April Heinrichs

Today April Heinrichs is best known as the coach of the Women’s National Team but prior to that she was a skillful and dominant winger in her playing days at the University of North Carolina (UNC) and on the U.S. National Team.

Heinrichs was one of the first superstars of Coach Anson Dorrance’s dynasty at UNC, playing on three NCAA championship teams. Heinrichs scored 87 goals in 90 games, was a three-time All-American, and was voted female player of the 1980’s by Soccer America. With the U.S. National Team she won 47 caps and scored 38 goals, retiring after captaining the team to the first-ever FIFA Women’s World Cup in 1991. The trio of Heinrichs, Carin Jennings-Gabarra and Michelle Akers were so lethal that they became known as the “Triple-Edged-Sword” after their World Cup exploits. All three will now be in the Hall of Fame when Michelle Akers is inducted in 2004.

From 1991-1995 Heinrichs served as coach at the University of Maryland, earning ACC Coach of the Year honors in 1995. Prior to that she had coached at Princeton and William & Mary. In 1996 she was named the head coach at the University of Virginia and led the Cavaliers to four NCAA playoff berths. During her college coaching career she compiled an overall record of 116-73-15. Heinrichs became a full-time assistant coach for the U.S. Women’s National Team in January, 1996 and was a member of the staff that led the USA to the first-ever gold medal for women’s soccer at the 1996 Olympics. In 1996 she began a four-year stint as head coach of the U.S. U-16 National Team before being appointed as Head Coach and Technical Director for the U.S. Women’s National Team programs. She was named head coach of the National Team on January 18, 2000, becoming the first female head coach in the 17-year history of the program.

In 2003, Heinrichs led the USA to two major tournament championships, taking the Four Nations Cup in China and then the Algarve Cup in Portugal. She also led the USA to a championship in the 2002 CONCACAF Women’s Gold Cup. Although it had a disappointing 3rd place finish in the 2003 Women’s World Cup, her team, in 2004 has gone on to capture the Four Nations Cup, the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament and the Algarve Cup.

In 1998 April Heinrichs was the first female player ever to be inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame. And, in 2001, along with the other members of the 1991 Women’s World Cup championship team, she was awarded the Medal of Honor by the National Soccer Hall of Fame.

Hall of Famer Spotlight is a page dedicated to a randomly selected Hall of Famer each month. This Hall of Famer will be randomly selected by The National Soccer Hall of Fame Staff. This page will give a short biography/story of the selected Hall of Famer to show his/her contribution to the world's most popular sport.

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