Jacqui Little

Club

Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA), the first official professional women's soccer league in the United States, began in 2001. Little was a sixth-round draft pick (41st overall in the global draft) by the Bay Area CyberRays. In 2001, Little started three of her 15 regular season appearances, contributing a goal and two assists.

In 2002, Little started 12 of her 20 regular season appearances, scoring three goals as the Freedom improved their seventh-place finish in 2001 to third in 2002. She featured in the championship game but the Freedom lost 3–2 to Carolina Courage. Freedom coach Jim Gabarra praised Little's performances as an impact substitute: "Jacqui really accepted her role of coming off the bench well and provided a spark last year." Another successful campaign saw Little start 19 of 20 regular season games and play in the 2003 WUSA Founders Cup win.

Personal life Little and her identical twin Skylar Little were born in the Netherlands, but grew up playing soccer in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles. Skylar, a defender, played college soccer with UCLA Bruins, while forward Jacqui elected to move further afield with Santa Clara.

In the 1999 NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Tournament, Jacqui's Broncos team beat Skylar's Bruins 7–0. Skylar was drafted by the Washington Freedom and faced Jacqui's Bay Area CyberRays in WUSA's inaugural match, which the Freedom won 1–0.

After the collapse of WUSA, Little took an office job with Reico Kitchen & Bath. Although she liked the job she was sad to no longer be a professional soccer player: "The fact that I was sitting at a desk instead of doing what I love to do, it just hit me like a ton of bricks."

In December 2005, Little married her longtime boyfriend, Nick Rimando. He played for the United States men's national soccer team as a goalkeeper and is also from California. The wedding was performed by Rimando's teammate Ben Olsen in Malibu, California. Rimando and Little have two children, Jett Nicholas Rimando and Benny Rose Rimando. In 2016 she was living in Salt Lake City, and has since divorced Rimando.