Laurie Anne Hill Rozenel (born 11 February 1970) is a retired

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

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 ...

. Born in the United States, she represented the Mexico women's national team.

Early life and education

Hill was born on February 11, 1970, in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, and was raised in the same area. Her mother was born in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

to American parents. Hill attended the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduate ...

and was a student-athlete on the

UC Santa Barbara Gauchos The UC Santa Barbara Gauchos are the intercollegiate athletic teams who represent the University of California, Santa Barbara. Referred to in athletic competition as ''UC Santa Barbara'' or ''UCSB'', the Gauchos participate in 19 NCAA Division I ...

women's soccer team. Hill became UC Santa Barbara's career leader in minutes played (6,422) and was named a three-time All American from 1989 through 1991. Following her UCSB career, she was inducted into the UC Santa Barbara Athletics Hall of Fame.

Club career

Hill played for the Southern California Nitemares as a teenager. After she graduated from UC Santa Barbara, she went to

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

to play professionally for a year before returning to Southern California. Hill rejoined the Nitemares in 1995 as they became a founding member of the

USL W-League The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, pl ...

. For the 1995 W-League season, Hill was named the league's first MVP. She also featured for the

Sacramento Storm California Storm is an American women's soccer team, founded in 1995 as the Sacramento Storm, dropping the city name in favor of California the following season. The team is a member of the Women's Premier Soccer League, the second tier of wom ...

. Following the 1999 Women's World Cup, Hill was selected to be a part of a travelling exhibition against the United States Women's National Team. She would later be drafted to 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 ...

Philadelphia Charge The Philadelphia Charge was an American women's professional soccer team that played in the Women's United Soccer Association. The team played at Villanova Stadium on the campus of Villanova University near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. History ...

in the 15th round of the

2000 WUSA Draft The WUSA Inaugural Player Draft, held before Women's United Soccer Association's initial 2001 season, distributed players to the league's eight inaugural teams. The draft occurred on December 10 and 11, 2000. This took place after each team was a ...

. She quit playing soccer before the Charge played their first game after deciding to focus on a nursing career.

International career

Hill, being American born and raised, attempted to join 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 Association football, soccer. The team is the most successful in international women's soccer, winning four FIFA Women's World Cup, Wom ...

. She never made an appearance for the team. After a series of changes in Mexican laws, Hill was eligible to attempt to join the

Mexico women's national football team The Mexico women's national football team represents Mexico on the international stage. The squad is governed by the Mexican Football Federation and competes within CONCACAF, the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Associatio ...

prior to the

1999 FIFA Women's World Cup The 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup was the third edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the world championship for women's national soccer teams. It was hosted as well as won by the United States and took place from June 19 to July 10, 1999, at ...

. After the Mexico national team played a scrimmage against the

, Hill, who played for the Storm, approached the Mexican officials about joining the team. Hill was successful in joining the team for their first Women's World Cup appearance and was one of over half of the 20–player roster that had American ties. Hill served as a co-captain for the team and appeared in all three group matches.

Personal life

Hill was nicknamed "The Thrill" after her play on the field. After soccer, she met her husband, Johnny, in the Summer 2001 and moved to Ireland. She works in nursing and is a mother to three children.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hill, Laurie 1970 births Living people Mexican women's footballers Women's association football midfielders Mexico women's international footballers 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup players Mexican people of American descent American women's soccer players Soccer players from Los Angeles American sportspeople of Mexican descent UC Santa Barbara Gauchos women's soccer players USL W-League (1995–2015) players California Storm players