Two-Time Olympic Gold Medalist Julie Foudy to Speak at Westminster on Sept. 23

7/22/2025 11:00:00 AM

NEW WILMINGTON, Pa.--Julie Foudy, former captain of the U.S. Women's National Team (USWNT) and one of the most accomplished female soccer players in the world, will visit Westminster College's New Wilmington campus to share her uplifting and inspiring stories about life, leadership and the lessons learned throughout a sensational career, both on and off the pitch.

"An Evening with Julie Foudy" will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 23, in the Will W. Orr Auditorium. Doors will open at 6 p.m. and the event, co-sponsored by the College's School of Business and Department of Athletics, is free to attend, but registration is required. Seating will be open and unassigned. Once the registration has been completed, a QR code ticket will be sent directly to the email address provided.

Audience members are encouraged to submit questions for Foudy, collected through their registration forms, for an informative and interactive question and answer (Q&A) session.

"We are so honored to have Julie Foudy accept our invitation to campus and speak to our students, faculty, staff and alumni, as well as the greater New Wilmington community and soccer fans of all ages," said Dr. Martha McGrath-Brown, an instructor of sports management in the College's School of Business. "I believe all who attend the event will be filled with a sense of awe and empowerment as they listen to Julie's stories and hear about her life experiences from an exceptional career as an athlete, businesswoman, mother and leader."

ESPN host, anchor, reporter and 2005 Westminster alumnus Sebastian Salazar will join Foudy on the Orr Auditorium stage, engaging the audience while guiding the conversation as moderator. Salazar, now entering his third decade as a sports broadcaster, joined ESPN in 2016 and has traveled the globe to cover multiple World Cups as well as the Olympics.

Foudy and Salazar have worked together on ESPN's coverage of the USWNT and provided coverage from the Little League Baseball World since 2017.

An Edward R. Murrow Award-winning reporter and analyst for ESPN/ABC, Foudy has served as a contributor and writer for espnW. In 2023 she began providing color commentary and studio analysis for all USWNT soccer games with TNT Sports group, on TNT, TBS and HBOMax. Foudy also called all USWNT soccer games during NBC's coverage of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and 2024 Paris Olympics. In 2013, she produced and narrated a documentary for ESPN Films called "The '99ers." Using footage shot by Foudy during the U.S. team's journey to win the Women's World Cup in 1999, "The '99ers" is a behind-the-scenes glimpse at that historical event. Foudy launched her ESPN podcast "Laughter Permitted with Julie Foudy" in March of 2019 and it has been one of the top-ranked podcasts focusing on women in sports on Apple Podcasts. She has interviewed trailblazing women such as Billie Jean King, Simone Biles, Mia Hamm, Robin Roberts and Katie Ledecky.

Foudy was a midfielder for the U.S. Women's National Team from 1987 through 2004, serving as a captain for 13 of her 17 years with the national team. During her national team tenure, the U.S. women won two FIFA Women's World Cup titles (1991, 1999), captured two Olympic gold medals (1996, 2004), and the silver medal in 2000 – en route to becoming one of the most successful national soccer teams ever in the sport.

Foudy's retirement, ending a remarkable international soccer career with 274 matches, along with fellow women's soccer legends Mia Hamm and Joy Fawcett, marked the end of what was generally known as the "golden era" of women's soccer in the United States. She was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in August 2007.

A former president of the Women's Sports Foundation (2000-02), Foudy received the 1997 FIFA Fair Play Award for her trip earlier that year to Pakistan to examine the working conditions of factories of her then-sponsor, Reebok. A four-time All-American at Stanford and the 1991 Soccer America Player of the Year, Foudy graduated in 1993, having earned a bachelor's degree in biology. She turned down admission into the Stanford Medical School to pursue a career in sports.

Foudy is the founder of the Julie Foudy Sports Leadership Academy and the author of "Choose to Matter: Being Courageously and Fabulously YOU," a book for teenage girls and young women on leadership. She is also a founding co-owner of the female majority-owned and operated new women's professional soccer team in Los Angeles, Angel City FC, that began play in the NWSL in 2022.

Foudy currently resides in Southern California with her husband, Ian Sawyers, and two kids, Izzy and Declan.

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