Remembering Lloyd’s hat trick and the progress since

How time has flown by. Wednesday marked eight years since Carli Lloyd scored a hat trick in 16 minutes against Japan to catapult the United States women’s national team to its first World Cup trophy since the legendary 1999 team.

With the 2023 World Cup just a few weeks away, it’s been quite the journey for both me and the USWNT.

It’s no surprise to anyone now that soccer is my favorite sport, but it wasn’t always that way.

Growing up playing baseball and being an avid fan of the St. Louis Cardinals, America’s favorite pastime held the No. 1 spot in my heart for a lengthy period of time.

I never played organized American football, but being a Chiefs fan and Razorback fan growing up (I’ve since sworn off the Razorbacks after graduating from Arkansas State), I also loved watching quarterbacks like Trent Green and Ryan Mallett on the gridiron.

I’m happy to say watching the Chiefs is a much more enjoyable experience now. I wish I could say the same for Arkansas State football.

My true love for soccer started sometime around the early 2010s and painfully, one of my earliest soccer memories came when

Japan and the USWNT met in the 2011 World

Cup final.

A shock penalty shootout win for the Japanese left my friend and I stunned in silence watching on the living room TV. Soccer illustrated to us for the first time just how cruel the beautiful game could be.

Since then, the USWNT made major strides again and again for a decade with both sporting success and battles off the field.

Lloyd became a national hero on that day in 2015, and although her comments about her playing time at the 2019 World Cup and some snarky remarks here and there about the USWNT have soured my view of her, there’s no doubt capping a World Cup final hat trick with a goal from midfield is one of the greatest pieces of American sports lore.

While trials and tribulations for equal pay and campaigns for support for women’s soccer have roared off the pitch, the USWNT also put together a spectacular run of power, precision and skill to win the 2019 World Cup.

Knockout games against Spain, France and England to advance to the final were no joke, and the matches were played at the absolute highest level.

Alex Morgan sipped her tea against the English in one of the best celebrations of all time, and American soccer shined on the biggest of stages that made me proud to wear the red, white and blue.

Not quite having the effect on the game she once did, Megan Rapinoe found a way to stand out in the 2019 tournament, putting a bow on the occasion with a penalty against the Netherlands in the final, and Rose Lavelle sealing the deal with a silky left-footed finish from just inside the box.

All along the way from that first heartbreak in 2011, I cheered with fervor for our ladies wrapped in our national colors, and slowly I realized not everyone saw women’s sports the way I did.

For some reason there was an urge to compare women’s athletics to men’s, and debates in person and social media raged on about which was better and why one deserved more than the other.

I didn’t originally set out to campaign for women’s sports. Watching the women’s national team was just something I did to support my country. When watching the 2011 World Cup, I wasn’t thinking about how it was women on the pitch, but just that it was the United States aiming to be the best in the world.

A well-known Arsenal Football Club columnist and reporter once described that when he was growing up his mom offered to take him to an Arsenal women’s game because it was more Arsenal and it was more soccer. He just saw it as another opportunity to support his club and an opportunity to watch more of the best sport in the world, not to start some debate or movement.

My time at Arkansas State elevated my relationship with the women’s game to new levels. There I saw firsthand on a daily basis how high-level athletes trained, competed, celebrated wins and cried away losses while I supported and covered the A-State women’s soccer team.

When I first approached the A-State Soccer Complex, it wasn’t to make a statement on how important women’s soccer was to the sports landscape on campus.

I eventually reached that point, but my presence stemmed from the want to support the Red Wolves playing the beautiful game.

While I will no doubt mention somewhere along the way when the world’s best women take to the field in Australia and New Zealand this summer about how much this tournament means for the women’s game and women’s athletics, I would also like to simply come together with my fellow Americans and cheer on our nation to glory on the biggest stage once again. A 3-peat isn’t so easy.