Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak (born Tiffany Marie Roberts; May 5, 1977) is an 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 ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

, former defender, and Olympic gold medalist. She was also a member of the 1999 U.S. national team that won 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 ...

. She became the 16th player in U.S. history to play over 100 matches for her country and was a founding member of the WUSA, the first women's professional soccer league in the United States. She is currently head coach of the women's soccer team at the

University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public research university whose main campus is in unincorporated Orange County, Florida. UCF also has nine smaller regional campuses throughout central Florida. It is part of the State University ...

Early life

Born in

Petaluma, California Petaluma (Miwok languages, Miwok: ''Péta Lúuma'') is a city in Sonoma County, California, Sonoma County, California, located in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Its population was 59,776 a ...

, Roberts attended the all-girls'

Carondelet High School Carondelet High School is an all-girls private Catholic high school in Concord, California, United States. Carondelet High School was founded in 1965 by the Sisters of Saint Joseph. The school enrolls about 800 students. It shares some resources w ...

Concord, California Concord ( ) is the largest city in Contra Costa County, California. According to an estimate completed by the United States Census Bureau, the city had a population of 129,295 in 2019 making it the eighth largest city in the San Francisco Ba ...

where she scored 90 goals and provided 51 assists in three and a half seasons. During her senior year, she scored nine goals with five assists in six games before leaving to join the national team. She graduated from high school via correspondent courses in order to train full-time with the national team beginning in January 1995 in preparation for the 1995 Women's World Cup. Roberts was named the 1994 California High School Player of the Year. She was a three-time Parade High School All-American, a three-time NSCAA All-American and was the two-time National Girl's High School Player of the Year. As a junior, she scored 34 goals and served 20 assists and helped lead Carondelet to the state title and the number one ranking in the country. A top track athlete in high school, Roberts was ranked in the top 20 in the country for the 400 meter dash and was voted Carondelet's Most Valuable Track & Field Athlete in 1992 and 1993. Roberts played club soccer for two years with the San Ramon Soccer Club in San Ramon, California. She also played with Alcosta Lightning from age 12-15 and was a member of the Lightning's Under-15 team that won the regional championship. She was voted the MVP of the Far Western Regional in 1993.

Playing career

University of North Carolina

Roberts attended the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...

and played for the Tar Heels under then former national team coach,

Anson Dorrance Albert Anson Dorrance IV (born April 9, 1951) is an American soccer coach. He is currently the head coach of the women's soccer program at the University of North Carolina. He has one of the most successful coaching records in the history of ath ...

. As a freshman in 1995, she scored five goals and served six assists while starting 22 games and earning First-Team All-ACC honors. As a sophomore, she helped the Tar Heels to the 1996 NCAA title while battling through injuries scoring nine goals and providing 15 assists. During her junior year in 1997, she started all 28 games, scored seven goals and provided 11 assists while helping the team to the NCAA title. She was named First-Team All-ACC and to the NCAA All-Tournament Team. During her senior year, she started all 26 games while scoring three goals with 12 assists and was named MVP of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament. She helped the Tar Heels to an undefeated regular season and a berth in the NCAA Championship game and was named to the NCAA All-Tournament Team. The same year, she finished third in voting for both the 1998

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 MAC Player of the Year Award.

Club

Carolina Courage

Roberts was a founding player of 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 ...

, the first women's professional soccer league in the United States, and played for the

Carolina Courage Carolina Courage was a professional soccer team that played in the Women's United Soccer Association. The team played at Fetzer Field on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus in 2001, and then at the soccer-specific SAS Stadium in Cary, North Carolina i ...

from 2001 to 2003. During the club's inaugural season in 2001, she started all 21 games. She went on to captain the team over the next two seasons, winning the WUSA Championship in 2002, as well as earning two WUSA All-Star Team selections in 2002 and 2003.

Washington Freedom

In 2005, Roberts joined the Washington Freedom Reserves, an exhibition team put together by the Washington Freedom ownership, joining former WUSA players like

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 ...

and

Emily Janss Emily Suzanne Janss (born July 1, 1978) is an American soccer defender who last played for Washington Freedom of Women's Professional Soccer Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) was the top-level professional women's soccer league in the Uni ...

, as well as U-21 National Team players,

Ali Krieger Alexandra Blaire Krieger (born July 28, 1984) is an American soccer player for NJ/NY Gotham FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), the highest division of women's professional soccer in the United States, and the United States women's ...

and

Joanna Lohman Joanna Christie Lohman (born June 26, 1982) is a retired American professional soccer midfielder/ defender who last played for the Washington Spirit of the American National Women's Soccer League. She previously played for the Washington Freed ...

. The team also brought in retired soccer players Sun Wen and

Brandi Chastain Brandi Denise Chastain (born July 21, 1968) is an American retired soccer player, two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion, two-time Olympic gold-medalist, coach, and sports broadcaster. She played for the United States national team from 1988 ...

as guest players for one game each. The Freedom compiled a 7–2–2 record for the season of exhibition matches, almost all against W-League teams.

International

Roberts made her international debut with 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 ...

at the age of 16 in 1994 during a match against Portugal and was a member of the U.S. team that won the title at the CONCACAF Qualifying Championship in Montreal in 1994. She scored her first goal on April 10, 1994 in a match against Trinidad & Tobago. In 1995, she played for the team that finished third at the

1995 FIFA Women's World Cup The 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup, the second edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, was held in Sweden and won by Norway women's national football team, Norway, who became the first European nation to win the Women's World Cup. The tournament fea ...

in Sweden. In 1996, she was a member of the gold medal-winning team at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Atlanta, Georgia 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 ...

. Her defensive play in the midfield was considered key to the victory over Norway during the Olympic semifinals."1996 Summer Olympics – Atlanta, United States – Soccer"
(Retrieved on May 17, 2008) In 1998, Roberts was a member of the gold medal-winning team at the 1998 Goodwill Games. During the

, she played in two matches helping the team win gold. Previously, Roberts represented the United States on the U-21 national team that won the 1997 Nordic Cup in Denmark and finished second at the 1998 Nordic Cup in the Netherlands.

Coaching career

Roberts began her coaching career as co-head coach of the women's soccer team at

Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a public research university in Richmond, Virginia. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virginia in 1854. In 1968, the Virgini ...

along with her husband, former MLS player, Tim Sahaydak. She was then hired as head coach at the

on May 6, 2013, with Tim hired as an assistant.

Head coaching record

Sports administration career

In 2011, Roberts traveled to Brazil on behalf of the United States Department of State to conduct soccer clinics with former national team member and teammate,

Linda Hamilton Linda Carroll Hamilton (born September 26, 1956) is an American actress. She played Sarah Connor in the ''Terminator'' film series and Catherine Chandler in the television series ''Beauty and the Beast'' (1987–1990), for which she was nominat ...

. In June 2014, Roberts traveled to Brazil on behalf of the United States Department of State to participate in a Sports Envoy program with former U.S. national team member Cobi Jones. In July 2014, Roberts returned to Brazil as a member of the official White House delegation at the opening game of the FIFA World Cup in São Paulo, Brazil.

Honors

Player

United States * Women's World Cup (

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

) *

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

(

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

)

Coach

UCF Knights *

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

Tournament Championship (2013) * 4x

Regular Season Championship (2013, 2014, 2017, 2022) Individual *

Coach of the Year (2013) *

Colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 au ...

Coach of the Year (2011)

References

External links

* *
US Soccer profile

Virginia Commonwealth coach profile

Life After Soccer: Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak
*

WUSA player profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Tiffany 1977 births Living people People from Petaluma, California American women's soccer players American sportspeople of Filipino descent Footballers at the 1996 Summer Olympics North Carolina Tar Heels women's soccer players Olympic gold medalists for the United States in soccer Parade High School All-Americans (girls' soccer) Washington Freedom players FIFA Century Club VCU Rams women's soccer coaches UCF Knights women's soccer coaches 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup players 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup players 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup players FIFA Women's World Cup-winning players Women's association football defenders Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics United States women's international soccer players American soccer coaches Competitors at the 1998 Goodwill Games Women's United Soccer Association players