Leslie Gaston Marcus (born Leslie Anne Gaston; August 9, 1980) is an American former

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player who played as a defender.

Career

Youth

Gaston began playing soccer at the age of four, and played on boys' club teams until 1994. In 1995, she played on the boys' varsity soccer team of Saint James School as a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

, and was an all-city selection. She tore her ACL in late 2005, but returned from injury to compete in

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

in early 1996. She was as a state finalist in the 4 × 100, and finished fifth in the 100 and

200 meters The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

, earning her the 1996 Rehab Associates award for the comeback of the year. She again competed in boys' varsity soccer and track in early 1997. She finished third in the state in the

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

and sixth in the 100 meters for track, and was a 1997 ''

Parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, float (parade), floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually ce ...

'' and

NSCAA The United Soccer Coaches (formerly known as the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)) is an organization of American soccer coaches founded in 1941. It is the largest soccer coaches organization in the world, with more than 30 ...

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

n. She was the captain of the girls' varsity soccer team in early 1998, earning her all-state honors. Gaston was named on regional Olympic Development Program teams from 1993 to 1995, 1997 and 1998. She played for the Briarwood Lady Lightning club team from 1994 to early 1997, before joining

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

's Tophat Soccer Club in late 1997. With Tophat, she won the 1997 state championship in, the 1997 WAGS Premier Cup, the 1998 Junior Orange Bowl championship, and the 1998 Region 3 championship. She was also named to the U.S. under-17 national team pool in 1997, and made the under-18 team in 1998 before withdrawing due to injury.

College

Gaston joined the

North Carolina Tar Heels The North Carolina Tar Heels are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The name Tar Heel is a nickname used to refer to individuals from the state of North Carolina, the ''Tar Heel ...

on an

athletic scholarship An athletic scholarship is a form of scholarship to attend a college or university or a private high school awarded to an individual based predominantly on his or her ability to play in a sport. Athletic scholarships are common in the United Stat ...

in 1998. However, she

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

during the 1998 season due to an ACL injury. In her debut 1999 season, she played a reserve role, suffering a torn

MCL The litre (international spelling) or liter (American English spelling) (SI symbols L and l, other symbol used: ℓ) is a metric unit of volume. It is equal to 1 cubic decimetre (dm3), 1000 cubic centimetres (cm3) or 0.001 cubic metre (m3) ...

in her only start of the season, resulting in her missing several games during the season. The team went on to win the 1999 national championship. She played a greater role during her second season as a

defensive 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 ...

, scoring four goals and recording one assist in 24 appearances as the team went on to win the 2000 national championship. She started all 25 games of the 2001 season primarily as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

, scoring three goals and recording two assists. In her final season she made 26 appearances and scored one goal. She was an All-American in 2002, selected to the second team by the

and third team by ''Soccer Buzz'', and was named as the

most valuable player In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

of the

ACC ACC most often refers to: * Atlantic Coast Conference, an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic conference located in the US *American College of Cardiology, A US-based nonprofit medical association that bestows credentials upon cardiovascular spec ...

tournament. For the same season, she was included in the All-ACC second team, and was included in the All-Southeast Region by the NSCAA and ''Soccer Buzz''. During her college career, she made 92 appearances for the Tar Heels, scoring ten goals and recording four assists.

Club

After finishing her college career, Gaston was selected as the second pick of the second round of the

2003 WUSA Draft The 2003 WUSA College Draft took place on February 2, 2003. It was the third and final college draft held by Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) to assign the rights of college players to the WUSA teams. Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 ...

(tenth overall) by the Atlanta Beat. She made her debut for Atlanta on April 5, 2003, against the

New York Power The New York Power was an American professional soccer team that played in the Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA), the first professional soccer league for women in the United States. The team played at Mitchel Athletic Complex in Uniondal ...

, assisting

Kylie Bivens Kylie Elizabeth Bivens (born October 24, 1978) is an American former professional soccer player who featured as a defender and midfielder and was a member of the United States women's national soccer team. She represented the United States at ...

's opening goal of a 5–0 win. Gaston made 18 regular season appearances during the

2003 season 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...

, with the team finishing second and qualifying for the playoffs. In the semifinal against the

San Diego Spirit The San Diego Spirit was a professional soccer team that played in the Women's United Soccer Association. The team played at Torero Stadium on the campus of the University of San Diego in San Diego, California. The team began play in 2001. The l ...

, she assisted

Charmaine Hooper Charmaine Elizabeth Hooper (born January 15, 1968) is a Canadian retired soccer player. A four-time winner of the Canadian Players of the Year award and member of the Canada Soccer Hall of Fame, Hooper played on the Canada women's national socc ...

's winning

golden goal The golden goal or golden point is a rule used in association football, lacrosse, field hockey, and ice hockey to decide the winner of a match (typically a knock-out match) in which scores are equal at the end of normal time. It is a type of sud ...

four minutes into extra time to advance to the

2003 WUSA Founders Cup The 2003 WUSA Founders Cup, also known as Founders Cup III, was the third and final championship match in Women's United Soccer Association history, played between the Atlanta Beat and the Washington Freedom to decide the champion of the league ...

. She started in the Founders Cup against 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 ...

, earning a penalty at the end of the first half, which Charmaine Hooper converted to equalize the score at 1–1. Gaston was substituted out before the start of

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...

, with Atlanta going on to lose six minutes later to a golden goal by

Abby Wambach Mary Abigail Wambach (born June 2, 1980) is an American retired soccer player, coach, and member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame. A six-time winner of the U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year award, Wambach was a regular on the U.S. women's natio ...

. Gaston played for the

Atlanta Silverbacks The Atlanta Silverbacks FC were an American professional soccer club based in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1998 as Atlanta Ruckus, the club played in many leagues over the years before folding after the 2015 season. The team played its home game ...

in 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 ...

from 2005 to 2006. She was named the defensive player of the year for the 2006 W-League season, and was included on the All W-League and All-Central Conference teams. In July 2009, the newly founded Atlanta Beat in

Women's Professional Soccer Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) was the top-level professional women's soccer league in the United States. It began play on March 29, 2009. The league was composed of seven teams for its first two seasons and fielded six teams for the 2011 sea ...

named Gaston as an assistant coach for the team's inaugural 2010 season. However, she ultimately did not serve on the team's coaching staff.

Personal life

Gaston was born to Eddie and Sally Gaston in

Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery is the capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama and the county seat of Montgomery County. Named for the Irish soldier Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River, on the coastal Plain of the Gulf of Mexico. In the 202 ...

, where she grew up and attended Saint James School, graduating in June 1998. She went on to graduate from the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

in December 2002 with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in communications. After 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, she began working as a marketing coordinator for arts and entertainment at ''

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the only major daily newspaper in the metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger between ...

''. She married her husband David Marcus in April 2009, working at the time at a

graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdiscipli ...

firm. They resided in

until 2014, when they relocated with their 2 children to

Carbondale, Colorado The Town of Carbondale is a home rule municipality located in Garfield County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 6,434 at the 2020 United States Census. Carbondale is a part of the Glenwood Springs, CO Micropolitan Statistical Ar ...

. Gaston dealt with numerous injuries during her career, primarily on her knee, requiring eleven surgeries (six on the left knee and five on the right). Her first knee surgery occurred in high school, while the remaining ten were in college. This included five surgeries to replace her

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are also called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation ...

. However, she continued to play soccer against the advice of doctors. Despite dealing with knee pain after finishing her career, she would later state: "if I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't change anything. I know that sounds strange. But all the injuries have shaped my character and life in a way that I never thought something as devastating as having five ACLs could. I know whatever obstacles I face, I can get through them." She also broke her right leg, broke her ankle twice, bruised her kidney, broke her collarbone, and had four

concussion A concussion, also known as a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), is a head injury that temporarily affects brain functioning. Symptoms may include loss of consciousness (LOC); memory loss; headaches; difficulty with thinking, concentration, ...

s all before finishing high school.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaston, Leslie 1980 births Living people Sportspeople from Montgomery, Alabama Soccer players from Alabama American women's soccer players Women's association football defenders North Carolina Tar Heels women's soccer players Atlanta Beat (WUSA) players Atlanta Silverbacks Women players Women's United Soccer Association players Parade High School All-Americans (girls' soccer) USL W-League (1995–2015) players