By Nathaniel Charendoff ’17, Section Editor

Hope Solo has become more of a household name as of late.

The 35-year-old United States Women’s National Team star goalkeeper has been involved in an array of controversial incidents over the past couple years, culminating in her most recent 6-month suspension that will keep her from representing the red, white, and blue of the USA until February 2017. The suspension was result of her rather caustic comments following the United States’ dramatic exit from the Olympic Games. The world’s top ranked team, which had appeared in all of the last five Olympic Soccer Gold Medal Matches (winning four of them), crashed out of the tournament at the hands of Sweden. After 120 minutes with the scores level, the match was decided via penalty shootout, unfortunately leading to disappointment and heartbreak for the US Women, a team labeled by most as by and far away the favorite to leave Rio as Olympic Soccer Champions yet again.

Solo, however, took the loss in a way slightly different than many of her American teammates. In the aftermath of the defeat, Solo described the Swedish team as “a bunch of cowards” and their style of play as “cowardly.” Solo exhibited extremely poor sportsmanship in making these comments, and while some claim that the half-year long suspension is too harsh, one must take into account that her comments act not only as a poor representation of herself, but of her nation as well. As avid soccer fan Anthony Giachin ‘17 noted, “It was disappointing to see a player that has had so much success and experience handle a defeat like that,” and continued  to say the Solo was the “real coward” in the situation.

Furthermore, her comments were found to be overly insulting, not just by the US Soccer Federation, but also by her teammates, both current and former. Women’s soccer ex-forward Abby Wambach, who retired at the end of 2015, said that she had “big problems” with Solo’s words. Current midfielder Megan Rapinoe also distanced herself from Solo’s comments, saying that she was “really disappointed” and that the comments were not` in continuity with what the team has “always been” and “will be in the future.”

Perhaps part of the reason for Solo’s offensive outburst was her realization that her time at the top of the women’s game was soon coming to an end. Even for a goalkeeper, at age 35, most players retire or have already retired. The next Women’s World Cup, which will be held in 2019, will leave Solo three years short of 40. Solo has publicly entertained the idea of retiring and starting a family instead of continuing her star-studded career, and it’s certainly possible those emotions could have affected her interview after the loss against Sweden. Nonetheless, it was no excuse to make comments that directly counter principles of honor and respect, values that are foundational to US Soccer.  Winning is important, but not as important as good sportsmanship.