Crystal Dunn was honored for her national team career on Saturday before the U.S. played Spain, and what a journey it was. Dunn will go down in USWNT history as an incredibly versatile player who did whatever her teams asked of her. But she was also a trail blazer in so many ways.
Just look at the arc of her career: Dunn is a World Cup winner and Olympic gold medalist, a union leader who fought for equal pay and a working mom to Marcel. She is also a role model for young girls of color who aspire to play for the national team.
“When I look at the team now, I’m just like so proud because, I know that it matters. Like, I know when you’re a young girl and you love playing a sport, or you love doing an activity, and you don’t feel like it’s meant for you just because people don’t look like you, and I think now the sport is like in such a great way, where like I don’t think anyone has to question if soccer is for them,” Dunn said recently on the U.S. Soccer podcast.
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Overcoming adversity
Dunn was the last player cut before the 2015 Women’s World Cup. The rejection stung, but it also fueled her determination.
So while the USWNT was traversing Canada en route to its third World Cup title, Dunn was lighting up the NWSL, scoring 15 goals for the Washington Spirit and earning the league’s Golden Boot and MVP. It was unsurprising when she was named to 2016 Olympic team and then the 2019 squad.
“I’m just so excited to get into this World Cup so that I can no longer be known as that girl that didn’t make a World Cup,” she said at the time.
Along the way, Dunn played as a striker, attacking midfielder and at left back, known for both her speed and strength despite her diminutive size.
“She’s the most versatile player I’ve ever coached,” former USWNT head coach Jill Ellis said ahead of the 2019 World Cup. “It’s not just her ability to play in different lines, it’s the quality with which she plays in different lines, which is quite extraordinary.”
Off-field activism
In 2021, wanting to make more of an impact off the field, Dunn became vice president and secretary of the U.S. Women’s National Team Players’ Association.
“I think at times I’ve wanted to just stay behind the scenes and kind of just do my thing, play the sport that I love without distractions and other things going on,” she said at the time. “But I think 2020, like the rest of the world, has made us realize that it’s OK to hit pause and actually focus on other things and narrow in on other things that you’re passionate about.”
Dunn was among the players at the table in 2022, along with Becky Sauerbrunn and Sam Mewis, to sign the landmark collective bargaining agreement that gave the U.S. women equal compensation to their male counterparts.
And she is one of the few players who have had a child in the midst of their playing career. She and Alex Morgan forced both the USWNT and the NWSL to adopt policies to accommodate working moms.
Dunn spoke in Atlanta two weeks ago about how becoming a mom changed her:
“I think it’s important to see yourself as just trying to do your best. Like, my motto now is just I wake up every day and I’m like, ‘I’m trying my best. Like, it may be a great day, it may be an off day, but I’m putting my shoes on my feet, I’m stepping out the door, and I’m trying to make it work with what I’ve got.’ I had a wonderful experience, and I had so much love and support around me, and I think that that’s what really helped go a long way,” she said.
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Lasting impact
Dunn appeared in 160 games for the United States, scoring 25 goals.
She stepped away from the sport in January, explaining she wanted to devote more time to her family. At the time, Dunn was playing in France with Paris Saint-Germain, which she joined in January 2025 after a stint with Gotham.
Ahead of the USWNT match with Spain, Sophia Wilson eloquently summed up Dunn’s impact on her, and the game overall.
“I mean, like there’s no one like Crystal Dunn,” Wilson said. “She’s just like a little ball of just like goodness and energy and happiness and good vibes and dancing. Like she can turn just like the simplest moments into just the most fun times, like you think about the times that people miss when you’re done playing and when you retire, and it’s like the locker room times and the times at the hotel rooms with your teammates. And I think for me, Crystal played a really big part in a lot of those times.”
“She is like a big sister to me. I feel so lucky that I got to share so many years with her in Portland with the national team. I got to watch her become a mom, and I feel like she’s one of the main people that kind of gave me the confidence to know that I could also become a mom and come back stronger and compete at a high level, so I’m so grateful for Crystal. I know she’s made such an impact on everyone who she’s came across, who’s been lucky enough to share the field with her. And obviously, I feel like we miss her all the time here.”
Soccer: Annie Peterson, @AnnieMPeterson, AP Women’s Soccer
Tennis: Joey Dillon, @JoeyDillon, Freelance Tennis Writer
Basketball: Howard Megdal, @HowardMegdal, The IX Sports
Softball: Maren Angus-Coombs, @Maren-Angus, The IX Sports
Golf: Marin Dremock, @MDremock, The IX Sports
Hockey: @TheIceGarden, The Ice Garden
Gymnastics: Jessica Taylor Price, @jesstaylorprice, Freelance Writer
