Melissa Moore
Personal information
Birth name Melissa Liston
Date of birth (1975-07-17) July 17, 1975
Place of birth Van Nuys, California, United States
Position(s) Goalkeeper
College career
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1993–1996 New Mexico Lobos 68 (0)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2001 San Diego Spirit
2001–2003 Philadelphia Charge 43 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Melissa Moore (née Liston; born July 17, 1975)[1] is a retired American soccer player who played for the Philadelphia Charge as a goalkeeper.[2][3] Widely recognized as one of the league's top goalkeepers, Moore played professionally for the Charge during the Women's United Soccer Association's entire three-year run.[4][5][6] During her college career, she started in 68 games for the University of New Mexico Lobos.[4]

Early life and education

Born Melissa Liston in Van Nuys, she attended Bonita High School in La Verne, California.[7][8] She initially joined the Bonita varsity soccer team as a freshman midfielder, but switched to goalkeeper from her sophomore year onward.[4] In February 1993, she was named to PARADE's All-America High School Girls Soccer Team.[8] In addition to soccer, she played volleyball, swam, ran track, and played badminton.[4]

She graduated from the University of New Mexico with a degree in psychology,[4][9] and earned a master's degree in athletic administration at Illinois State University.[9] At Illinois State, she worked as a graduate assistant coach for the women's soccer team.[4]

College career

In 1993, Liston signed with the University of New Mexico Lobos women's soccer team as its first varsity recruit.[7] She was recruited by head coach Amy Allmann, a former player with the United States women's national soccer team (USWNT).[7]

During UNM's first season, Liston was named a Far West All-American.[10] At the end of their second season, she was named to the All-West Region second team, finishing second in the region with 130 saves, and a goals-against average of 1.64.[11] In 1995, she was named to the UNM Athletics Hall of Honor as Female Athlete of the Year.[12] By the time she graduated, she had set school records for total number of saves (438) and shutouts (18).[4]

Professional career

After completing her master's degree, Moore contacted the San Diego Spirit to inquire about a possible administrative position with the club which was starting in the new Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) league, but was invited to a local tryout instead.[9] In February 2001, she was invited to join the preseason roster as a walk-on player, making her one of three goalkeepers with the San Diego Spirit, including two international players: Ulrika Karlsson from Sweden and Jaime Pagliarulo from the USA.[13][9]

During the WUSA spring training tournament, Moore impressed Philadelphia Charge coach Mark Krikorian, who signed her after she was waived.[9][5][4] Soccer Digest later referred to Moore as "one of Krikorian's shrewdest acquisitions".[5]

On April 22, 2001, Moore started in goal for the Philadelphia Charge, playing against the San Diego Spirit their inaugural match.[14][5] She proceeded to shut out her former teammates 2–0 in front of a sell-out crowd of 6,155 at Torero Stadium, in what The San Diego Union Tribune called the WUSA's "first fairy tale".[14] She pulled off a second shutout against the Spirit when the two teams met again later that season.[5] Moore started in 9 matches that year with a 5–3–1 record, allowing only 1.01 goals per game,[4] but was sidelined for part of the season due to injury.[5] Her performance during the playoffs was said to be "shaky".[15]

During her second season, Moore was widely recognized as one of the top goalkeepers in the league,[4][5] leading what Soccer Digest called "a nearly impenetrable defense".[16] Moore started in all but one game, with a record of 11–3–6,[4] bringing the Philadelphia Charge within one game of securing the top position within the WUSA during the regular season,[16] and helping them secure a place in the playoffs.[4] She had the best goals-against average in the league (1.0), had the second highest save percentage (78.18%), and made the third most saves (86).[4]

Ahead of the WUSA's third and final season, the Philadelphia Charge's top draft pick was University of Washington goalkeeper Hope Solo;[16] USA Today commented that the Charge had "[set] up an interesting situation for the starting spot."[6] While competition between Moore and Solo was intense, Moore remained the Charge's "usual" starting goalkeeper for most of the season.[17]

International career

Moore trained with the United States women's national soccer team in 1996.[18][13]

Personal life

As of July 2001, Moore was one of only two Philadelphia Charge players who was married.[19] She was featured along with midfielder Michelle Demko in The Makeover Story, which premiered on The Learning Channel in October 2001.[20]

References

  1. "Melissa Moore women's soccer Statistics". StatsCrew.com. Retrieved August 7, 2023.
  2. Levin, Eddie (July 24, 2001). "Melissa Moore leads Charge in goal". Main Line Times & Suburban. Retrieved August 26, 2023.
  3. "Philadelphia Women 1-0 Boston Women (16 Jun, 2002) Game Analysis". ESPN. June 15, 2002. Retrieved August 7, 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Witte, Phil (August 15, 2002). "Moore to Love: Philadelphia's women's soccer team charges to the WUSA playoffs on the strength of its talented goalkeeper". The Los Angeles Times. p. A6. Retrieved August 26, 2023 via Newspapers.com.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Wyllie, John Philip (November 2002). "Buried Treasure". Soccer Digest. Retrieved August 26, 2023 via EBSCOHost.
  6. 1 2 James, Matthew (February 3, 2003). "Strong draft could make Charge tough to beat". USA Today. Retrieved August 26, 2023 via EBSCOHost.
  7. 1 2 3 Stevens, Richard (October 5, 1994). "Overworked Athlete". The Albuquerque Tribune. p. B1. Retrieved August 26, 2023 via Newspapers.com.
  8. 1 2 Cohen, Haskell; O'Shea, Michael (February 7, 1993). "Meet PARADE's All-America High School Girls Soccer Team". Newsday. Suffolk, New York. PARADE Magazine. Retrieved August 26, 2023 via Newspapers.com.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Straus, Brian (April 27, 2001). "Taking No Offense At Defensive Games". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 26, 2023.
  10. Stevens, Richard (October 5, 1994). "Overworked Athlete (Continued)". The Albuquerque Tribune. p. B6. Retrieved August 26, 2023 via Newspapers.com.
  11. "Domzalski Cleans Up With Dial Award". Albuquerque Journal. December 3, 1994. Retrieved August 26, 2023 via Newspapers.com.
  12. "Hall of Honor". University of New Mexico Lobos. Retrieved August 26, 2023.
  13. 1 2 "WUSA: San Diego adds tryout players". Soccer America. February 26, 2001. Retrieved August 26, 2023.
  14. 1 2 Zeigler, Mark (April 23, 2001). "INAUGURAL GAME – A SPIRITED DEBUT: Sellout crowd watches S.D. fall in WUSA opener". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved August 26, 2023.
  15. Wahl, Grant (March–April 2002). "The Team to Beat". Sports Illustrated Women. Vol. 4, no. 2. p. 78. Retrieved August 26, 2023 via EBSCOHost.
  16. 1 2 3 Wyllie, John Philip (April–May 2003). "Forward March". Soccer Digest. Retrieved August 26, 2023 via Newspapers.com.
  17. Ryan, Jessica (July 17, 2003). "Charge unable to find net in loss to Atlanta". Courier Post. Retrieved August 26, 2023 via ProQuest.
  18. "Spirit adds three players to preseason roster from ARCO center tryouts". The Star-News. Chula Vista, California. March 16, 2001. Retrieved August 26, 2023 via Newspapers.com.
  19. Boccella, Kathy (July 26, 2001). "Charge-ing off the field". The Philadelphia Inquirer. pp. C1, C3. Retrieved August 26, 2023 via Newspapers.com.
  20. "Snider puts some digs up for sale". The Philadelphia Inquirer. October 28, 2001. Retrieved August 26, 2023 via Newspapers.com.
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