Denise Elizabeth Bender (born July 29, 1959) 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 ...
defender who was a member of the
1985 United States women's national soccer team
The 1985 United States women's national soccer team was the first USWNT to play international matches. The team played four matches in Jesolo, Italy, at the Mundialito tournament, losing three and drawing one of the matches.
Coaches
Players
C ...
. She was the first captain of the USWNT in its history and played in its first international game in Italy in August 1985. She played college soccer for Washington State and Washington.
Personal life
Bender was born to Karen () and Dean Bender,
and has an identical twin sister, Laurie Bender, who also played soccer. Denise Bender earned a
master's degree in
industrial hygiene and a
Bachelor of Science in
chemistry
Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...
from the
University of Washington. She worked as an environmental health and safety director at
Amgen.
Bender married Traci Lyn Brown on February 14, 2013, in
King County, Washington.
Career statistics
International
References
Further reading
* Grainey, Timothy (2012), ''Beyond Bend It Like Beckham: The Global Phenomenon of Women's Soccer'', University of Nebraska Press,
* Lisi, Clemente A. (2010), ''The U.S. Women's Soccer Team: An American Success Story'', Scarecrow Press,
* Nash, Tim (2016), ''It's Not the Glory: The Remarkable First Thirty Years of US Women's Soccer', Lulu Press,
External links
Player interview
1959 births
Living people
American women's soccer players
Women's association football defenders
United States women's international soccer players
Washington State University alumni
Washington State Cougars women's soccer players
University of Washington alumni
Washington Huskies women's soccer players
Twin sportspeople
Soccer players from Seattle
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