USWNT players say goodbye to Heather O'Reilly with #ThanksHAO
Is it dusty in here or is it just us? Heather O'Reilly's last game for the U.S. women's national team is Thursday night and, well, there are a lot of emotions to go around -- not just from longtime fans, but her fellow teammates.
USWNT members of past and present took to social media to let "HAO" know how they felt, tagging their messages with the hashtag #ThanksHAO:
#ThanksHAO for everything ! Game day to celebrate number 9 ❤️ pic.twitter.com/qiv54KKPqD
— Julie Johnston (@_JulieJohnston_) September 15, 2016
Pure class. You wore this jersey with pride each and every day @HeatherOReilly. You will be missed. https://t.co/sf7w2XLwEB
— Carli Lloyd (@CarliLloyd) September 15, 2016
Proud to call this awesome human being a great friend. The @ussoccer_wnt is a better team bc of Hao. #ThanksHAO https://t.co/mmCo9FZVm0
— Lori Lindsey (@LoriLindsey6) September 15, 2016
Can't think of a better person to have carried and shaped the culture of the #USWNT for so long! #ThanksHAO https://t.co/9mMDWhJ422
— Yael Averbuch (@Yael_Averbuch) September 15, 2016
Crazy road HAO! Your friendship enriched the ride ❤️? 230 caps & record 74 straight games played. Enjoy retirement! pic.twitter.com/8QDwo4E3Lz
— Hope Solo (@hopesolo) September 1, 2016
She is a legend, culture carrier, goal scorer and friend. https://t.co/wKoFtJYMyt
— Meghan Klingenberg (@meghankling) September 15, 2016
True class act. Your legacy and impact on the game/this team will live on but you will be greatly missed! #ThanksHAO https://t.co/nT8iF8wNG4
— Alyssa Naeher (@AlyssaNaeher) September 15, 2016
Tonight's for you @HeatherOReilly !! ? #ThanksHAO pic.twitter.com/mhXmNgU6rK
— Christen Press (@ChristenPress) September 15, 2016
Alex Morgan apparently wasn't ready for O'Reilly to go:
Holding on tight for the next 12 hours. Last game for #9Legend and I'm not ready for this!! pic.twitter.com/lOwU0LJLvh
— Alex Morgan (@alexmorgan13) September 15, 2016
There's also here famous game face. Who can forget that?
The best game face the sport has seen. We're going to miss you, @HeatherOReilly: https://t.co/DWQTf1mt70. #ThanksHAO pic.twitter.com/bMTw9se2tp
— U.S. Soccer WNT (@ussoccer_wnt) September 15, 2016
O'Reilly has 230 caps, 46 goals, and 54 assists for the USWNT since she joined the team 14 years ago. The time to walk away had to come eventually and it arrives after O'Reilly spent her first major tournament off the roster, as coach Jill Ellis named her an alternate for this summer's Olympics in Rio. With the next tournament not until the 2019 Women's World Cup, the 31-year-old O'Reilly is calling it quits after winning three Olympic gold medals and a World Cup.
Samantha Mewis, also an alternate at this summer's Olympics, penned a heartfelt blog post, which added that although the alternate role was a new one for O'Reilly, the veteran helped push the team.
"I struggled to come up with the right way to say this, but in my opinion, the thing that measures the merit of HAO more so than all of her championships, was what happened this summer," Mewis wrote in her blog. "HAO was told that she was going to be an alternate for the Olympics and she took it on the chin, became the best alternate in the world, and exhibited the purest form of selflessness that I have ever been witness to."
"It was so much more a test of character than of talent and it was the only thing left in the soccer world that she hadn't already done and dusted. In the truest of HAO fashions, she absolutely crushed."
At her last practice, the players clapped and chanted "HAO! HAO!" in her honor:
Tonight, @HeatherOReilly plays her final game for the #USWNT in Columbus vs. Thailand: https://t.co/rNvsivln6O. pic.twitter.com/SsAKHxk45P
— U.S. Soccer WNT (@ussoccer_wnt) September 15, 2016
Where's the crying emoji when you need it?
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