With the imminent retirement of long-time veterans Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy, and Joy Fawcett from the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team, I often find myself thinking how fortunate my family has been to witness their heroics on the field and their positive influence off of it.

But the last game we saw in person stands out as a very different experience from the first game we saw nearly nine years ago.

Last summer, I attended a soccer match between Brazil and the United States Women