PSU head coach Erica Walsh (middle, left) helped the US squad claim the gold medal in women’s soccer. Walsh was an assistant to head coach Pia Sundhage. The US women defeated Brazil in a thrilling 1-0 overtime victory to successfully defend the Olympic gold that they won in Athens in 2004.

The PSU soccer team begins their season Saturday in Williamsburg VA as the Nittany Lions take on William and Mary. Walsh is expected to take the long flight back from Beijing today and to meet up with her squad in time to lead them in the contest against W&M.

McLeod was injured and had to leave the game early in the Canadians 2-1 overtime loss to the US in a quarterfinal match.

Former PSU soccer All-American Joanna wants to leave her mark on the world. She’s already done that in the soccer world as a multi-year All American at PSU and as a former member of the US National team. But this time her sights are set higher. She aims to make an impact on the whole world and its future generations.

Joanna is one of the co-founders of GreenLaces, a “green” charity dedicated to spreading the enviromental word across the planet through athletes. Pretty much everyone is familiar with the Lance Armstrong Foundation’s LiveStrong campaign that used plastic bracelets to raise people’s cancer awareness. The yellow bands are ubiquitous these and Joanna is committed to accomplishing the same for the environment but with green shoelaces.

The Canadian women’s soccer team fell to the Swedes 2-1. They finish Group Play at 1-1-1 and will advance to elimination play with their first round opponent being the United States.

BEIJING — Cheryl McLeod can’t decide whether to play hurt at the Summer Olympics or retreat to the safety of her hotel room to rest her frayed nerves.

“I’m not sure if I can take much more this,” Canada’s unofficial first soccer mom – at least for this week – said Sunday morning on the 338 km/hr bullet train from Tianjin to Beijing.

TIANJIN, China — Canada’s women’s soccer team could have wilted under the heat and humidity and stifling noise of the pro-Chinese crowd.

Instead, they turned the intense conditions in their favour Saturday, playing host China to a 1-1 draw to remain unbeaten at the Olympic Games.

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Even at a young age McLeod seemed to sense her athletic career was on the soccer pitch. Before she even hit her teenage years she expressed a dream, not unlike other women on Canada’s Olympic soccer team, that some day she would play for the gold — even though women’s soccer wasn’t then in the Games.

The U.S. Women’s National Team- with Penn State head coach Erica Walsh on the bench as an assistant coach- qualified for the 2008 Olympic Games on April 9 with a 3-0 victory over Costa Rica.