Reliving Carli Lloyd's Top 10 best USWNT Moments
Take a journey through Carli Lloyd's best USWNT moments as she heads to the National Soccer Hall of Fame
316 caps. 134 international goals. Two-time FIFA Player of the Year.
Carli Lloyd’s USWNT numbers are only the top line United States Women’s National Team career. There are countless moments of Lloyd’s 17-year run wearing that crest that encapsulate her grit, clutch performances and legacy for the U.S. Soccer Federation.
Those moments – and the accumulation of so many – show exactly why Lloyd will don the red jacket as she’s inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame on May 3 in Frisco, Texas.
To no surprise, she earned the honor on her first ballot.
“To be inducted into the Hall of Fame along so many other greats, it's an amazing dream come true,” Lloyd said in April ahead of the ceremony. “I am incredibly honored — and I was honored — every single time I put the uniform on. It was always an amazing, amazing thing to be able to represent my country.”
While there are surely more than 10 memorable moments in Lloyd’s epic USWNT career, here are, in no particular order, 10 iconic ones as No. 10 becomes a Hall of Famer:
1. RECORD-SETTING HAT TRICK
Within just 17 minutes, Lloyd recorded the all-time fastest hat trick in women’s or men’s FIFA World Cup history. Not only that, but it was also in the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup Final against Japan.
Lloyd netted her first goal in the 3rd minute, two minutes later she scored her second and in the 16th minute the midfielder completed the trifecta. The U.S. went on to finish off Japan, 5-2, and win its third World Cup and Lloyd’s first of two.
Lloyd is still the only player to score a hat trick in regulation time in a FIFA World Cup Final.
If you’re wondering why the first moment didn’t mention details of Lloyd’s third goal in the 2015 World Cup Final, it’s because it deserves its own section.
To seal the hat trick, Lloyd struck from just beyond midfield, a goal that shook the stadium in Vancouver, B.C. and the world. Lloyd has often recalled seeing the Japan goalkeeper off her line and then confidently taking her chance. Something that she tried frequently in training. It paid off.
The USA already stunned the women’s soccer world with an early 2-0 lead, Lloyd’s hat-trick-capper came from just inches behind the halfway line. Lloyd won a ball inside the center circle with a touch past a defender and then launched a shot that soared over the stumbling Japanese ‘keeper, who got a small piece of the ball with her right glove, before bouncing off the left post and settling into the net. It lives as one of the greatest goals in the history of women’s soccer. Check that: soccer, period. With the match not even halfway to halftime, the USA was up 3-0, and on the world’s biggest stage, Lloyd had completed the second hat trick of her international career.
The U.S. Women’s National Team has won five Olympic gold medals, one of which came courtesy of a stunning Lloyd game-winner in her first-ever Summer Games.
In the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the USWNT beat Brazil 1-0 to capture gold for the second consecutive time. It was a scoreless affair before Lloyd scored six minutes into the first extra time period, smashing a skidding left-footed shot just inches out of reach of Brazil’s goalkeeper and into the lower right corner. The USA still had to weather 24 minutes more of overtime, but emerged with its third Olympic gold medal.
4. 2012 GOLD MEDAL REVENGE
Lloyd’s 2008 Olympic gold medal game-winning goal was iconic, however, it wasn’t an isolated event for her.
Four years later, in the next Summer Olympics, Lloyd did it again. She was also a gold-medal hero in the 2012 London Olympics. This time she scored a brace, tallying in the 8th and 54th minutes, as the USA beat Japan 2-1.
The victory came just a year after Japan beat the United States on penalty kicks in the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup Final. Lloyd missed a penalty kick in that 2011 shootout, but she didn’t miss her opportunity for revenge at Wembley Stadium the following year, netting two fantastic finishes to put the Americans on top of the podium once again.
5. FINAL OLYMPIC GOALS
The USWNT didn’t make it to the gold medal match in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but Lloyd etched her name in U.S. Women’s National Team history books nonetheless. Lloyd scored her ninth and 10th career Olympic goals as the USA defeated Australia, 4-3, to take the bronze medal.
Lloyd first scored her first goal of the game and ninth of her Olympic career just before halftime (45+1), and then made history with her 10th goal just minutes into the second half (51). With that goal, Lloyd passed former teammate Abby Wambach to become the United States' all-time leading Olympic scorer in her final Summer Games.
6. WORLD CUP SCORING STREAK
Lloyd made FIFA Women’s World Cup history by becoming the first player to score at least one goal in six straight World Cup matches. She scored in the final two games of the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup and the first two at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup. That tied a men’s FIFA World Cup record which hasn’t been touched since 1970.
The streak began in the 2015 World Cup and continued four years later into the next FIFA tournament. Lloyd started the spell just before her 33rd birthday and continued that dominance weeks before turning 37 years old.
In that six-match span, Lloyd scored nine goals, including a spectacular hat trick in the 2015 World Cup Final. The USWNT won both of those tournaments, making up half of the team's total four World Cup titles.
Only seven players in USWNT history have scored at least 100 goals. On April 8, 2018, Lloyd became the sixth.
Lloyd netted the milestone in the 34th minute against Mexico when she knocked a close-range header after an attempt by Alex Morgan, who later became the seventh player with 100 or more goals. The United States won the friendly match, 6-2.
Lloyd was more than familiar with Concacaf foe, Mexico. Eleven of her 100 international goals were scored against the country, the most against any opponent.
Lloyd reached another echelon that few international soccer players ever reach — 300 caps.
In April 2021, she became only the third in USWNT history to reach that milestone, putting her in rare company alongside Kristine Lilly (354) and Christie Rampone (311). Lloyd earned her first cap in 2005 against Ukraine.
In her 300th cap, Lloyd played 65 minutes in a 1-1 draw against Sweden. Later that year, Lloyd announced her retirement but earned 16 more caps in the meantime, making her the second-most capped player in U.S. Soccer history.
9. CAREER-HIGH FIVE GOAL GAME
In the first international game after announcing retirement, Lloyd kicked off her farewell games with a stunning five-goal match.
Lloyd scored in the third, sixth, 34th, 38th and 61st minutes. She had never scored five goals in a National Team uniform. A pair of hat tricks was her previous career high. The United States beat Paraguay 9-0 in that September 2021 friendly match, largely thanks to Lloyd.
10. A FINAL GOAL-BYE
While Lloyd scored five goals against Paraguay days prior to her final match, she had one more left for her final goodbye.
Lloyd scored her 134th and final USWNT goal in the 78th minute on a 7-0 win over Paraguay on Sept. 21, 2021. At 39 years old, she became the oldest player to score in U.S. history, a record she still holds.
And thus, 5,469 days after her first-ever USWNT goal, Lloyd hung up her boots after those September friendlies, closing the final chapter in a legendary 17-year career.
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