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Mitts officially announces her retirement

Jeff Kassouf March 13, 2013 8

Heather Mitts has officially announced her retirement. (Copyright Patricia Giobetti | http://www.printroom.com/pro/psgiobetti)

United States women’s national team defender Heather Mitts officially announced her retirement via a Facebook post on Wednesday evening, bringing to an end a career that included three Olympic gold medals and 137 international caps.

Mitts originally stated she would retire following the 2012 London Olympics, but later reconsidered and entered her name into the pool of national team players to be allocated to National Women’s Soccer League teams.

“The time has come for me to move onto a new stage of my career,” Mitts wrote on Facebook. “I truly appreciate the women who paved the way, to my friends and dear teammates that I will never forget.”

Mitts wrote that she will be serving as a sideline analyst for Major League Soccer’s Philadelphia Union and that she will also be an ambassador for the club. She also stated that she will stay involved in soccer-related projects and looks forward to becoming the “ultimate soccer mom.” Read her full statement here.

The 34-year-old outside back had been allocated to the Boston Breakers for the upcoming NWSL season, alongside US teammates Heather O’Reilly and Sydney Leroux. Mitts played for the Philadelphia Charge from 2001-2003 in the Women’s United Soccer Association and played with Boston (2009), the Philadelphia Independence (2010) and the Atlanta Beat (2011) in Women’s Professional Soccer.

Below is what Mitts had to say about her pending retirement last May. Notice that just like in her official Facebook post on Wednesday, Mitts refuses to use the word, “retirement”:

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  • Anon

    Any news of the Breakers receiving any sort of compensation? I don’t know what could be done at this stage, but losing an allocated player, who could probably still play at club level, is a bit of a blow.

    • http://twitter.com/BostonRedSoccer Boston Red

      Other teams have lost allocated players, but the only compensation was another $25k free agent slot.

      • Anon

        I’m aware. I just wasn’t sure if the same compensation could be given here considering most players have found a home by now.

        • http://twitter.com/itsmeglinehan meg linehan

          As far as I know, there’s been no communication from the league front office on compensation for Mitts. (Yet?)

  • Anton

    Doubt the Breakers get anything except another FA slot. They probably knew that this was a possibility anyways, especially after she picked up a knock in the camp before the Scotland games.

    Thanks for everything Mitts. Always was a hell of a player, but another one that could have been so much better had it not been for injuries.

  • vert2013

    I wish Mittsy had retired at the end of the FTT so she could have gotten a proper sendoff and Boston would have been teased. I think everyone knew that her days with the team were numbered and while she hasn’t been a vital member of the team the last few years, she was for a long time and a celebration to her team contributions before or after the last FTT game would have been a nice nod to that. Also had she retired in December they could have potentially allocated another player in her place.

    • Anton

      Yeah, something like her wearing the captain’s armband (which I’m not sure she ever did) and getting subbed out later in the game for an ovation in the final Tribute Tour game would have been a proper send off for her. Not going to question her deciding to continue playing on this year though, remember her saying she felt healthy for the first time in years.

      She often gets forgotten when it comes to better players of the past 10-15 years (mainly to being injured so much). Back in her hey day she was the most fearless tackler I’ve ever seen, injuries just took their toll. Felt so good for her in 2011 when she finally made a WWC roster after being injured for 2003 and 2007 (that ’07 team really missed her).

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