BRIONNA SCURRY is a retired American soccer goalkeeper, double gold medal Olympian and assistant coach of the Washington Spirit as of 2018. With an integral role on the team that set the standard for women’s professional soccer and a record 173 international appearances, Briana Scurry is widely recognized as having been one of the world’s best female soccer goalkeepers.

One of the first African American professional female soccer player, she has helped significantly to diversify the sport.

Scurry attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst and completed her four-year collegiate career with 37 shutouts in 65 starts and with a career record of 48–13–4 and a 0.56 goals-against-average She split time in the net in 1992 during her junior season, starting 13 games and earning seven shutouts. Scurry played three games in 1992 as a forward.

In 1993, she helped lead the UMass Minutewomen to a 17–3–3 record, to the semifinals of the NCAA Women’s Soccer Championship and the titles of the Atlantic 10 Conference regular season and tournament. In her senior season, she started all 23 games and recorded 15 shutouts and a 0.48 goals-against average, the third best in the nation.

Scurry was named the National Goalkeeper of the Year in 1993 by the Missouri Athletic Club Sports Foundation and was a 1993 second-team All-American, All-Northeast Region and All-New England first-team selection.

Scurry was the starting goalkeeper for the United States women’s national soccer team at the 1995 World Cup (3rd place), 1996 Summer Olympics (gold medal), 1999 World Cup (champions), 2003 World Cup (3rd place), and the 2004 Summer Olympic Games (gold medal). She played in the semi-final and playoff for third place in the 2007 Women’s World Cup (3rd place). She was a founding member of the WUSA, playing three seasons as starting goalkeeper for the Atlanta Beat (2001–2003).

Her career total of 173 international appearances is the second most among female soccer goalkeepers. It is also the fifteenth most of any American female player, and the thirty-second most among all women.

In April 2010 Scurry was in goal for the Washington Freedom during an away game against the Philadelphia Independence. The ball came toward her from the left, intended as a pass to an attacking forward she didn’t see speeding toward her right side. When Scurry scooped it up, her opponent’s knee collided with Scurry’s right temple, sending them both to the ground. What followed was a textbook case of traumatic brain injury (TBI). It resulted, in the end, with her being forced to retire from the game as a player.

Today, several years after her concussion, Briana is fully recovered. She shares her ordeal in order to educate players, coaches, and parents about concussions and uses her position to advocate for better protections for players.

Scurry was elected to the National Soccer Hall of Fame in August 2017. She was the first woman goalkeeper and first black woman to be awarded the honor. She is out gay, and in June 2018 she married Chryssa Zizos, CEO of Live Wire Strategic Communications, LLC.