SAUERBRUNN BECKY

• Rebecca Elizabeth Sauerbrunn majored in English literature and composition at Virginia.


• Her favorite book genre is fiction, especially science fiction and fantasy, and her favorite series is “His Dark Materials” by Philip Pullman.


• Her favorite all-time TV show is “Friday Night Lights,” but also enjoys “Game of Thrones,” “The Wire,” “True Detective,” “Fargo,” “Stranger Things.” “Westworld,” “Peaky Blinders” and pretty much anything created by HBO or Netflix.


• Has begun listening to podcasts and enjoys “Men in Blazers,” “The Black Tapes,” “No Sleep,” “Myths and Legends” and “Lore.”


• Favorite soccer team is Arsenal but also really likes watching Real Madrid.


• Likes center back Martin Skrtel because they are complete opposites in how they play. Really loves how Leonardo Bonucci plays for Juventus and Italy.


• Good at video games, especially racing and adventure ones, like Zelda. Has found herself playing every version of Tomb Raider and loves playing with a strong female character.


• Has a dry, dark sense of humor that still often catches her teammates off guard.


• Favorite number is 11, and for years she either wore 11 or 22, but at the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup and 2012 Olympics she wore the number 4 and has kept that number ever since as it’s traditionally a center-back number. It’s also the number worn by former U.S. captain Carla Overbeck, who is a player she really admires.

Brotherly Love
Becky Sauerbrunn describes herself as her two older brothers’ guinea pig. They’d duct-tape plywood to her arms and take slap shocks at her; they’d see how far they could launch her off the couch; they’d roll her into a blanket like a burrito; they’d steal her stuffed animals and beat them up while she tried to rescue them. “Aside from physically toughening me up, they also toughened me up mentally,” she said.  “I learned how to take it. It taught me how to not really rely on other people to solve my problems. I think that kind of stayed with me. I’m very motivated internally. I’m a bit of a scrapper.”

This tolerance for pain came in handy during her first National Team cap against Canada, “I was so nervous, I didn’t think I was going to start, but there was an injury so I was thrown into the starting lineup.” In the second half, Sauerbrunn went up for a ball. A Canada player tried to flick the ball but instead caught Sauerbrunn full in the face with her head. "I went to feel my face and my nose was not where it was supposed to be. But I was like, okay, well, I can keep playing,” Sauerbrunn said.  A nearby teammate caught sight of her and told her to get off the field. She headed to the sideline, holding her nose with her shirt. The team doctor reset it right there in the locker room. Becky played in the next game with a “MacGyver-like mask” made out of random materials they happened to have on hand in the training room. A contraption with the same industrious, ramshackle style as the plywood-hockey ensembles her brother would put her in as a kid.

Her two brothers also helped their little sister learn how to read. “I had trouble when I first started learning how to read and my brothers would read to me and then help me try to figure out the words.” These days Sauerbrunn is a voracious reader who brings three or four books on every National Team trip. “Reading is such an escape, so nice to just get away. Plus, I want to continue learning. Soccer will only last for so long and I’d still like my brain to function, so it’s good to keep exercising it.”

CAPS/GOALS - 143/0