Image: NBC video still
Rose Lavelle celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal in the Tokyo Olympics on July 24, 2021.
Cincinnati soccer star Rose Lavelle is going back to the SheBelieves Cup, and she just may get another MVP award out of it.
Late last week, Vlatko Andonovski, the U.S. Women's National Team head coach, announced the roster for the 2022 SheBelieves Cup, a tournament that was launched in 2016 to hype fans for the FIFA Women's World Cup and inspire girls and young women. Midfielder Lavelle will return to the event where she was named most valuable player after scoring the winning goal in the final match in 2021.
Lavelle helped her team to a tournament victory over all three days of play last year, scoring the winning goal against Canada and earning an assist against Argentina.
2021 was fire for the Mount Notre Dame High School alumna, who continues to prove that Cincinnati breeds winners. In November, Lavelle and the USWNT demolished Paraguay in the first-ever U.S. Soccer match at TQL Stadium in the West End, with Lavelle scoring in just the fourth minute of the match.
Lavelle also helped the USWNT to a bronze medal in the 2020 Olympics last summer, scoring the team’s first goal of its annihilation of New Zealand (though the Tokyo Olympics happened in 2021, they still were considered to be the 2020 Olympic Games due to the coronavirus pandemic delay).
Lavelle, who graduated from Mount Notre Dame High School in 2013, was named the Cincinnati Enquirer’s Player of the Year during her senior year. After a career at the University of Wisconsin, Lavelle became the No. 1 draft pick in the 2017 National Women’s Soccer League, playing for the Boston Breakers.
For the 2022 SheBelieves Cup, the United States will first battle the Czech Republic, with Iceland and New Zealand also competing. The tournament begins Thursday, Feb. 17, at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.
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