July 5 at 11:21 AM
LYON, France — Four summer ago, as the U.S. women’s national soccer team played Japan for the World Cup trophy in Vancouver, Rose Lavelle was 140 miles south eating pizza.
At the time, the rising junior from the University of Wisconsin was spending the offseason with the Seattle Sounders women’s team, a second-tier gig that welcomed amateur players.
“I wish I would have written this down so people would believe me,” Lavelle said Friday, “but they had gotten so close [in 2011] that going into 2015, once they got to the finals, they weren’t going to let it slip.