South Jersey native Carli Lloyd thought she was staying in her home state when the new National Women’s Soccer League decided to start. She thought she would be assigned to Sky Blue FC, but that was not the case.
Lloyd was allocated to the Western New York Flash. This will be her first time playing for a team based in New York.
She joined fellow United States women’s soccer teammate Abby Wambach in New York. In addition, this will be Lloyd’s first pro season since the last Women’s Professional Soccer League.
Yet, while she may have taken a year off from pro soccer, she didn’t take the year off completely. She was a big factor in the 2012 London Olympics.
She had two goals in the group stage of the tournament. Then, in the gold medal game, she scored both goals, as the US team was able to beat Japan, 2-1, in Wimbley Stadium.
With the game-winning goal in this game, she became the only woman in the history of soccer to score game-winning goals in two separate gold medal matches. Her other game-winning goal came against Brazil in the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
She had four goals in the London Olympic games. Those four goals were the second-highest on the team.
She last played for a pro team in 2011, when she played for the Atlanta Beat. That season, she played in 10 games, and scored two goals.
She played in 5 games with Sky Blue FC in 2010, but did not score a goal. In 2009, she was with the Chicago Red Stars for 16 games, and scored two goals.
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