Early Playing Career
She attended Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose, California, helping take the team to three section championships. In 1986 Chastain was awarded the Soccer America Freshmen Player Of The Year award at the University of California-Berkeley. Soon after, she underwent reconstructive surgery on both knees which caused her to miss much of the 1987 and 1988 seasons. She transferred to Santa Clara University before the start of the 1989 season, leading them to two Final Four NCAA appearances, 1989 and 1990, before she graduated in 1991.
Chastain first represented her country on June 1, 1988, against Japan. She scored her first of five international goals on April 18, 1991 when she came off the bench as a forward to score five consecutive goals in a 12–0 United States win in a CONCACAF FIFA Women's World Cup qualifier against Mexico. Team USA went on to win the World Cup, staged in China.
After that first World Cup, she played club soccer for one season in Japan in 1993, earning team MVP honors and was the only foreigner to be selected as one of the league's top 11 players.
As a defender, she made the U.S. National team again in 1996 and participated in the 1996 Women's Olympic Football Tournament, helping the Americans win the gold medal by playing every minute of every U.S. game, despite a third serious knee injury suffered in the semifinal against Norway. Of her 192 career caps, she played 89 primarily at defender during which she occasionally played midfielder.
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