2001: Tisha Venturini-Hoch is the only soccer player to have played on teams that won the NCAA, world and WUSA championships. Last season with the CyberRays she came through with goals from the midfield when they were most needed by the CyberRays. After suffering a broken left wrist in the inaugural game against the Washington Freedom, Venturini-Hoch sat out two matches, then returned and played with a heavy cast on her arm May 13 against the Carolina Courage and scored the winning goal in the CyberRays' first victory. A month later in a rematch against the Courage, still in the cast, she scored again. Her most important goal of the season, however, came in the 86th minute of the WUSA Championship Game to tie the Atlanta Beat and send the game to overtime. That match was decided by penalty kicks, and Venturini-Hoch was the first of four CyberRays to connect in the 4-2 victory. The CyberRays won every game in which she scored a goal.
Previous experience: Venturini-Hoch tied with Kristine Lilly and Tiffeny Milbrett as the United States' leading scorers with three goals in the 1995 FIFA Women's World Championship. She came back four years later to score on a pair of headers in Team USA's first-round victory over North Korea in WWC '99. She was a reserve on that team, appearing in two matches. After her second goal against North Korea, she turned a back-flip, one of the tournament's memorable images. Played in overtime of the World Cup final against China. Venturini-Hoch was a four-time all-American at North Carolina, where she started 93 of 95 games in a career in which the Tar Heels won four NCAA championships. In 1994 she won college soccer's top two awards, the Missouri Athletic Club College Player of the Year Award and the Hermann Trophy, as well as being named most valuable player of the NCAA tournament.
Personal: Tisha Lea Venturini ("Tish"). Married Casey Hoch, a former North Carolina baseball player who is a sales representative for a golf equipment manufacturer, after the conclusion of the 2001 season. Father Chick is a physician, mother Lynda is a director of charity work. She graduated from North Carolina in 1995 with a Bachelor of Arts in Physical Education.
2001 Regular Season Statistics
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