Here's Why Two USWNT Players Honored Their Former Teammate At The World Cup

The FIFA Women’s World Cup is already off to a great start for the United States after the US Women's National Team victory over Vietnam last week. And if you have been glued to your screen, you might have noticed that the name "Katie Meyer" has come up several times both before, during, and after the exciting game. Katie isn't a member of the USWNT, but she does play an important role in the team's efforts during the tournament, which takes place in Australia and New Zealand.

Katie Meyer was a college soccer player who used to be teammates with two members of the USWNT, Sophia Smith and Naomi Girma. During the United States' first game against Vietnam on July 21, Sophia honored Katie's life during her goal celebration, and both players have dedicated their World Cup run to their friend.

So, if you have questions about Katie Meyer, what happened to her, and what how her former teammates are honoring her during the World Cup run, Women's Health has all the answers. Here’s what you need to know.

Who is Katie Meyer?

Katie Meyer was a soccer player at Stanford University who died by suicide during her senior year in 2022. Katie, who was from Burbank, California, played goalie and was captain for her team. She was pursuing a degree in international relations with a minor in history.

Katie helped lead the team to a College Cup national championship win in 2019.

How old was Katie Meyer?

The Stanford soccer player was just 22 years old at the time of her death. She was born on January 20, 2000, and died on March 1, 2022.

What happened to her?

Katie was found dead in her college dorm room in March of 2022. She died by suicide.

"The last couple days are like a parent’s worst nightmare and you don’t wake up from it. So it’s just horrific,” her mother, Gina Meyer, told NBC News.

Katie’s parents said there “were no red flags” and, in searching for answers, they found an email about a possible disciplinary action from the school. The disciplinary letter was related to an "August 2021 incident in which she allegedly spilled coffee on another Stanford student athlete, who was accused of sexually assaulting one of her minor teammates," per The Guardian.

"Katie, being Katie, was defending a teammate on campus over an incident and the repercussions of her defending that teammate (were possibly resulting in disciplinary action)," her father, Steven Meyer, said on Today. Gina also said that Katie “had been getting letters for a couple months. This letter was kind of the final letter that there was going to be a trial or some kind of something. This is the only thing that we can come up with that triggered something.”

Sophia Smith and Naomi Girma honored her at the World Cup.

Katie was very close with both Sophia and Noami before her death. In one IG post from 2020, Katie wrote about how excited she was to play at the college level with her bestie, Sophia.

"After we both committed to Stanford four years ago, i remember counting down the days until i would get to play with you. thank you for fighting with me when things went wrong, and for celebrating with me when things went right," Katie wrote. "i love you so much and i’m so insanely proud we came out on top this year because of what it meant to both of us."

And here's another post where she was posing with Naomi with the caption, "family."

So, both Sophia and Naomi have made an effort to honor Katie in their own ways at the World Cup.

Naomi shared an Instagram post last week, dedicating her World Cup journey to her late friend. She also previously penned an essay for the Player's Tribune talking about how Katie helped her through an injury, and was "the truest friend I ever had." Naomi added that Katie was "the most unapologetic, positive, caring person in the world. The first person to be open and talk about her feelings. The first person you’d turn to when you needed to talk about yours. And the last person you’d think would take her own life."

And Sophia, who scored two goals in the US match against Vietnam, also honored Katie by pretending to zip her lips and throw away the key—which was a move Katie used to do after saving a penalty kick in a championship game.

And here's a clip of Naomi talking about Sophia's goal celebration on Twitter, in case you missed it:

They also started a mental health initiative.

Naomi, Sophia and another USWNT teammate named Sofía Huerta have partnered with Common Goal to create a mental health initiative in Katie's memory, which launched during the Women's World Cup.

“My goal is to humanize all of us,” Naomi said in a statement. “Through our collective voice, throughout this tournament and beyond, we want to demonstrate that vulnerability is a sign of strength.”

In another part of the statement, Sophia was quoted as saying that "the struggle isn’t always visible on the outside and that’s why welcoming vulnerability is so important... I want to use my platform to help create positive change and speak more about something that so many people are struggling with in silence.”

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