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Speaker 1: Legendary women's soccer coach Anson Lawrence told me there are

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Speaker 1: players he is paid to coach. Oh what a finish

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Speaker 1: by jess McDonald, and players he'd coach for free. McDonalds, Oh,

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Speaker 1: my goodness, But that he would pay to coach Jessica McDonald.

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Speaker 1: She's had some very difficult moments in her life, but

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Speaker 1: there's something inside the great athletes that is why they're great.

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Speaker 1: I'm Alexandrea, lead soccer writer at The Charlotte Observer in

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Speaker 1: North Carolina, where McDonald became one of the most amazing

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Speaker 1: figures in sports. Calino is the ninety second that it

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Speaker 1: this march on Payback, The Charlotte Observer, Raleigh News, An Observer,

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Speaker 1: McClatchy Studios, and I Heart Radio share for the first

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Speaker 1: time her story. I ran away from home when I

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Speaker 1: was seventeen years old. My recollections are mostly trying to

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Speaker 1: find her. I wasn't just scared. I was scared for

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Speaker 1: my life. When she told me, I was just in tears,

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Speaker 1: I'm like, how do you deal with that? A battle

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Speaker 1: for greatness against the longest odds. Thank God for sport.

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Speaker 1: That was my escape. And then I find out I'm

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Speaker 1: pregnant with my son. There's the nail in the coffin.

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Speaker 1: All right, your mom, now it's over. I was signing

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Speaker 1: all these one year contracts I was making k I

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Speaker 1: couldn't afford childcare, and an investigation into social inequity rampant

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Speaker 1: in a game long struggling for legitimacy. Tonight, professional women's

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Speaker 1: soccer is turned upside down after a shocking report. We're

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Speaker 1: talking about abuse, the darkest moments of some players. Live

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Speaker 1: MacDonald making her first start for the U S women's

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Speaker 1: national team. How about that. I need to show an

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Speaker 1: example for my son. That's what inspires me day in

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Speaker 1: and day out. An incredible journey to the pinnacle of sports.

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Speaker 1: That's it where McDonald found one last battle for change

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Speaker 1: generations in the making. The whole stadium cheering for US

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Speaker 1: equal pay. That's a movement payback from The Charlotte Observer,

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Speaker 1: Raleigh News and Observer, McClatchy Studios and iHeart Radio coming

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Speaker 1: March on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever

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Speaker 1: you get your podcasts. What has that been like to

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Speaker 1: watch your mom play? She's won a lot of games

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Speaker 1: and now she's becoming a legend