WATCH: World Cup Winners Honored With Canyon Of Heroes Parade

LOWER MANHATTAN, NY — New York City celebrated the best soccer team in the world for the second time Wednesday morning with a ticker-tape parade through Lower Manhattan's historic Canyon of Heroes.

A ton of paper confetti rained down on the U.S. Women's National Team and thousands of cheering spectators who gathered for the parade, held three days after the team's Sunday victory over the Netherlands. The soccer champs also received keys to the city at a ceremony after the parade.

Some of the team's players — including co-captain Megan Rapinoe, who scored one of the two goals in final match — hoisted the World Cup trophy aboard a float carrying a giant globe ringed with the words "WORLD CHAMPIONS." Mayor Bill de Blasio and first lady Chirlane McCray rode with them.

Crowds lined the route well ahead of the celebration on a hot and humid Wednesday morning. Many spectators were decked out in American flags and red, white and blue. Confetti paper was already floating from buildings above before the festivities started.

"I'm probably gonna scream as loud as I can," said Victoria Anderson, 18, of New Jersey, adding that she felt "excitement and pride for a team that's supporting and representing our country."

Anderson is from the same hometown as midfielder Tobin Heath — and even has Heath's old desk because their parents are childhood friends.

The soccer team was honored after its last World Cup win in 2015. At the time, the U.S. women's team was the first women's sports team to be honored with a ticker-tape parade in New York City.

The squad has won the World Cup a record-breaking four times.

"They showed us that playing like a girl is to be unbeatable," McCray said at the ceremony outside City Hall.

Anderson wasn't the only fan who crossed the Hudson River to reach Wednesday's parade. Four 17-year-old soccer teammates from Central New Jersey left at 6 a.m. to get a front-row spot for the festivities.

"We all play soccer and they're a big inspiration to us," said Katy Boehner-Abbot. "We watched every single game."

Boehner-Abbott's teammate Madison Delucia was pumped to see U.S. Women's National Team player Alex Morgan, who drew international attention for her tea-sipping celebration after she scored a goal in the squad's semifinal victory over England.

"She's always been my favorite," Delucia said. "Her tactics, her moves — and I'm a forward."

Frankie Joiris and Chris Ott of New Jersey were dressed in Team USA jerseys with a rainbow flag and an American flag in tow. While she has never been into sports as much as her partner, Joiris said it would be "emotional" for her to see the U.S. women's team, whose players have raised the visibility of LGBTQ women in sports and used it to advocate for equal rights.

"I think we finally found a convergence in gay politics and her interest in sports," Joiris said of her and Ott. "I just think visibility is important to remind the rest of the world that we're all people and we should all have equal rights and we're not there yet."

Ott said the team is "so eloquently spoken and clear." Plus, Joiris "finally watched a sports game with me," Ott said.

In the midst of the win, the soccer players have been fiercely fighting to be paid on par with the U.S. men's national team in an ongoing lawsuit filed in March. At the World Cup's final game Sunday, thousands of people chanted "Equal pay!" from the stadium stands in support of the team.

Caitie Clark of New York was in France for the final game on Sunday when those now-famous chants roared inside the Lyon stadium.

"When we talk about women's sports equality in 2019, right now, we need to be talking about pay equality," Clark said with an equal pay sign in hand.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo joined some of the players in another equal pay chant aboard a float Wednesday morning after he signed pay equity legislation to mark the occasion.

The laws expand the state's equal pay protections and ban employers from asking about a job candidate's salary history, a practice that city law has prohibited since 2017.

"The women's soccer team plays the same game that the men’s soccer players play — only better. If anything, the men should get paid less," Cuomo said on Twitter.

De Blasio, for his part, pledged to ensure men's and women's national sports teams are compensated equally if his longshot presidential campaign is successful. He said he would urge Congress to amend the Amateur Sports Act to make sure the teams get equal pay and resources and promised to pursue executive action if lawmakers do not act.

"The U.S. Women's National Team shouldn't have to fight for equality in this day and age and its outrageous that they still have to fight for equal compensation," de Blasio said in a statement.

The historic Canyon of Heroes ticker-tape parade dates back to 1886 with the dedication of the Statue of Liberty.

Hundreds of parades later, the only ones held since 2000 were for the New York Yankees in 2000 and 2009 and the New York Giants in 2008.

Rapinoe, arguably the team's most visible star, ended her speech at City Hall with an appeal for unity and kindness. "It's our responsibility to make this world a better place," she said.

"We have to be better. We have to love more, hate less. We got to listen more, and talk less," Rapinoe said. "We got to know that this is everybody's responsibility."

"New York City, you're the motherf---in' best," she added.

Watch the parade honoring the Women's World Cup champions below.

Patch editor Noah Manskar contributed reporting.