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U.S. women’s soccer national team center-back Tierna Davidson, a Menlo Park native, helped Team USA secure the gold medal after a nail-biting 1-0 win over Brazil on Saturday.
While the first half of the game ended with Brazil on its heels, with its game-winning goal coming in the 57th minute, according to a press release from her alma mater Sacred Heart Schools, Atherton, on Aug. 10. The team credited the self-proclaimed “Triple Espresso” forward line — Mallory Swanson, Sophia Smith and Trinity Rodman — for the win, according to statement from the team.
This is the second time that Davidson, 25, has played in the Olympics. She was part of the 2021 summer Tokyo Olympics team that won bronze. The team has won five gold medals, which came in 1996, 2004, 2008, 2012 and this year.
“We are so excited and, of course, extremely proud of Tierna,” said her father, Greg Davidson, who is also a math teacher at Sacred Heart, in a statement. “To fight back from her injuries and challenges during the past couple of years is quite impressive and says a lot about her.”
Davidson left college a year early to become the first-round draft pick for the women’s professional soccer team, the Chicago Red Stars, according to a United States Soccer Federation profile of Davidson.
During her high school career at Sacred Heart, Davidson’s three seasons remain unparalleled for SHP soccer, according to the school. Each year her team advanced to Central Coast Section Championship games. Twice her team captured section titles.
At Stanford, she led her team to the 2017 NCAA Championship. She was also the youngest player on the champion USA team at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France.
Davidson signed with NJ/NY Gotham FC in January of this year after playing for the Chicago Red Stars for five seasons, according to the Sacred Heart press release.
This is the second Olympic gold medal won by a Sacred Heart alum in eight years. Women’s water polo player KK Clark brought home the gold in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro summer Olympics, according to the school.
