Carli Lloyd
Soccer superstar, speaker, author
Born: July 16, 1982, in Delran, New Jersey
Lives in: Mt. Laurel, New Jersey
New Jersey Hall of Fame, Class of 2017: Sports
One of the most accomplished athletes ever to emerge from New Jersey, soccer legend Carli Lloyd has excelled at every level of her sport.
Growing up in South Jersey, Lloyd played multiple sports, but quickly identified soccer as her true passion. She starred at Delran High School, where she scored 26 goals in her senior year and earned 1999 and 2000 All-American honors from Parade magazine. Attending Rutgers University from 2001-2004, she won Big East Rookie-of-the-Year honors as a freshman and would become the first Rutgers athlete to earn first-team All-Big East recognition for four straight years. She ended her career with the Scarlet Knights as the school’s all-time leader in points (117), goals (50) and shots.
Lloyd began her stellar international career as a member of the U.S. youth national team, winning four consecutive titles at the Nordic World Cup from 2002-2005. At the 2005 Nordic Cup, Lloyd scored three goals, including one in the championship match against Norway.
Moving up to the senior national team in mid-2005, Lloyd continued her winning ways. In 2007, she was the top scorer and Most Valuable Player at the Algarve Cup in Portugal. The same year, Lloyd played in her first FIFA World Cup Tournament. She went on to play on FIFA World Cup championship squads in 2015 and 2019, winning FIFA Player-of-the-Year honors in 2015 and 2016. During the 2015 tournament, Lloyd became the first player ever to score three goals in a World Cup final.
Lloyd made her first Olympics appearance in Beijing in 2008, scoring the game-winning goal in the final against Brazil for the gold-medal winning U.S. team. She returned to the Olympics in London in 2012 and again scored the decisive goal in the final, leading the U.S. to another Olympic gold. Lloyd played on two more Olympics squads, in 2016 and 2020, before retiring from the national team at age 38.
Lloyd also played professionally, beginning in 2008 with the Chicago Red Stars. She next signed with her home state Sky Blue FC, and subsequently played for Atlanta Beat, Western New York Flash, Houston Dash and Manchester City, before returning in 2018 to Sky Blue (later renamed Gotham FC).
Renowned for her stamina, versality and clutch play, Lloyd’s career total of 10 Olympic goals is the most by any U.S. woman. She also played in more World Cup (25) and Olympic matches (22) than any U.S. woman. And she holds the record for most goals by a female player after the age of 30.
Lloyd’s 2016 memoir, “When Nobody was Watching,” was a New York Times best-seller. Lloyd remains active as a motivational speaker. She also runs youth soccer camps in New Jersey and volunteers for Habitat for Humanity.
On her website, Lloyd explains they keys to her success: “I had to learn to embrace challenges, to not point the finger at anyone else or make excuses. I had to condition my mind and body into working hard every single day. I had to turn my weaknesses into my strengths. This had to be my life 24/7.”