Yesterday, in Beijing, the U.S. Women’s National Team made history by snatching the gold medal away from heavily-favored Brazil with a final score of 1-0 from an overtime goal from midfielder Carli Lloyd. The U.S. Team was missing several key players, including their star striker Abby Wambach to a broken leg in a “friendly” match against Brazil one month ago.

It was nothing short of heart-stopping to watch. The 18 women that make up our national team worked together as a seamless unit and applied every ounce of their grit, determination and championship qualities to deny a stunningly crafty offense at every turn.

As a major fan and as a regular player of the sport, I have always said that I would rather have a team then a superstar or two. The support for that claim was apparent yesterday when a team denied the best and arguably second best female strikers in the world, Marta and Christiane. And it was even more exciting to watch American keeper Hope Solo “put her money where her mouth is” by repeatedly making tremendous save after tremendous save and shutting the Brazilian offensive machine out.

At the end of the match, it was clear from the faces of both the gold and silver medal winners that this game had nothing to do with money and everything to do with pride.

Thanks, girls, for making us all proud! Thanks for showing us what being a champion is all about!