Rampone was a two-time Northeast Conference Player of the Year selection and First Team All Mid-Atlantic Region selection, posting ten multiple-goal games in her senior year. She finished her collegiate soccer career with a start in all 80 games, led her team with 79 career goals and 54 assists, and was Monmouth's record holder for goals, assists, and points in a season.

When not on the field, Rampone studied towards a degree in Special Education, which she completed in 1996. She also worked as a volunteer basketball and soccer coach when completing her student teaching with Monmouth. As a tribute to her achievements and for the worldwide fame she brought to her alma mater, the university awarded her with an honorary degree in Public Service in 2005. Furthermore, the university inducted her into the Monmouth University Hall of Fame in 2007 and honored her 2008 Olympic accomplishments by declaring 5 October 2008 as Christie Rampone Day.

Club career

After college, Rampone played for Central Jersey Splash and New Jersey Lady Stallions, in 1997 and 1998 respectively, of the W-League.

In 2001, she was selected as a member of New York Power, a professional soccer team in Women's United Soccer Association. In the first year, Christie played every minute of the first 18 games until tearing her anterior cruciate ligament, sidelining her for the rest of the season. In 2002, Christie bounced back to play in 1699 minutes over 19 games, and another 18 games in 2003 in addition to her national team duties. Shortly after concluding its third season, the WUSA suspended all operations. In anticipation of an eventual relaunch, WUSA preserved its rights in the team names, logos and similar properties.

The next attempt at women's professional soccer in the United States kicked off in 2008 under the name of Women's Professional Soccer. On 16 September 2008, the initial WPS player allocation was conducted and Rampone was chosen as captain for New Jersey's Sky Blue FC with fellow US Women's National Team players Heather O'Reilly and Natasha Kai.

In its inaugural season, Rampone and Sky Blue FC struggled, including the suspension of their first head coach Ian Sawyers and the resignation of his successor, Kelly Lindsey. In July 2009, the Sky Blue organization announced that Rampone would serve as the caretaker coach, in addition to her playing duties, for the remainder of the WPS season. After taking on the position as head coach, the third in one season for Sky Blue FC, Rampone took her team on to win the 2009 Women's Professional Soccer Playoffs. It was later revealed she was almost three months pregnant with her second child at the time of the match. One week later, Rampone was named WPS Sportswoman of the Year.

She remained with Sky Blue in a playing role for 2010 before switching to magicJack ahead of the 2011 Women's Professional Soccer season.

International career

Rambone (in yellow) vies for the ball with U.S. teammate Amy LePeilbet during practice June 30, 2011, in Heidelberg, Germany.

Christie Rampone has represented the United States at the 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup finals, and at the 2000, 2004, and 2008 Summer Olympics.

After training with the United States women's national soccer team during her senior year at Monmouth, Rampone switched to playing as a defender. Rampone's first game was 28 February 1997 versus Australia. She tallied her first national team goal on 2 May 1997, in a match versus South Korea. Rampone started 16/18 games in her first season and finished with two goals and three assists. The following year, Rampone 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.

Rampone 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, Rampone tore her anterior cruciate ligament and missed a majority of the limited national team season. Rampone 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 next Summer Olympics, she helped the United States win gold after defeating Brazil in what would be the final Olympic Games for a few of her teammates, including Mia Hamm. It was in this same year that Rampone would become the fifth most capped defender in United States history.

Rampone 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 Rampone'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, Rampone 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, Rampone became the most capped active player in the world, and fourth on the all-time cap list with 250, behind Lilly, Hamm, and Julie Foudy.

Personal life

Rampone married Chris Rampone on 9 November 2001 in Jersey City, New Jersey. They currently have two daughters, Rylie Cate, born on September 29, 2005, and Reece Elizabeth, born on March 6, 2010.

In July 2011, Rampone revealed she had Lyme disease.

External links

• Christie Rampone – FIFA competition record
• Official Site
• US Soccer player profile
• Sky Blue FC player profile
• WUSA player profile
• Sports agency player profile

Preceded by Kristine Lilly

WNT captain 2008–Present

Succeeded by -