Defending is mostly about focus.

If they don't score, we can't lose.

The past doesn't matter. Take today.

We joke that St. Louis people love their own.

It's always been a dream of mine to be an Olympian.

I'm impassioned about injury prevention as an athlete.

Defenders must be careful yet decisive when taking action.

A lot of sport is being comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Anytime that you're getting games in, you're going to get better.

U.S. Soccer has no justification for paying us as little as they do.

It's a rare treat to be able to play in front of friends and family.

Defenders don't really get any sort of notoriety or anything like that.

Soccer is an uncomfortable sport. You're running; you're getting tackled.

Although offensive play is important, it's defending that gets you titles.

It's really indescribable. All the hard work you put in and all the sacrifices.

There's no justification to not be paid the same as the men. We do everything the men do.

A lot of young women play soccer, and it's wonderful to give them something to aspire to.

The game can be quite dangerous when you look at certain injuries, especially head injuries.

At the Olympics, I'm representing the United States as well as the town and people who helped shape me.

Soccer is always changing and evolving, and I think our national team has had to change with the times.

In soccer, female athletes across the world wear shoes that are not meant for us, our feet, or our game.

I wasn't shuffling from one sport to the next that much. I had downtime to just be a high school student.

We like to be kind of at the forefront for how all football federations should treat their female athletes.

When I'm on the field, I don't want to be worrying about my cleats. I want them to enhance my playing style.

St. Louis has a super-rich history of soccer, so I was very fortunate growing up to have coaches that played.

With soccer, it's such a dynamic sport. It's important that however you play, you should be training like that.

It's almost ludicrous that I'm playing a game and getting paid for it. I'm just going to ride it as long as I can.

Really, off days for soccer players are just recovery days. You're trying to get off your feet as much as possible.

I'm naturally competitive, and I always want to win and always want to help our team win. So I always want to be on the field.

As a defender, how much ground I cover isn't up to me. I'm defending against a forward, so her movement determines my movement.

It's lucky I haven't been in a bad tackle. I could be prepared, but if my body gets wrenched in the wrong way, I can't help that.

I always wanted to write a book. Not a romance novel. Maybe a crime thriller. Something with action. Maybe that will happen some day.

Even when matches don't work out the way you planned, you've always got to stay strong in defence; it's a matter of willpower and intelligence.

If I could play a game and not have to tackle, I know that I did everything right. I organized everyone the right way, read every play the right way.

Anything you train can be improved upon. If you do it over and over again, your body is going to remember these moves and not be surprised in the game.

It's that deep-seeded societal gender norm that women, for some reason, aren't elite athletes, when we are. We really are. I think we fight against that a bit.

That's one of the best parts of my job. I love interacting with the community, getting out there and getting to know people and making bonds with the community.

I'm very hard on myself. I think that drives me because I don't want to let people down or let myself down. That fear of failing drives me from being complacent.

A lot of goals are scored when defenders lose their concentration for a split second and a forward makes a run in behind or gets that one extra step that leads to a shot.

I always have oatmeal before training or a match. It's easy on the stomach, offers so many vitamins and minerals, and is slow-burning, so it won't leave me hungry at half-time.

We put in the same amount of time, effort, and we do the same amount of work requirements. We feel like that should be equal, and we should get the same amount of money as the men.

I think everyone, including myself, was pretty surprised the first Freedom goal came from me. So when I think about that goal, all I can really do is laugh at the incredibility of it.

The toughest part of my career was at the 2011 World Cup and 2012 Olympics and wanting so much to play and physically contribute - but having to understand and realize that it's just not my time.

I know that I'm not the fastest or the strongest or the best in the air, so from a very early age, I had to be positionally sound, or I was going to get beat. So you just kind of learn as you grow.

A man's foot is wider, so when I would wear men's cleats, my foot would be sliding inside of it, so it's nice to be secure because then your body's not compensating, and you're not getting injuries.

If you've done the work, done the training sessions, when you go into these games, you should feel ready. All you can ask is, 'Did you do your best, and try your best,' and then what happens, happens.

When you have somebody like Christie Rampone, with the vast experience she has had, you're going to defer to her line because she has played in so many huge games, and she knows what she's talking about.

I've always been very hard on myself, and I never want to get to a point where I'm like, 'Alright, I'm kicking butt,' but I know I need to be confident because I think that will take my game to the next level.

Winning the World Cup is definitely the highlight of my career. I thought the gold medal at the Olympics would peak it, but winning the World Cup, the reception... it's what we all dreamed of when we were little.

Success doesn't motivate me as much as integrity does. Everyone loses. I enjoy the pressure of showing up every single day, being focused, putting forth my best effort, getting the best out of my teammates, and enjoying the journey.

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