By: Pedro Heizer
Hope Solo, Abby Wambach, Christine Rapinoe, Alex Morgan and the rest of the 2012 Olympic Gold Medalist United States Women’s Soccer team will be in Boca Raton this holiday season.
Late Monday night United States Soccer announced that the Women’s National Team will play a match vs. China on December 15 at FAU Stadium as part of the 2012 Fan Tribune Tour.
This will not be the first time some of these players have played in Boca Raton.
Members of the U.S. women’s soccer team are already familiar with playing in Boca Raton as the FAU Soccer Stadium hosted home matches for the magicJack, a Boca Raton based professional team that played in the Women’s Professional Soccer league in 2011, which drew large crowds because of the fact the magicJack sported superstar players such as Hope Solo, Abby Wambach, Christine Rapinoe, and Shannon Boxx.
The league itself folded in 2012 after an ongoing legal battle with magicJack owner Dan Borislow.
The match at FAU Stadium will be the first for the USWNT in Palm Beach County and the first in South Florida in nearly 13 years.
This will be the third sporting event aside from Owls football that FAU Stadium will host.
Earlier this year, the Major League Lacrosse All-Star Game and The Battle of Florida All-Star College Football Game were also played at the state-of-the-art stadium in the heart of Florida Atlantic University.
“We want the FAU Stadium to become a showpiece for the University and community, while giving value back to our sponsors,” said Mitch Silverman, assistant athletic director for facilities management, operations and events at FAU. “The stadium was designed to be a perfect venue for events like this. I see us hosting other similar events in the future.”
The USA has averaged more than 18,000 fans per game while going 3-0-2 so far on the Fan Tribute Tour presented by Panasonic, defeating Costa Rica 8-0, beating Australia by 2-1 and 6-2 scores and drawing Germany twice, 1-1 and 2-2. The USA returns to action for a pair of matches against the Republic of Ireland on Nov. 28 at JELD-WEN Field in Portland, Ore., and Dec. 1 at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.
The USWNT won the gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics with a 6-0-0 record – the first time this has happened for the team in an Olympic tournament. The U.S. won its third straight gold medal (and fourth gold medal overall) at the 2012 London Olympics.
Ticket information for the match has not been released as of yet but should be available soon.