Like many preteen girls across southwestern Pennsylvania at the time, Meghan Klingenberg had been anxiously anticipating the night of July 10, 1999.
“My best friend came over because we were going to go to the *NSYNC concert,” she recalled.
There was just one problem.
“As an 11-year-old girl at that time *NSYNC was the most important thing in the world,” Klingenberg said. “What my best friend didn’t know was that it was actually the second most important thing in the world to me; the first was the U.S. Women’s National Team.”
Before heading out from their Gibsonia residence to see Justin Timberlake and his bandmates take to the stage at Coca-Cola Star Lake Amphitheatre — as it was then known — in Burgettstown, the Klingenberg family had some additional business on their agenda.
The United States Women’s National Team was set to square off in the 1999 Women’s World Cup final against China with more than 90,000 soccer fans in attendance at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., and many more tuned in on televisions across the country.
It was the first major event of the day for a local family of soccer fanatics.
“I think my friend was like, ‘When are we leaving?’” Klingenberg said. “My whole family was like, ‘Girl, sorry, we ain’t leaving until this is over. We ended up watching Brandi Chastain hit the final [penalty kick], make it, win, and then after that we went to the *NSYNC concert.
“We actually ended up making it because *NSYNC came on so late,” she added. “We got the best of both worlds.”
It wouldn’t be too long before Klingenberg was making history of her own on the world’s stage.
Once a rabid fan, Klingenberg played every minute for the same U.S. Women’s National Team she grew up idolizing on its run to the 2015 Women’s World Cup title before becoming a full fledged Portland, Ore., sports icon, winning championships with National Women Soccer League’s Thorns in 2017 and ’22.
The Pine-Richland product — who helped the Rams win a PIAA title in 2005 — wrapped up an illustrious playing career by retiring earlier this month. She made the announcement official in an Instagram post.
It was a bittersweet moment for a player who rose to prominence on southwestern Pennsylvania’s soccer pitches, who won two NCAA Division I women’s soccer championships at North Carolina and got to have the local sports memory of a lifetime when she waved a “Terrible Towel” on the turf at Heinz Field (now Acrisure Stadium) after scoring a goal in an exhibition match with the U.S. Women’s National Team in 2015.
“Those moments are just so lovely and special but, for me, if I was only playing for those moments I would have quit a long time ago,” Klingenberg said. “There’s really not enough of those moments to sustain you. To me, it was about the friendships that I got to make with [former U.S. Women’s National Team players] Becky Sauerbrunn and Megan Rapinoe and people like that who have become really great friends.
“It’s the thing that you never really expect, but it really does become so intertwined in the fabric of your life,” she added of soccer. “It’s just provided me with so many amazing people and moments and friends.”
Family ties
While soccer would eventually take her around the world, Klingenberg said her love of the game was rooted in humble beginnings.
“Honestly, when I was first playing, I was terrible,” she said.
Klingenberg said her earliest memories of playing soccer came in the backyard of her maternal grandmother, who would host four generations of her family nearly every Sunday for dinner.
“She used to cook dinner, and my great-aunt used to bake pies,” Klingenberg said. “Everyone would come over and drink lemonade and eat good food and laugh really loud and talk about what was going on in our lives. The kids would play in the backyard, and a lot of times what we would do is just play all of the sports. My cousins, they started playing soccer in the backyard, and I was, like, ‘What is this?’ I started playing with them.”
Before too long, Klingenberg said her parents had signed her up to play in a local youth league.
“I started playing, and I realized I was just so much worse than all of my peers,” she said. “I remember running over to my parents and being like, ‘Is it OK if I just stick with softball?’ They were like, ‘Yeah, it’s totally fine. You can play whatever you want to play.’ I don’t remember the reason why I ended up sticking it out with soccer, but I did. It became my favorite sport pretty quickly, and I would have just such a blast with my friends playing it.”
Fitting in
By the time she got to Pine-Richland High School, then-Rams coach Jodi Chmielewski said Klingenberg had become a force to reckon with on the WPIAL soccer scene.
“At the level when I got her, I definitely think everyone knew that she had Division I potential at that point,” said Chmielewski, who won more than 300 games, two WPIAL championships and a PIAA title during her 21-year tenure at Pine-Richland. “Just her speed, her level of compete, I think, stood out among everybody and just her technical ability and tactical awareness.”
Chmielewski said her drive to succeed was nearly unparalleled among players she coached.
“She just dreamed so big in terms of the national team and UNC and just kept meeting all those goals and exceeding them,” Chmielewski said. “Just her work rate and her focus and her passion for the game, that all can only be attributed to her achieving all that success at all those levels.”
Klingenberg played four seasons under Chmielewski and was a captain and starter of the Rams’ 2005 PIAA championship team. She assisted on the goal that won the state title game before being named NSCAA and Parade All-American selections the following season in 2006.
“She was just so dynamic on the field,” Chmielewski said. “She was small, and I think that was what was pretty cool, too. She was small, but she was just so competitive. Her size didn’t hold her back, and I think it gave her that fire to achieve more.”
Mastering her game
And that was certainly the case at North Carolina.
Klingenberg scored 18 goals, with 24 assists, during her four-year career in Chapel Hill. Although she played several positions under legendary coach Anson Dorrance, Klingenberg eventually settled in as a left back in the Tar Heels defensive unit.
“She just kept grinding and grinding and grinding and just wanted to be the best player she could possibly be,” said Dorrance, who won 1,106 games and 21 NCAA championships during a 47-year career leading his alma mater’s women’s soccer program. “As a result she did. Obviously, there are a lot of national team players that ascended because of their extraordinary talent, but Meghan ascended because of her extraordinary will, not because she was blessed with every conceivable quality. She’s not that tall. She’s quick, but not explosively fast. She did it by working on her skill set, mastering the ball. She became a very tactical player.”
Klingenberg said her time at North Carolina was critical to her development.
“Carolina was such an amazing experience all around,” she said. “School, soccer, socially, everything about it, I loved. Being there was one of the best moments in time in my life and in my career.
“I did finally feel free to be my authentic self,” she said. “I felt free to be as competitive as I was without judgment. I felt free to absolutely kick ass. I felt free to express myself in ways that I was never able to before because it was looked down upon in women, in girls. That environment, it wasn’t looked down upon. In fact, it was celebrated.”
Klingenberg was part of NCAA championship teams in 2008 and 2009 at North Carolina and won three Atlantic Coast Conference titles. She said getting to build a relationship with Dorrance — who also coached the U.S. Women’s National team from 1986 until 1994 and won a World Cup in 1991 — was critical to her development.
“One of the best things that he did in the culture was let everyone know how much he cares about you,” Klingenberg said. “He put everyone’s human development first over their soccer development. He was able to see the humanity in each of the players.”
Dorrance said he is proud of the player and person Klingenberg has become.
“At her best, she was considered the best left back in the world,” he said. “I just think she had an absolutely extraordinary ascension but, also, a career. The other thing about Meghan is I just really liked her. She was funny. She was full of piss and vinegar.”
The next level
Klingenberg said making the U.S. Women’s National team was a dream come true.
“I don’t know why I had deluded myself into thinking this, but I always thought I was going to make it,” she said.
Klingenberg was the starting left back for the 2015 World Cup championship team. She remained with the team when it placed fifth in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janiero, Brazil.
“I don’t think that there’s ever been another team in the history of soccer or sport that has been so successful over such a long period of time,” said Klingenberg of the U.S. Women’s National team. “I can’t remember the last time that we’ve dropped below a Top 5 ranking in the world, maybe never. That has to be a unique stat.”
Such success has also brought about ways for members of the U.S. Women’s National team to create positive change in their communities.
From championing equal play for women in professional sports to creating awareness of LGBTQ issues in American society, U.S. Women’s National team players have been at the forefront of activism over the past several decades.
For Klingenberg, dealing with mental health issues and the various stressors, which come along with competing a high level have also been critical to her as a professional athlete. She said she hopes to continue to bring awareness to mental health concerns in her retirement.
“Being able to pull on a jersey and stand for the things that are the best part of the United States was something that was really special,” Klingenberg said. “It creates a different kind of bond with somebody because it’s not something that most people get to experience in their lifetime.”
Klingenberg is also a 10-year veteran of the NWSL, playing two seasons with the Houston Dash, before starring for eight years in Portland. She logged 11,619 minutes with the Thorns and started 135 of her 149 appearances.
In addition to Portland’s two NWSL championships during her tenure, Klingenberg’s teams finished with the league’s best regular-season record twice before her final professional contest in 2024.
“She’s a role model in Portland for all of her years with the Thorns,” Chmielewski said. “I think it’s pretty cool for her to have an impact on the game in so many different areas of the country.”
There’s no doubt, though, the impact Klingenberg has had on soccer in her hometown.
“It’s been cool to be able to watch from a distance and watch her in each of those different arenas and areas and just continue to excel and break those barriers,” Chmielewski said. “I’m just extremely proud of her. I know her family, obviously, are her biggest fans. She’s created fans around the world and with young female players it’s been great for our area for her to be the first really female player to achieve that success at that level. Our hope is there’s many more to follow her.”
The future
Klingenberg said she is going to take the next year to evaluate her next steps and what her future might hold. At just 36, Klingenberg said she has plenty more in store.
U.S. Soccer, though, launched a new podcast June 9, which is hosted by David Gass and co-hosted by Klingenberg and Alejandro Bedoya. The podcast is intended to highlight the men’s and women’s U.S. national teams and the inside stories surrounding the teams.
“If there is anything that people take from my career, I truly hope that being yourself and just being you, you’re doing the very best thing that you could possibly do for your performance and your mental health,” she said.
Dorrance said he could see Klingenberg succeeding as a broadcaster or in coaching.
“Everything she achieves, she achieves through the sweat of her brow,” he said. “Meghan worked hard and then earned absolutely everything she got.”
John is a copy editor and page designer at the Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at jsanta@unionprogress.com.