A native of Point Pleasant, N.J., Christie Pearce Rampone attended Monmouth University on a basketball scholarship while also playing soccer, tallying 79 goals in 80 career games as a forward during her college career. She received her first call-up to the U.S. Women’s National Team in 1997 and started in just the second match she played for her country. For the next 19 years, she was rarely out of the starting lineup and made 272 starts over 311 appearances. She played a total of 24,011 minutes, which is second-best in U.S. Soccer history. Her 311 caps are second-most in the history of international soccer, men or women.

During her tenure with the U.S. WNT, Pearce captained the USA on 113 occasions. She is the U.S. WNT’s only four-time Olympian, earning three Gold Medals and also a Silver Medal in 2000. She also finishes as a two-time FIFA Women’s World Cup champion, winning in 1999 and 2015.

Pearce, who began her professional club career in 2001, has competed in all three iterations of professional women’s soccer in the USA. She played for the New York Power in the Women’s United Soccer Association from 2001-03, played for Sky Blue FC and magicJack SC in Women’s Professional Soccer, and she then captained her home state club Sky Blue FC in the National Women’s Soccer League for five seasons.

During the 2009 inaugural season of Women’s Professional Soccer, Pearce took over as Sky Blue FC player/head coach for the final stretch of the season, leading the team to an improbable run to the WPS Championship.