Joy Fawcett

Joy Lynn Fawcett (née Biefeld; born February 8, 1968) is a retired American professional soccer player. She earned 241 caps with the United States women's national soccer team and retired in 2004 as the highest scoring defender in team history. Fawcett was a founding member of the WUSA and was elected for induction into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2009. She was in the movie Soccer Mom as herself.

Joy Fawcett
Personal information
Full name Joy Lynn Fawcett[1]
Birth name Joy Lynn Biefeld[2]
Date of birth (1968-02-08) February 8, 1968
Place of birth Inglewood, California, U.S.
Height 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m)
Position(s) Defender
College career
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1987–1989 California Golden Bears 72 (55)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
Ajax America
2001–2003 San Diego Spirit 43 (12)
International career
1987–2004 United States 241 (27)
Managerial career
1992 Long Beach City Vikings
1993–1997 UCLA Bruins
Medal record
Women's football (soccer)
Representing the  United States
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1996 Atlanta Team competition
Gold medal – first place 2004 Athens Team competition
Silver medal – second place 2000 Sydney Team competition
FIFA Women's World Cup
Gold medal – first place 1991 China Team competition
Gold medal – first place 1999 USA Team competition
Bronze medal – third place 1995 Sweden Team competition
Bronze medal – third place 2003 USA Team competition
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Youth

Fawcett grew up in southern California,[3] where she attended Edison High School in Huntington Beach, California. Her high school team won four league championships. She then attended the University of California, Berkeley where she played on the women's soccer team from 1987 to 1989. She was a three-time, first team All-American.[4][5] She holds the school record for single-season scoring with 23 goals in 1987.[6] Fawcett graduated from UC Berkeley in 1992 with a BA degree in Physical Education. Cal inducted her into the school's Hall of Fame in October 1997.

Club

Fawcett and forward Carin Jennings both were members of the Manhattan Beach club women's soccer team Ajax in the late 1980s and early 1990s and routinely played at Columbia Park in Torrance, California.[7] In 1991 and 1993, Ajax won the U.S. women's amateur championship.[7][8] In 1998, she played for Ajax in the first season of the Women's Premier Soccer League. In 2001, Fawcett signed with the San Diego Spirit in the newly established Women's United Soccer Association. She missed most of the season due to an early season pregnancy. She rebounded in 2002 to lead the team in playing time with 19 games. In 2003, she had ankle injury early in the season but came back to play 18 games and gain the first team WUSA All - Star recognition.

National team

In 1991, Fawcett and Jennings helped the U.S. national team win the first women's World Cup that was held in China.[7] She was the only WNT member to play all minutes of the 1995, 1999 and 2003 Women's World Cups, as well as the 1996 and 2000 Olympics. She retired from the WNT in 2004 as the highest-scoring defender for the U.S. WNT.

She appeared in the HBO documentary Dare to Dream: The Story of the U.S. Women's Soccer Team.

International goals
No.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.24 November 1991New Plaza Stadium, Foshan, China Chinese Taipei7–07–01991 FIFA Women's World Cup
2.21 August 1994Complexe sportif Claude-Robillard, Montreal, Canada Canada5–06–01994 CONCACAF Women's Championship
3.10 June 1995Olympia, Helsingborg, Sweden Australia2–14–11995 FIFA Women's World Cup

Coaching career

Fawcett was the head coach of the Long Beach City Vikings women's soccer team in 1992, where she had a 5–9–0 record.[2] She then served as the first coach of the UCLA Bruins women's team from 1993 to 1997.[9][10]

Personal life

Joy and her husband Walter Fawcett have three daughters, Katelyn Rose (b. May 17, 1994), Carli (b. May 21, 1997), and Madilyn Rae (b. June 5, 2001).[11] Their oldest daughter Katey played soccer for the University of Washington from 2012 to 2015.[12] Her brother Eric Biefeld had a brief career with the United States men's national soccer team. She is also the current assistant soccer coach for the United States Deaf Women's National Team.[13]

References
  1. "Joy Fawcett". United States Soccer Federation. Archived from the original on August 30, 2004. Retrieved March 25, 2023.
  2. "Head Coach". UCLA Women's Soccer 1997 Media Guide. Los Angeles: UCLA Bruins. 1997. p. 5.
  3. "Southern California Produces Many Top WUSA Players". WUSA. June 21, 2004. Archived from the original on November 16, 2006. Retrieved November 25, 2007.
  4. "Awards". National Soccer Coaches Association of America. Archived from the original on June 15, 2011. Retrieved January 16, 2009.
  5. "Awards". National Soccer Coaches Association of America. Archived from the original on June 15, 2011. Retrieved January 16, 2009.
  6. "Jay Fawcett Bio". University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved August 31, 2020.
  7. Murashko, Alex (January 31, 1993). "Women's Soccer Teams at Home in South Bay. Club sports: Although fan interest remains low, participation remains high". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on January 31, 2013. Retrieved November 10, 2008.
  8. "USA History: The National Amateur Cup". Archived from the original on February 7, 2009. Retrieved January 16, 2009.
  9. "UCLA's Joy Fawcett Retires From Coaching".
  10. JONES, GRAHAME L. (December 4, 1997). "UCLA Women's Soccer Coach Fawcett Resigns After Five Years" – via LA Times.
  11. "Womens Sports Net - Women's Olympic Soccer". www.womenssportsnet.com. Archived from the original on November 11, 2005. Retrieved June 6, 2022.
  12. "Women's Soccer Signs Eight To National Letters of Intent". University of Washington Athletics. February 1, 2012. Archived from the original on January 24, 2013. Retrieved February 5, 2012.
  13. "ONE DREAM – WOMENS DEAF SOCCER – GoalNation". GoalNation. Archived from the original on February 17, 2016. Retrieved February 8, 2016.
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