She began her career as a central midfielder before moving to center forward, where she became the most dominant scorer in the international game. Then, because her talent was simply too valuable in a different role, she moved a third time to holding midfielder, reading the game from a deeper position and controlling it just as completely. The defining image of her career came in the 1999 World Cup final: carried off the field on a gurney in the final minutes, oxygen mask on, IVs in both arms. When the winning penalty went in, she pulled out the IV lines and walked back onto the field for the ceremony. She gave the game everything her body would allow, and then a little more.

What made that image possible was something she had been managing for years. A diagnosis of Epstein-Barr virus and chronic fatigue syndrome meant competing at the highest level while fighting an opponent no one else on the field could see. She played through it across more than 30 surgeries until her body had genuinely nothing left. After retiring she walked away from the game and toward something quieter, a horse rescue ranch in Georgia where she rehabilitates abused and neglected animals. It suits her completely. She has never stopped being someone who shows up for things that need a warrior in their corner.