Christine Rich ( McCann, born May 26, 1977 in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...

) is a retired American soccer player who played for the

Boston Breakers The Boston Breakers were an American professional soccer club based in the Boston neighborhood of Allston. The team competed in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). They replaced the original Breakers, who competed in the defunct Women's ...

Early life and education

McCann was born in Providence, Rhode Island and raised in

Barrington, Rhode Island Barrington is a suburban, residential town in Bristol County, Rhode Island located approximately southeast of Providence. It was founded by Congregationalist separatists from Swansea, Massachusetts and incorporated in 1717. Barrington was ceded ...

. She attended the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Hart ...

Career

While attending the

, McCann played for the university's soccer team, where she held the role of team captain. In 1997, her team played in the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

(NCAA) finals. Although McCann was initially denied a position on the Boston Breakers team in 2001, she was later "added to the reserve squad on a per diem basis" and ultimately started in every game her first season on the team. She remained on the team until the

Women's United Soccer Association The Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) was the world's first Women's association football, women's soccer league in which all the players were paid as professionals. Founded in February 2000 in sports, 2000, the league began its first se ...

folded in 2003.

References

1977 births Living people Sportspeople from Providence, Rhode Island American women's soccer players Women's United Soccer Association players Boston Breakers (WUSA) players Women's association football defenders UConn Huskies women's soccer players {{US-women-footy-bio-stub