Mary Abigail "Abby" Wambach (born June 2, 1980) is an American professional soccer player, coach and Olympic gold medalist. A four-time winner of the U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year award, she has been a regular on the U.S. women's national team since 2003. Wambach currently stands as the third highest all-time goal scorer for the USA Women's National Soccer Team, after Kristine Lilly and Mia Hamm. Wambach currently plays for the Boca Raton magicJack of the Women's Professional Soccer league, and also serves as magicJack's interim coach.Wambach was born in Rochester, New York and raised in its suburb Pittsford, the youngest of seven children of Pete and Judy Wambach. In her first youth soccer league, she was transferred from the girls' team to the boys' team after scoring twenty-seven goals in only three games. Wambach attended Our Lady of Mercy High School in Rochester, New York, where she lettered in soccer and basketball. Following her high school senior season, she was named to Parade magazine's high school All-America team, and the national Player of the Year by Umbro and the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA).
In 2002, Wambach was the second overall draft pick in the WUSA. She went on to play for the Washington Freedom rather than completing her degree at Florida. Her contributions in Washington, playing alongside Mia Hamm, helped to propel the Freedom to a victory in Founders Cup III (the WUSA championship match), where Wambach was the MVP.In the Women's Professional Soccer allocation draft for the 2009 season, Wambach was assigned back to the Washington Freedom. She was voted WPS Player of the Week for the week of April 26 (Week 5) after scoring two goals in the Washington Freedom's 4-3 victory over the FC Gold Pride, the Freedom's first victory in the new league. On May 3, 2009, in the Freedom's next game, she received a yellow card for a tackle on St. Louis Athletica midfielder Daniela that left Daniela with two damaged knee ligaments and a crack in the tibia and sidelined her for the rest of the season. Wambach was suspended for one game after the challenge was reviewed by the WPS commissioner. She won the WPS player of the week for the week of July 28 (Week 18) for scoring two goals against the Chicago Red Stars and Sky Blue FC and for the week of Aug 11 (Week 20) for scoring two goals and having one assist against the Sky Blue She ended the 2009 season with eight goals—more than any other American player in the WPS. She returned to the Washington Freedom for the 2010 WPS season, winning the WPS player of the week in week 2 for scoring one goal and having two assists against the Atlanta Beat.
The Washington Freedom, founded in 2001 as part of the Women's Professional Soccer league, relocated to Boca Raton, Florida and became the magicJack in 2011.
On July 22, 2011, Wambach was named the player-coach for the magicJack for the rest of the 2011 WPS season.
On October 26, 2011, the Women's Professional Soccer League Governors voted to terminate the magicJack franchise.
