These Are The Boston Breakers: Kristine Lilly

Each day, Todd Civin will present a different member of the Boston Breakers Soccer Team as part of his "These are The Boston Breakers" series.

Kristine Lilly is unarguably the most well known and the most "highly decorated" of the Boston Breakers, the Beantown entry in the new Women's Professional Soccer League (WPS).

The spunky midfielder is practically playing in her own back yard as she hails from tiny Wilton, CT. Lilly played her college soccer as a Lady Tar Heel at University of North Carolina.

She is considered to be the USA's "Iron Women" when she became the first player in US Soccer history to play in 200 international matches. She remains the all time appearance leader and captain of the U.S. Women's National Team.

In 2006, Lilly became the first player to hit 300 caps, when she did so against Norway at the Four Nations Tournament in China.

She is currently the 2nd all time leading scorer in the world and the all-time leader in minutes played.

Entering 2007, she had played in 85% of the games the U.S. women have ever played and has started in 327 of her 340 games during her 20 year career. Lilly has played almost 27,000 minutes in her national team career or over 450 hours.

Her 98 career assists are second only to Mia Hamm.

She was forced to miss the 2008 Olympics to have her first child, daughter Sidney Marie.

Lilly played in all but seven minutes of the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup in China, starting every match. She assisted on two goals during group play and tallied a goal and an assist against England in a 3-0 quarter final victory. Kristine tallied the 100th assist of her career against Finland on Aug. 25, 2007.

Back in 2006, she finished second in the voting for FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year, while starting 19 of her 20 matches and scoring 13 career goals, her second-best ever total. She was named the U.S. Soccer Female Athlete of the Year for the second year in a row and third time in her career, as well.

The scoring machine led the team to the Four Nations Championship in China, scoring three goals and earning her 300th career cap against Norway and started all four games at the Algarve Cup.

Additional career highlights occurred at the Peace Queen Cup in South Korea, where she scored three goals to take tournament MVP honors, and at theCONCACAF Women’s Gold Cup, where she scored the wining goal on a last minute penalty kick in overtime to defeat Canada for the regional title.

In 2005, Lilly was voted as U.S. Soccer Female Athlete of the Year, her second such honor, also winning in 1993.

Other International highlights include:

• Became the fifth player in world history to score 100 international goals when she tallied against New Zealand on Oct. 3, 2004 in Portland, Oregon.
  
• Scored three goals at the 2004 Olympics each  one crucial in one-goal wins against Australia, Japan and Germany.
  
• Assisted on goal by Abby Wambach in the Olympic gold medal game
• Scored three goals with three assists, including two spectacular goals in the 2003 Women’s World Cup.
• Scored six goals with five assists in 2000 Olympics.
• Had her best scoring year ever in 1999 with 20 goals and eight assists (second on the team) while becoming just the fourth player in history to score 20 goals in a year.
  
• Was a member of the gold medal-winning team at the 1998 Goodwill Games.
  
• Was a member of the gold medal-winning team at the 1996 Olympics.
  
• Named U.S. Soccer's 1993 Chevy Female Athlete of the Year. As a 20 year-old, she was a member of the team that won the title at the first everFIFA Women's World Cup in China in 1991.

Lilly played on the "original" Boston Breakers of the now defunct, WUSA and served as team captain. In 2003, she started all 19 games in which she played, scoring three goals with four assists and was named First-Team All-WUSA for the third consecutive year. She was the only player so honored in the history of the league.

The hard nosed mid fielder helped the Breakers to the playoffs for the first time, while leading the league in fouls suffered with 54. She was voted as a starter to theWUSA All-Star Team in 2003.

Back in 2002, Lilly started all 19 matches that she played for the Breakers, scoring eight goals with 13 assists, while finishing tied for fourth in the WUSA in scoring and tied for second in assists. She was again named First-Team All-WUSA.

The previous year, s he played every minute in all 21 matches for the Breakers, scoring three goals and led the WUSA with 11 assists. She was second in the league in shots with 76 and again was named to the All-WUSA First Team.

Additional career honors and highlights include:

• Named to Soccer America’s College Team of the Decade for the 1990s.
  
• Won the 1991 Missouri Athletic Club Player of the Year Award.
  
• As a senior, she was UNC's Athlete of the Year.
  
• A four time First Team NSCAA All-American and four time First Team All-ACC and All-South selection (1989-1992).
  
• Had her UNC jersey number 15 retired in 1994.
  
• Twice named the Offensive MVP of the NCAA Championship (’89, ’90), she helped lead the UNC to four NCAA titles from 1989 1992.
  
• Completed her collegiate career with 78 goals and 41 assists.
  
• 1991 Finalist for the Broderick Award as the outstanding female athlete in all of college sports.
• Second leading scorer in the nation in 1991, behind teammate Mia Hamm with 15 goals and four assists.

Lilly's personal time is spent with her husband, David Heavey, who is a firefighter in Brookline, MA. and with her daughter, Sidney Marie. The two met while attending college at UNC.

After winning the gold medal in 1996, her hometown of Wilton, Conn., created a day in her to her and honored her with a parade. When she returned to her home state play for the USA on July 14 of 2007, the governor of Connecticut proclaimed it “Kristine Lilly Day”. Road signs entering her town read, "Welcome to Wilton — Hometown of Kristine Lilly, Olympic gold medalist".

After winning the gold at the 2004 Olympics, Wilton named a street in her - Kristine Lilly Way.

She also runs the Kristine Lilly Soccer Academy every summer in Wilton and Nantucket and hopes to expand throughout New England. The Wilton High School soccer field was named after her following the 1999 Women's World Cup victory.

Lilly says she has "the cutest golden retriever in the world" named Scribner. Scribner was the the street on which she grew up in Wilton.

An avid runner she has run several road races, including a half-marathon in Atlanta in 2000

In December of 2004, she climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, the tallest peak in Africa, with her good friend Jodi and her husband Steven, but came up short of reaching the 19,340-foot summit by about 1,000 feet. She called her ascent “one of the most amazing experiences of my life”.

As if she isn't busy enough she is also a self proclaimed "super-aunt" of her brother Scott’s three kids and has teamed up with Special Olympics of Connecticut to host an annual fundraiser dinner called the Lilly Awards. The Lilly Awards are designed to recognize extraordinary women in the state of Connecticut and to raise money for Special Olympics. She is also on the on the board of a nonprofit organization called Clifford's Gift that helps raise money for the homeless.

More info on the Breakers midfielder can be found at www.kristinelilly13.com.

The Breakers next game is Saturday, April 18 at 7:00 PM in Germantown, MD against the Washington Freedom. Their next home game will take place on May 2nd at 7:00 against the Los Angeles Sol. All home games are played at historic Harvard Stadium. Tickets are available on line. For groups over 20 please call 1-781-251-2100. 

The previous story is excerpted courtesy of USSoccer.com and can be found on the Boston Breakers web site at www.bostonbreakers.com