Joanna Christie Lohman (born June 26, 1982) is a retired American professional soccer

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

/ defender who last played for the

Washington Spirit The Washington Spirit is an American professional soccer club based in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area that participates in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). It is a continuation of the D.C. United Women of the W-League and cont ...

of the American National Women's Soccer League. She previously played for the

Washington Freedom Washington Freedom was an American professional soccer club based in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Germantown, Maryland, that participated in Women's Professional Soccer. The Freedom was founded in 2001 as a member of the defunct Women's Uni ...

and Philadelphia Independence. In addition, she served as the general manager of the

Washington Freedom Futures Washington Freedom Futures was an American women’s soccer team and the top-level amateur team in the Washington Freedom Soccer Club hierarchy. The team was a member of the United Soccer Leagues W-League, the second tier of women’s soccer in ...

, the Washington Freedom Soccer Club's W-League team. Lohman is a former member of the

United States women's national soccer team The United States women's national soccer team (USWNT) represents the United States in international women's soccer. The team is the most successful in international women's soccer, winning four Women's World Cup titles ( 1991, 1999, 2015, an ...

and author of the book ''Raising Tomorrow's Champions: What the Women's National Soccer Team Teaches Us About Grit, Authenticity and Winning'' that was released on March 3, 2021 by Inspire Digital Media.

Early life

Lohman grew up in

Silver Spring, Maryland Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially unincorporated, in practice it is an edge city, with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 ce ...

and attended Springbrook High School. In 1999, she was named an All-Met selection.

Penn State

Lohman was captain of the Penn State Nittany Lions from 2002 to 2003 and was the first four-time First Team All-Big Ten selection in the school's history. She earned a 3.98 GPA while obtaining her business degree at Penn State, resulting in her also being a four-time Academic All-American. In 2004, she was named Pennsylvania's NCAA Woman of the Year. In 2005, she was awarded the

Big Ten Medal of Honor One of the most prestigious conference awards in college athletics, the Big Ten Medal of Honor was first awarded in 1915 to one student-athlete from the graduating class of each university who had “attained the greatest proficiency in athletics ...

, which recognizes one male and one female student from the graduating class of each Big Ten member school, for demonstrating joint athletic and academic excellence throughout their college career. In 2002, Lohman was a MAC Hermann Trophy finalist and earned first-team NSCAA All-America honors for the second-straight year.

Club career

Lohman was selected by the

Saint Louis Athletica Saint Louis Athletica was an American professional soccer club that was based in the St. Louis suburb of Fenton, Missouri that participated in Women's Professional Soccer. Athletica started the 2009 season playing its home games at Ralph Korte S ...

during the 2008 WPS General Draft. Lohman did not want to leave the DC area, however, so Athletica traded Lohman's rights to the

in January 2009. She appeared in seven games with the Freedom during the 2009 season. In September 2009, Lohman traveled to Japan with Freedom teammate,

Rebecca Moros Rebecca Ann Moros (born May 6, 1985) is an American soccer coach and former player who is currently the head coach for University of Arizona women's soccer team. A defender during her playing career, Moros played for the Utah Royals, Houston ...

to train with

NTV Beleza is a women's football team which plays in Japan's WE League. History The club was founded as named ''Yomiuri SC Ladies Beleza'' as women's club of Yomiuri SC (currently ''Tokyo Verdy'') by Yomiuri Shimbun in 1981.Philadelphia Independence for the 2010 season. She ended the season with 24 appearances and 5 goals. Lohman was tied as the second-leading goal scorer and started 20 of 24 games. Lohman returned to the Independence during the 2011 season, making 10 appearances. During the 2011–2012 off-season, Lohman and her teammate,

Lianne Sanderson Lianne Joan Sanderson (born 3 February 1988) is a current broadcaster and former English professional footballer who played as a forward. She won 50 caps for the England national team. At international level, Sanderson made her debut for Engla ...

, joined

RCD Espanyol de Barcelona Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...

in Spain. After the folding of the WPS in early 2012, Lohman and Sanderson joined D.C. United Women in the W-League for the 2012 season. Lohman played in five games, for a total of 391 minutes. In February 2012, she and Sanderson joined

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 ...

in the new National Women's Soccer League. The duo went on

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that ...

to Cypriot club Apollon Limassol after the American season had finished, to play in the

UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. The ...

. In September 2014, Lohman was waived by Breakers and was selected by

for the 2015 season. In her first year with the Spirit, the midfielder played in 17 out of the Spirit's 20 regular season matches. In 2016, Lohman played in all 20 regular season matches plus the semifinal. She scored four goals, tied for second most on the team, and notched one assist. Lohman memorably scored the opening goal of the historic 4th NWSL season in dramatic fashion with a bicycle kick in the 3rd minute against

on April 16, 2016. During the 2017 season opener against

North Carolina Courage The North Carolina Courage is a professional women's soccer team based in Cary, North Carolina. It was founded on January 9, 2017, after Stephen Malik acquired National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) franchise rights from the Western New York ...

, Lohman suffered an ACL injury keeping her from playing the remainder of the season. In March 2018, Lohman returned to the pitch following her ACL repair as a halftime substitute in the Spirit's 2018 season opener against

Seattle Reign OL Reign is an American professional women's soccer team based in Seattle, Washington. Founded by Bill and Teresa Predmore in 2012 as Seattle Reign FC, it was one of eight inaugural members of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). In 2020, ...

. Lohman scored the Spirit's lone goal in a 2–1 defeat. On April 8, 2019 Lohman announced her retirement from professional soccer. The Spirit will retire her number 15 during a ceremony in June.

International career

From 2000 to 2005, Lohman was a member of the U-21 US national team and served as captain of the squad through 2003–2004. In 2002, she helped lead the team to three Nordic Cup championships, earning MVP honors. Lohman trained with

during the 2004 Olympic Residency Training Camp and has nine caps with the senior team. She made her debut with the senior team in 2000–2001 during the

Algarve Cup The Algarve Cup is an invitational tournament for national teams in women's association football hosted by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF). Held annually in the Algarve region of Portugal since 1994, it is one of the most prestigious an ...

in a 1–0 defeat to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. In 2006, she helped the team defeat Australia 2–0 during the Peace Queen Cup.

Honors and awards

* First Team NSCAA Academic All-American (2001–2003) * Two-time Herman Trophy and Honda Sports Award Finalist (2002–2003) * First Team All-Big Ten (2000–2003) * Big Ten Player of the Year (2003) * Three-time NSCAA All- American selection and CoSIDA Academic All-American (2001–2003) * 2000 Big Ten Freshman of the Year

Personal life

Lohman married Melodie George in Washington, DC in September 2021. Ms. George works for the United States Chamber of Commerce. In August of 2022 Lohman announced on Instagram that that couple was expecting their first child in December. From 2010-2015, while playing for the Philadelphia Independence, Lohman was in a relationship with Philadelphia teammate and English international

. The couple moved to Spain together and founded JoLi Academy, a training centre for young female footballers in India. Lohman helped launch an organization called GO! Athletes that aims to encourage schools to create safer spaces for lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual and questioning athletes. She is an out and proud athlete who wants to inspire and advocate for equality. In February 2015 Lohman was confirmed to be in a relationship with Lucy Keener from

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, which lasted until August 2016. During the 2016 NWSL offseason, Lohman traveled to

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label= Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalaha ...

to run a U. S. State Department program called "Girl Power", using the shared experience of sport to promote gender equality. Lohman is Vice President of Tenant Consulting, LLC, a

commercial real estate Commercial property, also called commercial real estate, investment property or income property, is real estate (buildings or land) intended to generate a profit, either from capital gains or rental income. Commercial property includes office b ...

firm in the

Washington metropolitan area The Washington metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the National Capital Region, is the metropolitan area centered on Washington, D.C. The metropolitan area includes all of Washington, D.C. and parts of the states of Maryland, Virgi ...

. She helped create the first "carbon neutral calculator" for office buildings, resulting in an invitation to meet former Vice President

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic no ...

References

External links

US Soccer player profile

Penn State player profile

Washington Freedom player profile

JoLi Academy
* *
Joanna Lohman Blog
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lohman, Joanna 1982 births Living people American women's soccer players People from Silver Spring, Maryland Penn State Nittany Lions women's soccer players Washington Freedom players Philadelphia Independence players Lesbian sportswomen LGBT association football players American LGBT sportspeople American expatriate women's soccer players Association footballers' wives and girlfriends National Women's Soccer League players Boston Breakers players Women's Professional Soccer players D.C. United Women players Expatriate women's footballers in Cyprus Apollon Ladies F.C. players Primera División (women) players RCD Espanyol Femenino players Damallsvenskan players Bälinge IF players Expatriate women's footballers in Spain Expatriate women's footballers in Sweden American expatriate sportspeople in Spain American expatriate sportspeople in Sweden United States women's international soccer players Women's association football defenders Women's association football midfielders LGBT people from Maryland Washington Spirit players