35 JUNE 2022Olympics; there was no Women’s World Cup or
other major tournaments.
But Gancitano and Wyant ascended the spiral
staircase to the plane’s upper cabin as mem-
bers of the first U.S. women’s national team.
As they f lew home, the squad’s sweeper and
goalkeeper thought of the stories they had to
share from the magnificent adventure that had
begun in Baton Rouge earlier that month, at the
National Sports Festival, an off-year Olympics
tune-up event that was the country’s largest
gathering of elite amateur athletes. It was there that the two Florida
natives and 15 other young women were unknowingly plucked from
a pool of 70 top soccer players, competing against each other on
teams representing four regions of the country, to be on the squad
U.S. soccer officials were hastily assembling. Next, they traveled to
Long Island for just three days of practice, and then onward to Jesolo,
Italy, to compete in the Mundialito (“Little World Cup”) against
Denmark, England and the host nation.
Wyant’s understudy, Ruth Harker, recalls being congratulated
by a 17-year-old who’d failed to make the cut. “You f-----’ made it,
man!” Brandi Chastain told her. Wyant says she had “no idea” of
the trans-Atlantic journey that awaited them.
There were plenty more stories: of the expedited passport
approvals; the daily $10 stipend for food; the Dublin-bred coach,
Mike Ryan, with the thick Irish brogue, who toted a bag of soccer
balls onto the plane himself; the oversized men’s kits that simply
read “USA” on the back.
The first U.S. women’s national team lost 1–0 to Italy on Aug. 18.
Michelle Akers—the team’s tournament standout who would later
play on three U.S. World Cup teams—sat that match out with an ankle
injury. Next, Team USA played to a 2–2 draw with Denmark. En route
to the third match, versus England
in Caorle, the bus driver got lost.
“We arrived just before kickoff and
did not warm up,” Wyant says. “We
trailed 3–0 after 15 minutes, and
I got yanked at halftime.”
A rematch against Denmark
ended in a 1–0 defeat. And yet,
the Americans found themselves
the crowd favorites. “They were
chanting Oosa! Oosa! Oosa!” says
defender Stacey Enos. “At first, we
thought they were booing us.”
Oosa. U-S-A. It’s the same cheer
you hear at USWNT matches today.
Six years after that first team’s
debut in Italy, the U.S. would win
the inaugural Women’s World Cup
in 1991, edging Norway 2–1 in a game of 40-minute halves, because
FIFA felt women couldn’t handle a full 90 minutes. Following the
’99 World Cup—hosted by the U.S. and won on Chastain’s famous
penalty kick—women’s soccer would see an explosion in popularity
in this country.
On the f light home, Gancitano and Wyant sat in the cockpit with
the captain, sharing cookies and milk and stories of their adventure.
“We were disappointed with our record,” says Wyant, who is now at
NYU and is the only female coach of an NCAA men’s soccer program.
“But like a lot of things in life, it’s the experience we remember most.
We were not famous; no one knew we existed.”
As Gancitano and Wyant returned to their seats, the captain made
an announcement. Their fellow passengers applauded. —John Walters“THE FANS
WERE
CHANTING
OOSA!
OOSA! OOSA!
AT FIRST,
WE THOUGHT
THEY WERE
BOOING US.”50 Y E ARS OF TITLE IX