Longtime Breakers, USWNT Defender Whitehill Retires
- Updated: May 28, 2015
Photo credit: Mike Gridley
Longtime Breakers defender and former U.S. Women’s National Team member Cat Whitehill announced her retirement from pro soccer on Thursday.
Whitehill, 33, played four seasons with the Breakers, and started 60 of her 61 games with the club. During her time in Boston, Whitehill served as team captain and as player/coach during the second half of the 2013 NWSL season. Additionally, she was capped 134 times with the U.S. Women’s National Team.
“It is with a sad and humble heart that I have decided to announce my retirement as a professional soccer player,” Whitehill said in a team release on Thursday. “I have been thinking long and hard about this and have come to the conclusion that now is the time for me to step aside from playing the game that I love.”
Prior to joining the Breakers, Whitehill played for the Washington Freedom and one with the Atlanta Beat in Women’s Professional Soccer. In three years in WPS and four years with the Breakers, Whitehill played a combined 121 games (118 starts), logged 10,663 minutes, scored five goals and tallied five assists. She made her 100th appearance for the Breakers on May 3, 2014, at home against Chicago.
She scored 11 goals during her National Team career, which began on July 6, 2000, vs. Italy. She notched her first international goal on March 17, 2001, vs. Norway, and is the only defender to score two goals in a World Cup game (2003 vs. North Korea). In 2004, she helped the U.S. win the Olympic gold, and was also part of the 2003 and 2007 World Cup teams.
“I am going to miss this game so much,” Whitehill said. “Playing professional soccer has been a dream come true for me, and I am so grateful that I was able to play for as long as I did. It didn’t matter the league, WPS, WPSL Elite or the NWSL, it just mattered that I had the opportunity to play the game that I love for a living.
“Attempting to fully express my gratitude for the organizations, fans, and coaches that helped me develop me as a player and a person is an impossible task since so many people have had such a profound impact on my life.”
Whitehill will join the FOX Sports broadcast crew at the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Canada and will call all of the U.S. Women’s National Team’s group stage matches.
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