Rachel Van Hollebeke announces retirement from USWNT and NWSL

Rachel Van Hollebeke is ready to end her soccer career after 113 caps for the United States. The defender will retire from the sport in the coming months and enroll in medical school at UC San Diego.

Van Hollebeke was not on the American team that won the World Cup this summer, but she reach the century mark in caps, won Olympic gold in 2008 and 2012 and was a starter at the 2011 World Cup. She is also a member of the Portland Thorns and while she will miss the team's final two games of the regular season, she may play if the team makes the NWSL playoffs.

"I’m sad to be leaving the game because I love soccer, I love my teammates and I love Portland, but it’s also been a passion of mine for a long time to attend medical school, and this is the right time to start that journey," Van Hollebeke said.

Van Hollebeke turns 30 years old this week and joins Lauren Holiday, Shannon Boxx and Lori Chalupny as national teams who have announced their retirement since the end of the World Cup.

"My teammates are all like my sisters, and I love them all so much. I will forever be honored to be a part of such an outstanding group of women. In the end, I’m just very thankful to U.S. Soccer for investing in me at an early age and for bestowing on me the greatest honor of representing the United States for so many years."