BRANDI CHASTAIN , 30 [Midfielder]

After playing forward for three years, Brandi Chastain shifted to the backfield, where she played every second of every game during the U.S. team's gold medal run at the 1996 Olympics. Last year, when the U.S. changed formations, Chastain moved to midfield. This summer she will play both midfield and backfield. Mastering all those positions is a full-time job for Chastain, who is also an assistant women's soccer coach at Santa Clara University. No surprise, then, that she and her husband, Jerry Smith, the head coach at Santa Clara, found themselves too busy for two years to take a honeymoon. When they finally flew to Paris last summer, they spent their days not sharing romantic dinners but joining thousands of screaming fans at the men's World Cup. Can you say soccer overload? "If there's a game on TV, she's in front of it," says coach Tony DiCicco. "She's our best student."

Despite her diligence, versatility and especially her strong kicking toe (make that toes: "You can't tell if she's right- or left- footed, which is extremely rare," says DiCicco), Chastain doesn't get the recognition many of her teammates do. That's a mistake, says her coach, especially for her opponents. "When Brandi's playing her best and you don't take note of her," says DiCicco, "you'll pay a price."

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