Megan Rapinoe honored by OL Reign in front of record NWSL crowd

Retiring star Megan Rapinoe was honored by membership workforce OL Reign on Friday evening in front of a National Women’s Soccer League record crowd of 34,130 followers, many of whom wore pink wigs in her honor.

With her household and fiancé Sue Bird trying on, Rapinoe began for the Reign in a scoreless draw in opposition to the Washington Spirit as Lumen Field’s public tackle system performed “Ain’t No Sunshine When She’s Gone” when she took to the sector along with her teammates.

Rapinoe had already performed her ultimate match with the U.S. national team last month in Chicago, however Friday marked her ultimate regular-season house recreation for the Reign.

A video performed earlier than the match included well-wishes from such luminaries as Abby Wambach, Ken Griffey Jr. and Magic Johnson.

Rapinoe has performed in 114 regular-season video games for the Reign and scored 49 objectives. Her membership profession is not fairly over: Next week the Reign wrap up the season on the highway in opposition to the Chicago Red Stars.

And there is a risk the Reign make the playoffs. With Racing Louisville’s 3-2 victory over the Orlando Pride earlier Friday, the Reign moved into sixth place in the standings, simply above the playoff line.

Rapinoe introduced earlier than this summer season’s Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand that she was stepping away from the sport after an illustrious profession that included two World Cup titles, an Olympic gold medal and an Olympic bronze.

At the 2019 World Cup in France, Rapinoe scored six objectives, including a penalty in the final against the Netherlands. With her lavender hair, her victory pose, arms outstretched, turned one of the long-lasting pictures of the dominant U.S. run.

She claimed the event’s Golden Boot and the Golden Ball for one of the best general participant, and later that 12 months was named the Best FIFA Women’s Player and won the prestigious Ballon d’Or.

She has been with the Reign since 2013, and is one of simply 5 gamers league-wide who’ve remained with the identical workforce because the NWSL’s launch.

Commissioner Jessica Berman hopes Rapinoe will proceed to play a job in the league.

“It’s hard to put into words the impact she’s had on the game, both on the pitch and off the pitch. She has embodied courage and bravery in a way that I don’t know many athletes have done,” Berman stated. “And she’s really embraced her role with her full authentic self.”

Rapinoe can be recognized for her social justice activism. She led the nationwide workforce’s lengthy struggle for equal pay with the boys’s nationwide workforce, which began with an EEOC criticism again in 2016. It was lastly resolved final 12 months, when both teams reached contracts with U.S. Soccer that paid them equally and split tournament prize money.

Among the primary outstanding athletes to publicly come out, Rapinoe has been outspoken about LGBTQ points, together with transgender rights. She has additionally advocated for racial fairness, and was amongst those that knelt in solidarity with former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

Reporting by The Associated Press.