Rubí Marlene Sandoval Nungaray (born January 18, 1984) is an American-born Mexican former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

defender and member of 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 ...

. She was allocated to the

Portland Thorns FC The Portland Thorns FC is an American professional women's soccer team based in Portland, Oregon. Established in 2012, the team began play in 2013 in the then-eight-team National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), which receives support from the Uni ...

for the

NWSL 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 ...

league, but later removed by the Mexican Football Federation due to injury.

Early life

Sandoval was born in

Santa Ana, California Santa Ana () is the second most populous city and the county seat of Orange County, California. Located in the Greater Los Angeles region of Southern California, the city's population was 310,227 at the 2020 census, making Santa Ana the List of ...

. She holds

citizenship Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...

in both the U.S. and Mexico. Sandoval attended Valencia High School in

Placentia, California Placentia () is a city in northern Orange County, California. The population was 51,233 during the 2020 census, up from 46,488 in the 2000 census. This includes the community of Atwood, which is included in the city of Placentia, and is loca ...

where she was a two-time first-team all-league selection, a two-time league MVP and a two-time All-CIF selection as a sophomore and junior. She was also a two-time all-league selection and an All-CIF selection in volleyball.

Cal State Fullerton

Sandoval attended

California State University, Fullerton California State University, Fullerton (CSUF or Cal State Fullerton) is a public university in Fullerton, California. With a total enrollment of more than 41,000, it has the largest student body of the 23-campus California State University (CSU) ...

and majored in

kinesiology Kinesiology () is the scientific study of human body movement. Kinesiology addresses physiological, anatomical, biomechanical, pathological, neuropsychological principles and mechanisms of movement. Applications of kinesiology to human health ...

. During her senior year, she helped the Titans finish with a school-record 19 wins and a trip to the "Sweet 16" of the NCAA Tournament following wins over UNLV and USC. She started 22 of 23 matches, finishing with four goals and three assists to stand tied for fifth on the team in scoring (11 points). She was named NSCAA Second-Team All-American, an NSCAA First-Team All-West Region selection, and earned second-team All-America honors from Soccer Buzz and SoccerTimes.com. She was also named Big West Conference Defensive Player of the Year. She was twice named Big West Player of the Week. She set the foundation of the defensive lineup that helped Fullerton set school records for fewest goals allowed (15), fewest shots allowed (161) and most shutouts (12). Sandoval finished her college career with 71 appearances, eight goals, and seven assists.

Playing career

International

In 2003, Sandoval scored a goal for Mexico in a Women's World Cup qualifier against Japan and won a bronze medal at the Pan American Games in the Dominican Republic. She also scored a goal with Mexico in a 5–1 win over Panama at the 2002 Gold Cup and competed for Mexico's U-19 squad at the Youth World Cup in Canada in the summer of 2002. Sandoval also competed for Mexico at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

Athens, Greece Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, where she finished in 8th place with the

. She was also a member of Mexico's

2011 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup was the sixth FIFA Women's World Cup competition, the world championship for women's national association football teams. It was held from 26 June to 17 July 2011 in Germany, which won the right to host the even ...

squad. Overall, she has earned 85 caps and scored 5 goals with the Mexico national team.

Club

In 2012, Sandoval was signed by the

Santa Clarita Blue Heat Santa Clarita Blue Heat is an American women's soccer team, founded in 2008. The club was known as the Ventura County Fusion for its first two years of existence. The team plays its home games at Canyon High School. During the Fusion days, they p ...

Portland Thorns FC

In January 2013, Sandoval was included in a list of 55 players from the U.S., Canada, and Mexico national teams that were allocated to the eight teams 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 ...

. Sandoval was allocated to

, but was later removed by the Mexican Football Federation due to injury.

References

External links

*
Portland Thorns player profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sandoval, Marlene 1984 births Living people American sportspeople of Mexican descent Citizens of Mexico through descent Mexican women's footballers Mexico women's international footballers Footballers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 2011 Pan American Games Olympic footballers of Mexico Sportspeople from Santa Ana, California Soccer players from California 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup players Women's association football defenders American women's soccer players Cal State Fullerton Titans women's soccer players Pan American Games medalists in football Pan American Games bronze medalists for Mexico Medalists at the 2011 Pan American Games