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Lindsay Tarpley is both an outstanding young athlete and a compassionate leader. Lindsay’s life revolves around her love for athletics and her desire to be a positive influence in the lives of young girls. Her primary goal is to help ensure that career opportunities will always exist for future generations of female athletes in professional sports. Before the age of 21, Lindsay had already scored two of the most important goals in American Soccer history. In 2002, she rebounded her own shot and scored a sudden death point against Canada, to give the U.S. their first ever U-19 FIFA Championship. In the 2004 Athens Olympics, Tarpley scored the first goal of the gold medal game, which the U.S. went on to win. Lindsay’s soccer career began at Portage Central High School in Michigan, where she earned national honors in her junior and senior years. She helped her team win the state title in 1999, captained the team for two years and won MVP awards for three years. Despite all the success on the soccer field, Lindsay still found the time to play point guard for Portage’s basketball team, winning MVP awards in basketball four years in a row, serving as team captain and making the All-Conference team three times. She also managed to make the honor roll in high school all four years and graduated with a 3.9 GPA. Her jersey #15 was retired at Portage. Lindsay also helped her club team, the Michigan Hawks, win three state titles and a national title. In 2009, she was named the girls' soccer Player of the Decade by ESPN Rise for her impact on future generations of Michigan soccer players. Lindsay attended the University of North Carolina where she studied communication with a minor in exercise sports science and graduated with honors. She served as Captain of the Tar Heel’s soccer team her junior and senior year, and was named to the All-ACC and All-American teams in each of her four years at UNC. She scored an astounding 59 goals and 59 assists in college even though she missed almost half of her junior and senior seasons due to injury. In 2003, she led the nation in scoring, including a four-goal game against Wake Forest and two other hat-trick games. Lindsay has been a fixture on the U.S. National Soccer scene since she was in high school, first appearing on the U-19 team in the 2000 Varna Cup, helping her team take second place. She scored an amazing 24 goals in just 26 U-19 matches, including scoring seven goals in three games to help the U.S. Qualify for the FIFA U-19 World Championships, which they went on to win. Lindsay had eight caps and four goals at the U-21 level before moving up to the U.S. National Team. Lindsay joined the U.S. National Team in 2003, earning eight caps and two starts. In 2004, she was the second-youngest player on the Olympic Gold-Medal Team, starting three matches and appearing in all six, scoring eight goals and adding three assists. In 2005, she started in two games including the championship of the Algarve Cup. In 2006, Lindsay moved from midfielder to forward and has since played almost exclusively as a striker. She earned her 100th cap on July 16, 2008 in a victory against Brazil in an Olympic send-off match. Lindsay then headed to Beijing where she helped her team to a second consecutive gold medal. In 2009, Lindsay played for the Chicago Red Stars during the inaugural season of the Women's Professional Soccer League. She was named WPS player of the week twice during the season, one of only three players to be honored multiple times. Lindsay's husband is BJ Snow, an assistant coach for the UCLA Women’s Soccer Team. She has two brothers and sites her parents as the greatest influences of her athletic career. Lindsay is committed to improving the sport of soccer at the grassroots level and runs a camp every summer in her hometown. She is also a spokesperson for the United Soccer Foundation and helps to raise money for local Michigan soccer organizations. AWARDS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 Michigan Dream Team 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist 2009 WPS Player of the Week, Week 15 2009 WPS Player of the Week, Week 19 2009 ESPN Rise All-Decade, All-America Team 2009 ESPN Rise Player of the Decade |
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