Amy Joy Rodriguez (born 17 February 1987, in Beverly Hills, California) is an American soccer forward currently playing for Philadelphia Independence of Women's Professional Soccer and is a member of the United States women's national soccer team.Rodriguez attended Santa Margarita Catholic High School where she was a Parade All-American in 2003 and 2004 and the Gatorade Player of the Year in 2005. The paternal side of her family is from Cuba.
She was recruited by, and eventually attended, the University of Southern California. During college, she played for the USC Trojans women's soccer team from 2005 through 2008. As a junior in 2007, Rodriguez led the Trojans to the NCAA Women's Soccer Championship. She finished her USC career ranked fourth all-time in goals (31) and points (79).
Rodriguez signed to play with West Coast FC of Women's Premier Soccer League in 2008. However, an injury to Abby Wambach propelled Rodriguez to the United States Women's National Team to compete at the 2008 Summer Olympics. She never appeared for West Coast FC.Upon her return, the new top-tier women's soccer league in the United States, Women's Professional Soccer, made Rodriguez the first overall pick in the 2009 WPS Draft. Her playing rights were assigned to Boston Breakers. In the inaugural 2009 Women's Professional Soccer season, Rodriguez appeared in 17 matches (11 starts, 982 minutes) and scored 1 goal.
At the conclusion of the 2009 season, it was announced on 29 September 2009 that Rodriguez had been traded to expansion team Philadelphia Independence with Boston's first round selection in the 2010 WPS Draft for Philadelphia's first two selections in the 2010 WPS Draft. With Philadelphia, she was named the WPS Player of the Month for June 2010. In the 2010 season, Rodriguez scored 12 goals and had 6 assists. During the semifinal game, Rodriguez scored in the 120th minute to put Philadelphia past the Washington Freedom.
Rodriguez played for several United States national youth teams, appearing in two FIFA youth championships: the 2004 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship in Thailand and the 2006 FIFA U-20 Women's World Championship in Russia, as well as the 2005 Nordic Cup in Sweden. In total, she's played with the U-17, U-19/U-20 and U-21 programs.
Rodriguez's first appearance for the United States Women's National Team came on 11 March 2005 against Finland in the 2005 Algarve Cup. By the spring of 2008, she had become a regular at forward and started four of five games at the 2008 Summer Olympics, where she scored against New Zealand. Rodriguez had appeared in 18 senior team matches going into the Olympics. Rodriguez provided the assist on Carli Lloyd's game winning goal in the first period of extra time in the Gold medal match to clinch the title.
