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Shannon Boxx

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Shannon Boxx
Personal information
Full name Shannon Leigh Boxx
Height 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Position(s) Defensive midfielder
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of January 26, 2008
Olympic medal record
Representing  United States
Women's Football
Gold medal – first place 2004 Athens Team Competition

Shannon Boxx (born on June 29, 1977 in Fontana, California) is an American soccer player who plays as a defensive midfielder for the United States women's national soccer team. She won the Gold Medal with the United States at the 2004 Summer Olympics, and played for the US at the 2003 and 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup. She was a finalist for the 2005 FIFA World Player of the Year award, and won an NCAA Women's Soccer Championship with Notre Dame in 1995.

Boxx is the younger sister of Gillian Boxx, who won the Gold Medal at the 1996 Olympics with the United States softball team.[1]

Early career

High school

From 1991 to 1995, Boxx attended South Torrance High School in Torrance, California, where she was a four-sport athlete, playing soccer, volleyball, softball, and basketball. She was named to the Parade All-America team for girls' soccer in 1995.[2]

College

Boxx played for the University of Notre Dame from 1995 to 1998. She helped the Fighting Irish win the school's only NCAA Women's Soccer Championship in 1995, beating defending champions North Carolina in the semifinal. Boxx was named to the All-Big East team in 1995, 1996 and 1997, and is tied for the most soccer games played for the Irish at 101 games[2].

College statistics

College GP/GS Goals Assists Total Points Win-Loss-Tie
Notre Dame 1995 25/21 7 10 24 21-2-2
Notre Dame 1996 26/25 12 16 40 24-2-0
Notre Dame 1997 25/25 13 17 43 23-1-1
Notre Dame 1998 25/25 7 14 28 21-3-1

Professional career

1999-2000

In 1999, Boxx played for the Boston Renegades of the W-League, and then went to Germany to play for 1. FC Saarbrücken in the women's Bundesliga. However, she was unhappy and considered retiring from soccer.[3]

WUSA

In 2001, Women's United Soccer Association began play, and Boxx was drafted by the San Diego Spirit in the third round of the entry draft, with the 19th pick overall.[2]

In the 2001 season, Boxx started all 21 matches for the Spirit, missing 20 minutes of the entire season, and was named to the All-WUSA team. [3] However, her playing time was reduced the following season, and in September 2002, she was sent to the New York Power, in a six-player trade that included gave San Diego the first overall pick in the 2003 draft, used to select Aly Wagner.[4]

With New York, Boxx returned to form, starting all 21 games, scoring once and assisting a career-high eight times, and was named to the 2003 All-WUSA squad.[5] Former women's national team coach and league commissioner Tony DiCicco called Boxx "the best in our league at (defensive midfield) -- physical, strong, technical".[3]

WUSA GP/GS MIN Goals Assists Total Points Win-Loss-Tie
San Diego Spirit 2001 21/21 1870 3 5 11 7-7-7
San Diego Spirit 2002 20/15 1349 2 2 6 5-11-5
New York Power 2003 21/21 1868 1 8 10 7-9-5

International career

Although Boxx was a member of the United States Under-21 national team pool, she did not receive her first senior cap until August 2003, when U.S. national team coach April Heinrichs named her to the team's 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup squad, making her the first uncapped player to be named to a U.S. Women's World Cup squad.[5]. Prior to the call-up, following the suspension of WUSA, Boxx had planned to take a coaching position at Cal State-Dominguez Hills and pursue a graduate degree at Pepperdine University.[5]

Boxx scored a goal in each of the two pre-World Cup friendlies, against Costa Rica and Mexico, and in the opening match of the World Cup against Sweden, Boxx became the first American woman to score three goals in her first three matches with the national team.[3]

Boxx started five matches at the Women's World Cup, scoring again against Canada in the third place match. She was voted the player of the match against Canada by the FIFA Technical Study Group, who said Boxx "seized control of the game, spurred on her team-mates and finally scored the decisive goal in USA's victory".[1]

Boxx started 31 of 32 national team matches she played in 2004, including all six matches at the 2004 Olympics, where she scored a goal, assisted on another and helped the team win a Gold Medal.[2] She scored eight goals over the course of the year, including a hat trick against Trinidad and Tobago in an Olympic qualifying match. Boxx came in seventh in the voting for the 2004 FIFA World Player of the Year award.

In 2005, Boxx started all nine matches US national team matches, playing all but 23 minutes of all matches played. She was a finalist for the 2005 FIFA World Player of the Year, coming in third behind Birgit Prinz and Marta.[6]

Boxx missed most of 2006, first for surgery to repair torn cartilage in her right hip, and then for torn medial collateral ligaments she suffered on her first day back in training with the national team.[7] She returned in 2007 after an eight-month layoff, and was named to the United States' squad for the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup. Boxx helped the team reach the semifinal match against Brazil, but she was sent off after receiving two yellow cards, and the United States went on to lose 4-0.[8]


National Team GP/GS MIN Goals Assists Total Points Win-Loss-Tie
2003 9/9 762 4 0 8 7-1-1
2004 32/31 2714 8 5 21 26-2-4
2005 9/9 733 1 1 3 8-0-1
2006 9/9 793 1 1 3 6-0-3
2007 10/8 623 2 2 6 10-0-0

(*Correct as of 8/26/2007)


References

  1. ^ a b "Shannon Boxx: USA's cool-headed heroine". FIFA.com. 30 November, 2005. Retrieved 2008-01-26. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ a b c d "Shannon Boxx Biography". USsoccer.com. Retrieved 2008-01-25.
  3. ^ a b c d Longman, Jere (September 25, 2003). "SOCCER; Boxx Goes From Spectator to Steadfast Midfielder". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-01-26. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ "San Diego selects Wagner first in WUSA draft". CNNSI.com. February 2, 2003. Retrieved 2008-01-26. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ a b c Wyllie, John Philip (December 2003). "Outside the box: how U.S. midfielder Shannon Boxx, the oldest debutante in national team history, secured her post-WUSA career - Women's United Soccer Association - Interview". Soccer Digest. Retrieved 2008-01-26.
  6. ^ "Marta and Boxx toast a fantastic year". FIFA.com. 20 December, 2005. Retrieved 2008-01-26. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ Ruibal, Sal (2007-08-24). "USA's Boxx looking like the player of old". USA Today. Retrieved 2008-01-26. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ Ruibal, Sal (2007-09-27). "Goalie switch fails to work as USA falls to Brazil". USA Today. Retrieved 2008-01-26. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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