The captain of the United States team that won the first Women’s World Cup in 1991. Heinrichs, who was coming off an injury at the time of that tournament, passed up one of the United States’ first-round games, but played all five of the other U.S. games, scoring four goals. Along with Michelle Akers-Stahl and Carin Jennings, she formed the “Triple-Edged Sword” wielded by the United States in that tournament.
Heinrichs, an outside right, was one of the first superstars of coach Anson Dorrance’s dynasty at the University of North Carolina, and played on three NCAA champion teams in her four years. She scored 87 goals in 90 games at North Carolina and was named a first-team all-American three times.
With the U.S. national team, Heinrichs won 47 full international caps and scored 38 goals, and was named the USSF’s Female Athlete of the Year in 1986 and 1989. She had helped to cement her goalscoring reputation by scoring eight goals in four games during the qualifying tournament that preceded that 1991 Women’s World Cup. She retired from playing after that World Cup, by which time she was already the head coach at the University of Maryland. She later was coach of the U.S. women’s national team for five years, including coaching the team that won the 2004 Olympic title.
Inducted in 1998.
