By Neil Schmidt
Enquirer staff writer

Go ahead and call Heather Mitts a surprise. Say the first-time Olympian is a newcomer in elite soccer and beat the odds by making this team. You'd be wrong.

The 26-year-old St. Ursula grad won an NCAA title for Florida in 1998, first played for the U.S. national team in February 1999, and starred for three seasons in the now-defunct WUSA. She has had five different stints on the national team and has logged the fourth-most minutes for the team this year.

Mitts was fueled by the disappointment of not making the World Cup team last year, when she was slowed by a broken leg.

"I came so close, had the injury, and fought to come back," she said.

"She stepped into camp in January the sharpest, fittest, most motivated player," Olympic coach April Heinrichs told NBC.com. "When you don't make a team, you let go of your fears. You have nothing to lose now, and Heather has played that way all year."

Talk about fearless: Heather participated in the "Running of the Bulls" in Pamplona, Spain, in 1999.

Sports Illustrated picks the U.S. women for the bronze medal, behind Sweden and Germany.

"For a lot of the veterans, these are their last games," Mitts said. "We owe it to them to take them out on top."

Mitts comes from an athletic family. Her father, Don, played basketball at Kentucky under Adolph Rupp; brother Brian played soccer at UK; stepsister Lindsay Peck played soccer at Georgia; and stepbrother Grayson Sugarman played soccer at Harvard.