Former Notre Dame star Melissa Henderson retires at 27

Melissa Henderson. (Jon Shapley, Houston Chronicle)

Melissa Henderson, who led Notre Dame to a national title in 2010, is retiring from professional soccer in her fifth season in the NWSL.

“My heart has not just been in it,” she told the Houston Chronicle.

The forward, a native of Garland, Texas, has played the past three seasons with the Houston Dash. Before that, she was with FC Kansas City.

“With a heavy, yet peaceful heart, I close a chapter of my life that has brought me so much joy these last 23 years,” she said in an open letter to Dash fans.

In a team statement announcing her retirement, she added:  “To my family, teammates, coaches, friends and fans – thank you. You have been a part of God’s journey for me from the beginning. Your love, support and encouragement have become my backbone throughout my career.”

The Chronicle reported that she may have been in danger of losing her spot on the Dash roster with the return of Carli Lloyd, who had been playing for Manchester City:

The Dash had been carrying a maximum 20 players during Lloyd’s time at Manchester City so they would have had to cut someone this week to make room for her.

Henderson said she wanted to be the one to leave.

“I don’t feel like it would be right for someone else to go through a valley when they don’t have to,” Henderson said. “Where my heart is and not being able to give 100 percent and knowing every other woman wants to be in it all the way, I couldn’t stay knowing my heart wasn’t it.”

Henderson retired once before, at the end of the 2015 season, only to reconsider.

“I’ve been thinking about it for a couple months now,” the Chronicle quoted her as saying. “My heart has not just been in it like it used to. I really prayed about it. I feel a sense of peace about my decision.

“It is time to completely close that chapter of my life. I did it once before, but this is really it.”

Michael Ciaglo, Houston Chronicle

At Notre Dame, Henderson was a two-time first-team All-American. In 2010 — the year the Fighting Irish won the NCAA championship — the junior forward was a finalist for the Hermann Trophy, collegiate soccer’s highest award.

That year’s Hermann winner was Christen Press of Stanford, the school Notre Dame defeated for the national title. The other finalist was Alex Morgan of the University of California.

Henderson’s coach at Notre Dame was Randy Waldrum, who went on to lead the Dash, until he was fired last month on the heels of four consecutive Houston losses.

As a junior at Berkner High School in Richardson, Texas, she was selected as the Gatorade High School Player of the Year.

At the pro level, though, she never achieved stardom, scoring just one goal in the NWSL, for FC Kansas City in a 2013 playoff loss to the Portland Thorns.

A devout Christian, the 27-year-old said she planned to work in youth ministry in the Dallas area and also hoped to coach soccer.

 

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Quote of the day: Shannon Boxx on her retirement plans

“I’m going to be a mom. I’m going to be at home and not be in hotel rooms all the time. But also, I want to coach kids. … I want to help that next generation.”

– Shannon Boxx, on her plans once she retires at the end of the year. Boxx, a 1999 graduate of Notre Dame, was interviewed by The Observer, the Notre Dame student newspaper.

Koji Watanabe/Getty Images

 

An interview with Notre Dame’s Shannon Boxx

Shannon Boxx training at the 2012 London Olympics. (Scott Heppell/AP)

After 12 years, three Olympic gold medals and, now, a World Cup title, Shannon Boxx‘s illustrious career has come to an end.

The 38-year-old midfielder announced her retirement after the United States’ triumph in Canada.

Shannon Boxx at Notre Dame, where she played from 1995 to 1998, helping the Irish win their first national title as a freshman. (The Observer)

That illustrious career had its beginnings at the University of Notre Dame, where, as a freshman in 1995, she helped propel the Irish to their first national championship. She graduated in 1999 with degrees in psychology and African-American studies.

Boxx still ranks sixth in school history in assists, with 57. and in games played, with 101. She is one of 13 Notre Dame women to have played in every match of her collegiate career.

She spoke with Renee Griffin of The Observer, the student newspaper at Notre Dame, reflecting on her time at the university,  her long tenure with the U.S. team, and her plans for the future.  (For starters, she says, “I’m going to be at home and not be in hotel rooms all the time,.”)

Boxx is one of the toughest, smartest, most skillful defensive mids ever to play the game. She made an improbable return to the national team in early 2015 after a hiatus of nearly two years, the result of injuries and, in February 2014, the birth of her daughter Zoe.

Shannon Boxx after the United States beat Brazil to win the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. (Petr David Josek/AP)

“I thought I was done in ’08, but I was just enjoying myself so much,” she says. “Then I thought I was done in 2012, but I still felt something was missing. I think it was that World Cup title.”

Since her comeback,  her impact on the pitch has been limited. She’s logged 134 minutes in seven games, starting once. She has one assist and no goals.

At the World Cup, she saw action only once, coming off the bench in the 74th minute of Team USA’s 1-0 group win over Nigeria.

But she tells Griffin she’s tried to contribute in other ways, serving as an elder adviser to some of the team’s young stars, in particular Julie Johnston and Christen Press, her teammates on the Chicago Red Stars.

“It’s nice to be that experienced veteran player,” she says. “You want to leave a legacy. You want to help the next generation be better than you.”

 

 

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The moment Shannon Boxx knew she was retiring

Mark J. Rebilas/US Presswire

Shannon Boxx, the 38-year-old veteran, writes for The Players’ Tribune that she knew it was time to call it quits when she walked in the door of her Portland home after winning the World Cup and realized that was where she belonged.

It’s a thoughtful essay by a thoughtful athlete (and Notre Dame grad).

 

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Shannon Boxx is retiring

Shannon Boxx vs. Scotland, Feb. 13, 2013. (Frederick Breedon/Getty Images)

In her day, Shannon Boxx was one of the best defending midfielders ever to wear the U.S. colors.

But that day has passed, and the 38-year-old will retire at the end of 2015.

Here’s the story from The Equalizer.

Boxx, who earned her first cap in 2003, launched an improbable comeback last summer after more than a year away from the U.S. team. She gave birth to a daughter, Zoe, in February 2014.

Her inclusion on the 23-member World Cup roster was somewhat surprising. Many thought coach Jill Ellis would instead go with Crystal Dunn, the versatile, speedy, 23-year-old defender.

Boxx played just 16 minutes in the World Cup, all against Nigeria. She has five appearances for the U.S. team this year, all off the bench, for a total of 62 minutes. Among the 23 World Cup players, only third-string goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher, who has yet to get into a game in 2015, has fewer minutes.

In the National Women’s Soccer League, Boxx plays for the Chicago Red Stars — but not much. She appeared in three games for the club before the World Cup, and on Saturday (July 18), she came on in the 84th minute.

Shannon Boxx, Kristine Lilly, Mia Hamm. (HBO)

She played in two games for the Red Stars last year and five in 2013.

Boxx is one of a handful of players to have taken part in four World Cups: 2003, 2007, 2011, and 2015. She won three Olympic gold medals, in 2004, 2008, and 2012.

In 2005, she was a finalist for World Player of the Year, alongside Marta of Brazil and Birgit Prinz of Germany. Prinz won, the last of her three consecutive Player of the Year awards.

A 1998 graduate of Notre Dame, Boxx helped lead the Irish to their first national championship in 1995.

 

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Morgan Brian is ‘the kid’ — for now

Remember when Alex Morgan was Baby Horse?

That less-than-flattering nickname faded once Morgan established herself as a stone-cold finisher, one of the very best in world, especially when the pressure is the most intense. She may have an odd gait, but it gets her where she’s going, which is usually on the ball, in front of the net.

Morgan Brian after scoring against New Zealand, April 4, 2015. (Jeff Roberson/AP)

These days, Morgan Brian, who has succeeded Alex Morgan as the youngest member of the U.S. team, is known as “the kid.”

But not for long, say those who have watched her progress.

“I think she’s going to be the future of the women’s national team,” Randy Waldrum, coach of the Houston Dash, tells Ray Curren of The Equalizer.

Waldrum knows his subject well. He coaches Brian with the Dash. He’s also coached her on youth teams in the U.S. Soccer system, and he coached against her when he was the women’s soccer coach at Notre Dame and she was a star at the University of Virginia.

He adds: ““Once she bursts on the scene with the national team and is playing regularly, people are really going to fall in love with her. She’s a special talent.”

U.S. coach Jill Ellis, not one to lavish public praise on players (and especially young ones) says: “Morgan is a part of this younger generation coming in. She’s adapted very quickly, she’s got a wonderful skill set, she’s a very mature young lady, and I see her as a pivotal part of our team moving forward.”

 

 

 

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Richardson’s Melissa Henderson is bound for Denmark

Bigshots Snapshots

Melissa Henderson, the celebrated Berkner High School grad, has re-signed with the Houston Dash, the National Women’s Soccer League reports.

The announcement adds that Henderson, 25, will be on a four-month loan to Fortuna Hjørring of the Danish Elitedivisionen, beginning immediately.

Fortuna, the reigning champion of the Danish league, is in the UEFA Champions league. It faces the Portuguese club Atlético Ouriense in the round of 32 that begins in October.

Melissa Henderson at Notre Dame. (Denis Concordel)

Henderson, who had a stellar collegiate career at Notre Dame, was traded to the expansion Dash from FC Kansas City in July. A forward who can drop into the midfield, she played in all nine games that remained on Houston’s schedule, starting eight.

Houston is coached by Randy Waldrum, who was Henderson’s coach at Notre Dame. Waldrum’s Fighting Irish won the national championship in 2010, Henderson’s junior year. She started all 25 matches that year and recorded 17 goals (six of them game-winners), as well as 11 assists. She was a first-team All-American, first runner-up for the Hermann Trophy, the Big East Offensive Player of the Year, and Most Outstanding Offensive Player in the NCAA College Cup.

Notre Dame star Morgan Andrews says she’s not bitter over U-20 snub

Morgan Andrews (left). (Matt Cashore/Notre Dame)

Looking back on it, Morgan Andrews, the sensational sophomore from Notre Dame, says she’s not bitter at having been passed over when the U.S. U-20 team was selected.

“Those girls are my friends,” she tells Soccer Wire. “Even though I play against them in the season here, I think each of them are very talented and they deserved a spot.”

Andrews’ former coach at Notre Dame, Randy Waldrum, says she belonged on the U-20 team. The squad selected and coached by Michelle French lost its opening game to Germany, then got eliminated by North Korea in its first match of the knockout stage.

“After seeing the first game against Germany, to be honest with you, I think they could have used her,” said Waldrum, who now coaches the NWSL’s Houston Dash.

He added: “I certainly would have had her on a roster if I had been coaching, just because I know what she brings to the table. She’s the kind of player I’d always want on my team.”

Two Notre Dame players, defenders Cari Roccaro and Katie Naughton, were on the U-20 squad. Both of them played every minute of the United States’ four games.

 

VIDEO: Introducing the U.S. U-20 World Cup team

Coach Michelle French announced the U.S. roster that will compete in the U-20 World Cup in Canada, beginning Aug. 5.

The team includes three players from Stanford and two each from Notre Dame and Penn State.  No other university placed more than one player on the roster.

It also includes three high school students; and Lindsey Horan, the only woman in U.S. Soccer to have skipped college to sign with a pro club. Horan, a forward, plays for Paris Saint-Germain.

The 16-team U-20 World Cup runs through Aug. 24.

There are four groups of four teams each.

Each team plays the other three teams in its group., then the top two teams from each group — eight teams in all — move on to the knockout stage.

Team USA is in a group with  Germany, China, and Brazil.

Unlike the regular World Cup, which takes place every four years, the U-20 tournament is played every two years. The first one was in 2002.

Of the six previous tournaments, the United States has won three — in 2002, 2008, and 2012. Germany won twice, in 2004 and 2010. North Korean won in 2006.

 U.S. roster, 2014 U-20 Women’s World Cup

GOALKEEPERS
Jane Campbell (Stanford)
Rosemary Chandler (Penn State)
Katelyn Rowland (UCLA)

DEFENDERS
Stephanie Amack (Stanford)
Brittany Basinger (Penn State)
Christina Gibbons (Duke)
Katie Naughton (Notre Dame)
Kaleigh Riehl (High school senior; committed to Penn State, 2015)
Cari Roccaro (Notre Dame)

MIDFIELDERS
Carlyn Baldwin (Tennessee)
Nickolette Driesse (Florida State)
Rose Lavelle (Wisconsin)
Mallory Pugh (High school junior)
Taylor Racioppi (High school senior; committed to Duke, 2015)
Andi Sullivan (Stanford)

FORWARDS
Makenzy Doniak (Virginia)
Summer Green (North Carolina)
Lindsey Horan (Paris Saint-Germain)
Savannah Jordan (Florida)
McKenzie Meehan (Boston College)
Margaret Purce (Harvard)