Where she found seven hills, she left a city

Image credit to Rio Giancarlo/SPU and Cascadia FC

34,130 fans showed up Friday night to watch a woman who is both a national and local soccer icon play her last match. That number set the attendance record for the National Women’s Soccer League.

Megan Rapinoe indicated that she cherishes the admiration that the fans have for her.

“To see the way that this city showed up and express that … gratitude or love towards me is really special,” she said. “It’s one thing to know [my importance] and then another thing to really feel it and see what that means to people.”

Coach Harvey expressed a mix of admiration for the great number of fans but also frustration that such a turnout took such a long time to produce. She emphasized that the team is able to turn out that crowd going forward.

“[I’m] trying not to be emotional about it. But it’s hard when you think about what it means for the club … that many people here. It frustrates the hell out of me that it’s taken Pinoe to retire for that to happen, because we’ve had her for ten years. But I think it just shows that people want to watch us play. They want to watch these players play. And we have to capitalize on that.”

Image credit to Rio Giancarlo/SPU and Cascadia FC

It was indeed a long journey for Pinoe to get to that point.

On April 25, 2009, Megan Rapinoe scored her first professional goal. She was playing in front of 4,118 fans for the Chicago Red Stars, who then played in a league called Women’s Professional Soccer. At that time, the Red Stars and Women’s Professional Soccer were small organizations that struggled to stay afloat: Chicago had to bow out of the league in 2010, while WPS folded entirely in 2011.

Megan bounced around between teams in three countries for the next couple of years. In 2013, she began playing midseason for the inaugural season of the then-Seattle Reign, who had begun the year with an atrocious 0-9-1 record. Harvey recalled that Rapinoe gave the club a burst of life that they have carried ever since.

“When we started this club, and we lost ten games on the bounce, that was a moment of time where I was like ‘oh my god, what are we doing?’,” she said. “And she came in and gave us belief that it could be something special. And she was the catalyst to turn it around.”

Image credit to Rio Giancarlo/SPU and Cascadia FC

The very next year, the Reign won the NWSL Shield, the first of three in Pinoe’s ten-season career with the team. Over that time, she has racked up 49 goals, sixth all time in the NWSL, and was a key player in the US Women’s National Team’s World Cup win in 2019, notching six goals and three assists.

Over that time, women’s soccer has grown tremendously in America, and a great part of that is owed to Rapinoe’s outstanding NWSL play and especially as the symbol of the 2019 World Cup run.

Jessica Berman, the commissioner of the NWSL, lauded both Megan’s contribution to the growth of the sport but also her personal qualities.

“It’s hard to put into words the impact she’s had on the game, both on the pitch and off the pitch,” she said. “She has embodied courage and bravery in a way that not many athletes have done and has really embraced her role with her full authentic self, which is what I hope people will take away from what her career has meant.”

As Berman observed, Rapinoe’s influence has not been limited to the game itself. She is an outspoken and often-times controversial woman, consistently and loudly striking the chord of inclusion when the opportunity presents itself. Harvey holds a positive view of her openness, noting that the two of them have lived through similar challenges.

“I’ve lived through, you know, I’m a female coach, and people thought that I shouldn’t be a coach because I was a woman. I’ve lived through homophobia around who I am. We’ve lived through that,” she said. “Have I lived through the same things she has? No. But I can relate to what she’s talking about, and I think that’s a big part of the impact she’s had on me.

Image Credit to Rio Giancarlo/SPU and Cascadia FC

Berman took note of Rapinoe’s ability to connect with people, specifically noting that the two of them are on close terms.

“I think that what I have valued most on a personal level is that she’ll pick up the phone and call me or text me if she has a question or if she’s concerned,” she stated. “Really, I’ve felt very humbled by the amount of trust she has given to me to help operationalize what she imagines could be true for this league.”

Megan Rapinoe herself stated that she is not done with the world of athletics, mentioning her excitement at all the frameworks she and others have helped build for women’s sports.

“I feel like not just me, but so many players in this generation have been such a huge part of building the foundation and the beginning stages of what is a really exciting time in women’s sports, and definitely in the NWSL,” she said. “I’m not going to miss out on the fruits of that labor and just disappear and not be a part of it.”

Megan Rapinoe has left a legacy as perhaps the most influential women’s soccer player in American history. But she would be the first to point out that much of the greatness lies ahead. Where Megan has built a city of brick, someone will leave a city of marble.

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