Never has a national team gotten more out of a player as the U.S. has from Kristine Lilly, whose all-around talent is unmatched in women’s soccer.
During her senior year at the University of North Carolina, Kristine Lilly was a scheduled speaker at a Tar Heel alumni event. Her speech preceded legendary UNC basketball coach Dean Smith’s keynote address.
So nervous was Lilly, she fainted while on the podium, and Smith caught her.
“To this day Dean always asks me about her and asks how she’s doing,” UNC women’s soccer coach Anson Dorrance said. “He was very touched by this incredible athlete and wonderfully humble young woman.”
When Smith made the catch, Lilly had already won four NCAA titles and one World Cup. She has since played in a world record 183 national team games and has scored 76 goals. Stage fright obviously never followed her to the soccer field.
And Smith will be delighted to hear that she’s even mastered public speaking. Last winter she spoke at the presentation of the Missouri Athletic Club award, which went to U.S. teammate Cindy Parlow.
“And she gave an outstanding speech,” Dorrance said.
“Kristine was shy as a child, and she still is,” her mother, Terri, said. “She’s a little more verbal with the press now. But Kristine never was one to stand out alone. She never wanted to take full credit for anything. She always played team sports.”
Kristine Lilly was born in New York City in 1971 and was raised nearby in Wilton, Conn., a town of 15,000 where she followed her older brother, Scott, to the sports fields. By age 6, she played soccer and T-ball in the Wilton Park and Rec program.
Lilly’s parents were delighted. They encouraged their children to play sports, even soccer, though it was new to them both.
“Her father and I both grew up as young kids in New York City,” Terri Lilly said. “We played stickball and basketball. And I was a cheerleader. We didn’t know about soccer back then.”
Besides soccer, Kristine Lilly was particularly fond of baseball and she remains a huge New York Yankees fan.
Back in Wilton, she played second base, and was the first girl named to Wilton’s all-star baseball team. Otherwise, she handled every position on her soccer team, the Wilton Wonders.
She was the Wonders’ only female player, and when the team traveled to a tournament in Canada, officials would not permit the Wonders to take the field with Lilly. This was an all-boys tournament, they said.
The Wonders opted to sit out the tournament rather than not play Lilly.
“Her teammates considered her as their own sister,” said her club coach, Mose Hazo. “She didn’t look at herself as a girl or boy. Just one of the team.
“I remember one tournament in Wallingford, Conn. There were no rest rooms. All the boys started running for the woods. Kristine ran right in the middle of all the boys, and I had to scream for her to come back. All the parents laughed.”
‘Incredibly balanced’
Now when Lilly returns to Wilton, she is greeted by a sign that reads: “Welcome to Wilton ù Hometown of Kristine Lilly.”
After Lilly helped the United States win the 1996 Olympic gold medal, Wilton held a parade for her and dedicated a day to her.
She had left her hometown in 1989 to attend UNC during the era when Dorrance also coached the national team. He first saw her play as a 15-year-old, was immediately struck by her versatility, and invited her to join the national team two years later. She debuted in the same 1987 game as Mia Hamm and Joy Fawcett.
That Lilly didn’t leave behind her other interests as her soccer career blossomed ù she used to take ballroom dance, piano and trumpet lessons, and excelled in softball ù impressed Dorrance.
“When we brought her on, she could take it or leave it,” Dorrance said. “She would miss national team tours to play for her softball team in Wilton. I was amazed at how incredibly balanced this kid was.”
Current U.S. coach Tony DiCicco, a Connecticut resident, saw Lilly play for the first time during an all-star match when she was in high school, before he joined the U.S. coaching staff.
“She was just quicker, faster, smarter than anyone else on the field,” DiCicco said. “It’s like everyone else was playing a different game than Kristine was. I don’t even know if I knew if there was a national team at the time, but I knew that Kristine was in a class all her own.
“I remember the impression I had about her, ‘This girl is about business,’ The girls are all serious about the game, but there’s a big social side to it. Kristine was with a bunch of the girls, and you could see there was more on her agenda than just the social side of it or playing this one game.”
Always there for USA
Lilly has played in 90 percent of all the U.S. national team’s games since its inception in 1985.
She has started in 178 of her 183 U.S. appearances, and played the full 90 minutes in 150 games.
During the 1991 World Cup win, left-footed Lilly played on the left side of midfield. She spent much of 1998 on the front line. In this Women’s World Cup opener against Denmark, she started in the central midfield and moved to forward in the second half, when the United States found its stride and dismantled the Danes after a tentative first half.
Not only did Lilly notch her first goal of the tournament against Denmark, she underscored her value to the team at different positions.
“Helping out all over the field is, in general, what kind of person I am,” Lilly said. “That makes me versatile and I think that is a positive aspect, especially for young kids who only want to play forward or only defense. You never know what position you’ll be at or try that can be your strength.”
She started in midfield against Nigeria, scored and notched an assist. Against North Korea, she was the steadiest player in a rocky U.S. victory.
“I just like being on the same field with her,” Mia Hamm said, “because she motivates us all with how hard she works. The way she plays, that fire and that work ethic, is the kind of person she is off the field.”
Lilly’s value to the team ù and claims by some that she is the world’s best all-around player ù can be demonstrated by tracking her performances in the United States’ major-tournament appearances. She played exceptionally in both previous World Cups and the 1996 Olympics, contributing equally on defense and attack.
“You’re hard pressed to see any weaknesses at all,” Dorrance said. “She’s relentless. She just never stops.
“Also she’s so psychologically tough, she doesn’t have a bad day. If Kristine is ever struggling at all, she just fights harder. She sublimates adversity like no one I’ve ever seen and converts it to adrenaline.”
by Soccer America Associate Editor Dean Caparaz