[2004] One of Tennessee’s most talented soccer players, Memphis native Cindy Parlow had quite a season in 2003. She is the youngest player ever to win both an Olympic gold medal and a Women’s World Cup title. She is already among the top 10 goal scorers in U.S. Women’s National Team history. And last year, while playing for the U.S. National team, she scored 4 goals in one game (her first 4-goal game for team USA) against England on May 17. Parlow is a founding player in the WUSA for the Atlanta Beat. In 2003, she helped the Beat to the Founders Cup Championship match. As a matter of note, a street (Cindy Parlow Drive) has been named in her honor in her hometown of Memphis. [2000] Cindy Parlow is one of the most celebrated women’s soccer players in history. The accolades and accomplishments are unprecedented for this Memphis native. She was named the Tennessee High School Player of the Year in 1994, and led her team to a state championship. Having won the Olympic Gold medal in Atlanta in 1996, she also won every major collegiate award for an individual player, was on two NCAA Championship teams, won a Gold at the Goodwill Games in 1998 and held a starting center forward spot on the Women’s World Cup championship team that competed and won in 1999. Cindy is the first player since Mia Hamm to win the prestigious Missouri Athletic Club Award and Hermann Award for the nation’s outstanding collegiate soccer player two consecutive years. For the U.S. Women’s National Team, she already ranks 22nd on the all-time appearance list and 9th on the all-time leading scoring list. Cindy’s coach at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, commented that she is unquestionably one of the greatest players he has ever coached. That’s pretty high praise, considering Coach Anson Dorrance has coached the most successful Division I program in the history of college sports; male or female.
