Leslie Marie Osborne (born May 27, 1983) is a retired American

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 ...

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 ...

who last played for the

Chicago Red Stars The Chicago Red Stars are a professional women's soccer club based in Bridgeview, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. A founding member of the Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) league, they have played in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) sin ...

in the NWSL in 2013. She 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 Association football, soccer. The team is the most successful in international women's soccer, winning four FIFA Women's World Cup, Wom ...

and previously played for

FC Gold Pride FC Gold Pride was an American professional soccer club based in the San Francisco Bay Area, which participated in Women's Professional Soccer. The club replaced the San Jose CyberRays of the defunct Women's United Soccer Association as the top-l ...

and 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 ...

in the WPS. She announced her retirement as a player in March 2014.

Early life

Born in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...

, Osborne grew up in

Brookfield, Wisconsin Brookfield is a city located in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, United States in the Milwaukee metropolitan area The Milwaukee metropolitan area (also known as Metro Milwaukee or Greater Milwaukee) is a major metropolitan area located in Southeast ...

and attended

Catholic Memorial High School Catholic Memorial High School (or CMH) is a co-educational Catholic high school in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Established in 1949, it is a member of the National Catholic Educational Association and is a World School in thInternational Baccalaureate O ...

Waukesha, Wisconsin Waukesha ( ) is the county seat of Waukesha County, Wisconsin, United States. It is part of the Milwaukee metropolitan area. Its population was 71,158 at the 2020 census. The city is adjacent to the Village of Waukesha. History The area tha ...

Santa Clara University

Osborne played soccer at

Santa Clara University Santa Clara University is a private Jesuit university in Santa Clara, California. Established in 1851, Santa Clara University is the oldest operating institution of higher learning in California. The university's campus surrounds the historic Mis ...

Santa Clara, California Santa Clara (; Spanish for " Saint Clare") is a city in Santa Clara County, California. The city's population was 127,647 at the 2020 census, making it the eighth-most populous city in the Bay Area. Located in the southern Bay Area, the cit ...

. As a freshman, she was a key member of the Santa Clara team that won the 2001 NCAA Women's Soccer Championship. As a senior in 2004, she was a semifinalist for the

Hermann Trophy The Hermann Trophy is awarded annually by the Missouri Athletic Club to the United States's top men's and women's college soccer players. History In 1967, Bob Hermann, the president of the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) and the ...

and won the Honda Sports Award as the nation's outstanding collegiate female player.

Playing career

Club

FC Gold Pride

In 2009, she played for the

, in the inaugural season of the

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 ...

(WPS) league.

Boston Breakers

In 2010, Osborne was made a free agent and signed with the

. When the WPS suspended operations in early 2012 and later folded, Osborne continued with the Breakers as they moved into the

Women's Premier Soccer League Elite The Women's Premier Soccer League Elite (WPSL Elite) was a women's semi-professional soccer league created by the Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL) to support the sport in the United States, both from continued interest by WPSL teams in profess ...

. She played a key role in securing investors for the team in both the WPS and WPSL Elite.

Chicago Red Stars

In 2013, she joined the

in the new

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. It is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federatio ...

. On March 11, 2014 she announced her retirement from professional soccer.

International

Osborne was a member of U.S. national youth teams in 2002 and 2003, and earned her first cap with the senior national team on January 30, 2004 against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. After sitting out the first U.S. game of the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup in favor of

Shannon Boxx Shannon Leigh Boxx Spearman (; born June 29, 1977) is an American retired soccer player and former member of the United States women's national soccer team, playing the defensive midfielder position. She last played club soccer for the Chicago Re ...

, she played all 90 minutes in all five remaining matches. During the 4-0 semifinal loss to

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, Osborne scored an

own goal An own goal, also called a self goal, is where a player performs actions that result in them or their team scoring a goal on themselves, often resulting in a point for the opposing team, such as when a football player kicks a ball into their own ...

in an attempt to clear a

corner kick A corner kick is the method of restarting play in a game of association football when the ball goes out of play over the goal line, without a goal being scored and having last been touched by a member of the defending team. The kick is taken ...

. In May 2008, Osborne tore her ACL before the 2008 Olympics, which caused her to miss the

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

games. She took nearly a year to rehab the knee injury, causing her to miss several national team games and lose her regular starting position on the national team.

International goals

Coaching career

Osborne was an assistant coach for the Santa Clara women's team for several years.

Personal life

Osborne is married to Ricky Lewis, with whom she has three daughters.

Sponsor

Osborne has a primary

sponsorship Sponsoring something (or someone) is the act of supporting an event, activity, person, or organization financially or through the provision of products or services. The individual or group that provides the support, similar to a benefactor, is k ...

with

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

sportswear company, Puma.

References

Match reports

External links

*
Fox Sports profile

Chicago Red Stars player profile

Boston Breakers player profile

Graham Hayes, "Osborne provides unparalleled depth in midfield"

ESPN.com ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN. It is owned by ESPN Internet Ventures, a division of ESPN Inc. History Since launching in April 1995 as ESPNET.SportsZone.com (ESPNET SportsZone), the website has developed numerous sections including ...

, September 7, 2007
Leslie Osborne's World Cup blog (Santa Clara University)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Osborne, Leslie 1983 births Living people Association footballers' wives and girlfriends United States women's international soccer players Santa Clara Broncos women's soccer players FC Gold Pride players Boston Breakers players Sportspeople from Milwaukee Soccer players from Milwaukee American women's soccer players Women's Premier Soccer League Elite players National Women's Soccer League players Chicago Red Stars players Women's Professional Soccer players 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup players Women's association football midfielders Sports businesswomen American women business executives American business executives Women association football commentators California Storm players Women's Premier Soccer League players Association football commentators American soccer commentators Chicago Cobras players USL W-League (1995–2015) players