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`Tish' will hang up her boots at end of CyberRays' season

May 30, 2003 - Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA)
San Jose CyberRays News Release


SAN JOSE (May 30, 2003) – Tisha Venturini-Hoch, a founding player of the San Jose CyberRays, is playing her final soccer season.

``Only if we go back to the Founders Cup,'' said CyberRays general manager Marlene Bjornsrud when she heard Tish's plans.

So with that qualification, the first female to win World Cup, WUSA and NCAA soccer championships has announced her intention to retire at the end of the CyberRays' current season, which she hopes will conclude Aug. 23 at Founders Cup III in San Diego.

``I don't want to make a big deal about this,'' Tish said today. ``I don't want to do anything that takes away from thinking about our next game (1 p.m. PDT Saturday against the Boston Breakers on PAX TV). I don't want to do anything that takes away from the rest of our season.''

With those orders, the CyberRays will wait until their final regular season game Aug. 10 against Boston before we pull out all the stops to remember a historic career in women's sports.

Some things should be mentioned now:

Tish is as Californian as blond hair and sunshine. Her three favorite foods, in order, are cioppino, sushi and taco salad. She was born and grew up in Modesto and now makes her home in Newport Beach with her husband of 1 ½ years, Casey Hoch.

Teams she plays for win. Grace Davis High in Modesto was 54-0-2 with Tish on the field. The University of North Carolina was 97-1-1 with Tish. The U.S. Women's National Team was 113-13-6 with Tish. The CyberRays are 23-17-9 and counting with Tish (tough league).

Tish scored for the CyberRays in the 86th minute of the inaugural WUSA Championship Game to tie the Atlanta Beat 3-3 and send the game to overtime, which the CyberRays won 4-2 on penalty kicks. She made the first PK. She played most of the 2001 season with a cast on her broken left wrist.

Last season Tish was voted by her CyberRays teammates as Most Valuable Player and winner of the Heart of a Champion Award. She was second on the team in goals (6) and points (15).

In 1995 Tish won the Patterson Medal at North Carolina as the university's most outstanding athlete, male or female.

Tish played on four NCAA championship teams at North Carolina and was the unanimous college player of the year in 1994.

Tish was tied for leading scorer on the U.S. team that finished third in the 1995 Women's World Cup in Sweden. She scored three goals.

Tish was a member of the U.S. team that won the first women's soccer gold medal in Olympic history in 1996 at Atlanta.

Tish scored two goals for the U.S. team that won the 1999 Women's World Cup in the United States. In her national team career she was capped 132 times and scored 44 goals.

You can read a tribute to Tish by Ron Agostini of the Modesto Bee at www.modbee.com/sports/story/6873129p-7810004c.html.

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Women's United Soccer Association Stories from May 30, 2003


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