Mrs. 300: Point Pleasant's Rampone Set To Become Second Soccer Player In History To Reach Mark

When the U.S. women’s national soccer team takes on Mexico tonight in the semifinals of the 2014 CONCACAF Women’s Championship, Point Pleasant native Christie Rampone has the chance to achieve something few soccer players have ever done: appear in 300 games for their country.

Rampone, 39, the national team’s captain, made her mark as a three-sport athlete at Point Pleasant Boro High School. She starred in basketball, scoring more than 2,000 points in her career, and her senior year was the leading scorer in the Shore Conference in basketball, field hockey and soccer. Recruited primarily for her basketball skills, Rampone starred as a rare college two-sport athlete at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, where she scored 79 career goals as a striker for the Hawks and was the baketball team’s starting point guard.

Rampone is one of four players from New Jersey on the U.S. roster. The others are Tobin Heath of Basking Ridge, Carli Lloyd of Delran, and Heather O’Reilly of East Brunswick.

If Rampone plays tonight, she will become just the second player in soccer history to play in 300 games for their country. Kristine Lilly, who played for the U.S. team from 1987 to 2010, appeared in a world-record 352 games. Rampone, who joined the U.S. national team in the mid-1990s and debuted for the U.S. team in 1997. is the most-capped active player in the world.

Rampone, who played midfield briefly for the U.S. team, has been a defender for most of her national team career and was named captain in 2008 by then-caoch Pia Sundhage. In Rampone’s years as captain, the U.S. has compiled a record of 88-8-13 and taken two gold medals at the Olympics, in 2008 and 2012. Rampone has started 265 of her 299 caps and played 23,261 minutes in a U.S. uniform during her career. Rampone also was the captain of the Sky Blue FC squad for the inaugural National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) season in 2013.

The game tonight at PPL Park in Chester, Pa., starts at 7:30 p.m. Eastern time and will be televised on FOX Sports 1. Fans can also follow all the U.S. games on Twitter @ussoccer_wnt and @ussoccer_esp. A victory advances the team to the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Canada.

The USA defeated Haiti 6-0 on Monday, Oct. 20, at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C., with Abby Wambach scoring twice. The U.S. moved to 3-0-0 in Group A play and claimed a top seed in the semifinal round, winning its qualifying group. Mexico finished as the runner-up in Group B with a 2-1-0 record with its only loss coming in its opening game to Costa Rica, which faces Trinidad & Tobago in Friday’s other semifinal. The U.S. improved to 25-1-0 all-time in the CONCACAF Women’s Championship and is looking to win its fifth tournament title.