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Heather Mitts
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Heather Blaine Mitts | ||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 9 June 1978 | ||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Cincinnati, Ohio, United States | ||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m) | ||||||||||||||
| Playing position | Defender | ||||||||||||||
| Club information | |||||||||||||||
| Current club | Philadelphia Independence | ||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||
| 1996–1999 | Florida Gators | ||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† | ||||||||||||
| 2000 | Tampa Bay Extreme | ||||||||||||||
| 2001–2003 | Philadelphia Charge | 51 | (0) | ||||||||||||
| 2005 | Central Florida Krush | 4 | (0) | ||||||||||||
| 2009 | Boston Breakers | 19 | (0) | ||||||||||||
| 2010– | Philadelphia Independence | ||||||||||||||
| National team‡ | |||||||||||||||
| 1999– |  United States |
103 | (2) | ||||||||||||
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Honours
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| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 20:07, 28 October 2009 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). |
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Heather Blaine Mitts (born 9 June 1978, in Cincinnati, Ohio) is an American soccer defender currently playing for Philadelphia Independence of Women's Professional Soccer and is a member of the United States women's national soccer team.
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Playing career
Early life and university
Mitts played soccer in high school for St. Ursula Academy in her hometown of Cincinnati. She was recruited by, and eventually decided to attend, the University of Florida. She was offered a full scholarship to play for the Florida Gators soccer team, which she did as a student-athlete from 1996 to 1999. With the university, she became the program's all-time record holder in appearances (95), starts (94), and minutes played (7,547). She was part of the defensive line that helped the Gators to their first ever NCAA Women's Soccer Championship in 1998. She was named a Third Team All-American in 1998 and a First Team All-American in 1999.
Professional clubs
Straight out of college, Mitts played for Tampa Bay Extreme of W-League in 2000 while waiting for the launch of the new Women's United Soccer Association league.
Upon the WUSA's launch and inaugural season in 2001, Mitts was drafted to the Philadelphia Charge. With the club, she appeared in 20 games (1,751 minutes) in the inaugural season and added two assists. Throughout her Charge career, Mitts appeared in 51 games (4,414 minutes) and recorded eight assists over 3 seasons. She was named as a WUSA All-Star in 2003. Unfortunately, after the 2003 season, the WUSA ceased operations.
Mitts returned to W-League in 2005, playing sparingly for Central Florida Krush while splitting her time between the United States Women's National Team. She appeared in 4 games (360 minutes).
Upon the introduction of Women's Professional Soccer, Mitts and fellow USWNT players Angela Hucles and Kristine Lilly were allocated to Boston Breakers on 16 September 2008. In the inaugural 2009 Women's Professional Soccer season, Mitts appeared in 19 games (all starts, 1631 minutes) and added an assist. After the season, Boston Breakers declared Mitts a free agent.
On 14 October 2009, Mitts signed with 2010 WPS expansion team Philadelphia Independence, marking her return to play professional soccer in Philadelphia following the demise of the WUSA's Charge.
International
Mitts is a two-time Olympic Gold-medalist as a member of the USWNT for the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics who has represented the United States in over 100 competitive matches. She was also a member of the US team who finished second in the 2006 Algarve Cup.
On 12 May 2007, Mitts tore her ACL in an international friendly match with Canada. The injury put Mitts out of contention for the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup.
Personal
Mitts is known as much for her looks as her athletic ability. In 2001, Mitts was voted as the sexiest player in the WUSA on Playboy Online. In addition, she appeared on the cover of Philadelphia magazine in June of 2002 as one of the city’s "Sexiest Singles". In 2004, she was voted ESPN.com’s "Hottest Female Athlete" in 2004. She also appeared in the 2005 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue with A. J. Feeley, who is now her fiancé.
Mitts has parlayed her looks into a number on television commentary jobs. She has served as a studio analyst for ABC/ESPN/ESPN2 during the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup and was a sideline reporter for several MLS broadcasts in 2005. In addition to soccer, she also was a sideline reporter for college football during 2005 for ESPN.
Her fiancé, A. J. Feeley, is a quarterback in the National Football League.
References
External links
- Heather Mitts FIFA competition record
- Official website
- Heather Mitts at MySpace
- US Soccer player profile
- Women's Professional Soccer player profile
- WUSA player profile
| Awards | ||
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| Preceded by Jennie Finch |
ESPN Hottest Female Athlete 2004 |
Succeeded by Amanda Beard |