Cobb natives Campbell, Sonnett claim medals with U.S. soccer team
Aug. 5—A pair of Cobb County natives get to call themselves Olympic medalists after the U.S. women's soccer team outlasted Australia for a 4-3 win Thursday in the bronze-medal match in Kashima, Japan.
Marietta native Emily Sonnett and Kennesaw native Jane Campbell were both part of the Americans' contingent in Japan. Sonnett entered Thursday's game as a reserve, while Campbell was on the bench as a backup to starting goalkeeper Adrianna French.
Campbell originally came to Japan as an alternate, but she was elevated to the active roster after starting goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher was injured in the Americans' semifinal loss to Canada.
It is the first Olympic medal for both the 27-year-old Sonnett and 26-year-old Campbell, and believed to be the first Olympic medals ever for a woman from Cobb County. Previously, four men from the county had won medals — Kris Benson (baseball, 1996), Shareef Abdur-Rahim (basketball, 2000), Reggie Witherspoon (track and field, 2008) and Aries Merritt (track and field, 2012).
Sonnett, who played high school soccer at Fellowship Christian School in Roswell, was previously part of the Americans' winning team at the 2019 Women's World Cup. These Olympics were the first significant international tournament for Campbell, who attended the Darlington School in Rome during her high school years.
Veterans Megan Rapinoe and Carli Lloyd each scored twice in Thursday's game for the U.S., which arrived in Japan having won the last two women's World Cups and trying to regain the Olympic gold they held from 2004-12, but an inconsistent performance saw them exit in the semifinals.
However, against Australia, the Americans showed some of their old form.
Rapinoe opened the scoring when her eighth minute corner swung over the head of Australian keeper Teagen Micah, and defender Alanna Kennedy's sliced clearance set up her second, a thumping volley in the 21st.
In between, Australia's Sam Kerr tied the game on a shot past French at the near post.
Lloyd collected a pass from Lindsey Horan to fire home emphatically before the halftime break, and she capitalized on a poor header from Kennedy to make it 4-1 soon after the restart.
The 39-year-old Lloyd is contemplating retirement, and with Rapinoe 36, a period of transition is looming for a U.S. team approaching an end of an era.
"It's amazing," Rapinoe said. "It's not necessarily what we wanted. We always have the standard of winning every game, winning every championship, but this one means a lot, I'm so proud of the group how we responded today.
"Obviously, we haven't played our best (soccer) through the tournament. It hasn't really clicked ... but we obviously wanted to end the tournament on a good note."
After Lloyd's second goal made it 4-1, Caitlin Foord cut the deficit to 4-2 and a long-range shot from Emily Gielnik in the last minute served as consolation for Australia.
Sweden was set to meet Canada in the gold medal game Friday, after which the Americans will receive their bronze medals.
Information from the Deutsche Presse-Agentur News Service contributed to this report.
