Kristine Lilly (1993) - Patterson Medal Winners - University of North Carolina Athletics

Kristine Lilly

Induction:
1993
Class:
1993

1993— Kristine Lilly: Women's Soccer (Wilton, Conn.)
One of the best women’s soccer players in collegiate and international history. A two-time National Player of the Year, four-time NCAA champion and the first Tar Heel to earn first-team All-America honors in all four seasons. In her career the Tar Heels won 93 games, played two ties and lost only once in 96 games.

She was the Most Outstanding Offensive Player in the 1989 and 1990 NCAA Tournaments, the National Freshman of the Year in 1989, a four-time All-ACC selection, ACC Tournament MVP in 1990 and ACC Player of the Year in 1991.

Lilly scored 10 goals and had seven assists for 27 points in nine NCAA Tournament matches. In all competitions for the Tar Heels, she had 78 goals and 41 assists for 197 points, still the fifth most in school history.

She played 354 games with the U.S. Women’s National Team, more than any U.S. men’s or women’s player ever, and retired from international soccer in 2011 as the second-leading scorer in USWNT history with 130 goals and 106 assists for 366 points.

Lilly played in five World Cups, leading the U.S. to world championships in 1991 and 1999, and won Olympic gold medals in 1996 and 2004. In 1993 she was named the U.S. Soccer Federation’s Player of the Year. Named to USWNT’s All-Time Best XI in 2013.

In the 1999 World Cup final at the Rose Bowl, Lilly saved the game in regulation by saving a sure goal off the line and later converted her penalty kick as the U.S. defeated China to win the title.

She was inducted into the U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame in 2015 in her first year of eligibility.