U.S. goalie Hope Solo playing with a purpose

EDMONTON, Alberta - Try for a moment to separate the Hope Solo of the sports section from the Hope Solo of the rest of the newspaper.

It's not easy for many observers of the United States women's soccer team to do that, whether die-hard fans or casual watchers who tune in only during major tournaments.

But Solo's performances so far in the World Cup have served as a reminder that her status as the world's top goalkeeper is unquestioned, even by her harshest critics. In three group stage games, she has allowed just one goal, and has made many spectacular saves.

The 33-year-old native of Richland, Wash., has shown off all her best traits in Canada: lightning quick reflexes, an ability to leap across almost the whole goal mouth at once, and a steely mental toughness.

Solo has rarely spoken with reporters during the World Cup, but she has spoken on videos distributed by the U.S. Soccer Federation. After the U.S. team's tournament-opening 3-1 win over Australia, a game in which she made multiple outstanding saves, she offered some notable insight.

"Not every game is going to be easy," Solo said. "You're playing against the best players in the world and some of the best teams in the world, and competition is what we like. Nobody would enjoy it if we ran over teams."

Heather Mitts, a former U.S. national team defender who's now part of Fox Sports' World Cup studio team, is still close to Solo. Mitts has seen Solo overcome repeated challenges: a difficult family life growing up, conflicts with coaches at the college and pro levels, and even a dispute with her partner when she competed on ABC's Dancing with the Stars. And that was all before last summer, when she was arrested and charged with two misdemeanor counts of assault, one against her half-sister and the other against her nephew.

"It's extremely hard to be able to separate your personal life from your job when you're playing a sport," said Mitts, who is married to former Eagles quarterback A.J. Feeley. "Some people can turn it off and on and other people can't, but she's found a way to overcome the adversity and go out there on the field and be completely focused."

As for U.S. coach Jill Ellis, she offered strong praise when asked what makes Solo tick.

"You need to be the hero, and sometimes, unfortunately, the goat, and you have to live with that," Ellis concluded. "Hope can live with both, and she's been a tremendously consistent game-changer for this team."

Solo's brilliance on the field does not excuse the fact that her trial on domestic abuse hasn't been fully resolved yet. Nor does it excuse accusations that U.S. Soccer has turned a blind eye to Solo's off-the-field life in the name of winning the World Cup for the first time in 16 years.

The Federation has made it clear that it won't make a final decision on Solo's status until the courts do. That has annoyed some observers, such as Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.), who sent a scathing letter to U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati equating Solo with Ray Rice. But as Gulati noted in his public reply to Blumenthal, in Solo's case there isn't the concrete video evidence that proved Rice's guilt.

For the time being, the furor around Solo has quieted down, and fans have turned their focus back to the field.

Solo's focus has been on the field all along. And for as long as the United States remains in the World Cup, that's clearly where it's going to stay.