There are probably many places to find this answer but my searching skills do not seem up to the task. Earlier today one of my neighbor's little girls asked the question and I could not find the answer. I kind of figured with her overall production I figure Mia must have scored even several goals with her head but I cannot find any confirmation of that. I even seem to remember that, in a friendly blowout leading to the 1999 WC that a combo happened where Lilly flicked a ball from the end line that Mia headed into goal but I cannot find that either and my old brain sometimes mis-remembers or combines events from that far ago. If anyone can point me to a source of stats that either confirms or denies Mia's prowess with her head I would appreciate it and it would help me retain my God like status with my neighborhood children.
I'm not sure you can find the actual stats for how many goals she scored with her head as specific stats like that get sparse the further back you go. I mean, in the early 90s, its hard to find info on what minute a goal was scored in during the game, much less which body part a player used. And for some of those in the 90s, there's no video available either. But to answer the question, yes, Hamm did score goals with her head. I'm not sure how many, but one of them was in the game where she scored her 100th goal. It was a match in 1998 against Russia, and she scored her 100th goal in the 35th minute (with her foot); because of that goal's importance, you can find it in highlight reels. But she also scored a 2nd goal in that game with her head. This game might even be the one you're thinking of since it's been re-aired, I think, with it featuring her 100th goal. Video proof from the match (header goal was scored in the 45th minute): There's another one in this feature of Hamm from a Brazil game, but I'm not sure which game this was (7' minute of the video). It looks to be a game in the early 2000s from the uniform: Obviously, scoring with her head wasn't what Hamm was known for; most of her goals came off the dribble or a slashing run. But, she was able to score with her head; other folks might remember other header goals she had.
Just found another one for you: May 1997 game against Canada when Hamm scored the 6th hat trick of her career. Hamm's third goal in the game is scored with her head (jump to 1:21:40 in the video):
My best guess on the goal in that video feature is that it was in the September 1, 2000 friendly against Brazil (the send-off game before the 2000 Olympics). That's based on what I can tell about the uniforms, and this article's description that Hamm's 1st goal in this game was a nodded header. But, I could easily be wrong.
Thanks you particularly for the clips as the young lady I was talking to is of an age that accepts very little without proof and, once I get those on a thumb drive she can watch them at her home. It will help me to retain my God like status among the local kids. (I will credit you) I seem to be becoming the local source for soccer history and the kids, mostly, believe me. This came up because several kids wanted to know about the early days of USA women's soccer (They are not all that interested in the men) and they "understand" things better if they see clips. They asked me about the "best" USA women's player I ever have seen and I told them Akers was that player for me. One brought up Hamm and I told them I though Akers was better and then we got into a discussion of the difference between a "shooter" and a "finisher" and I told them about all the different positions Akers played but they still did not agree with me. In fact I actually brought up headed goals and they could not find evidence that Hamm had ever scored one but i "knew" she had, just not a lot, as she was not a center forward. These clips will help quite a bit as they show a side of Hamm's play that is not widely talked about. There is also her defensive prowess that even more rarely gets shown as back then a much larger percentage of goals were scored off a turnover than in todays game. Now to go sit on my front porch and wait for the little urchins to return so I can show them that my searching/researching skills are not totally gone. One more time, THANKS a lot.
These little urchins are going to be the death of me. After I shared the info provided by @lil_one with my neighbor's kids they had the audacity to ask another question I cannot answer. This one seems simple but I could not find a satisfying answer: Who has the most goals in consecutive matches for the USWNT? That is who has the longest goal scoring streak for the USWNT. When the first question was asked I was not surprised that I could not find the answer as it is a rather obscure question. But this one seems simpler and I still cannot find the answer. But I did find that Mia has been replaced at the top of all time goal scorers (I actually knew that for quite a while) but she is still, and may always remain, the assist leader by a rather wide margin. Like #2 is something like 30-40 off the mark set by Mia and no active player is even that close.
Yes, that's identifiable as Spartan Stadium in San Jose--you can see the "Earthquakes Tickets" sign in the background--9/1/2000, I was there.
I'm not Google, so it might be time to teach some good research skills to these friends, instead of just giving away the answers. Luckily for you, I have a good memory, am a bit of a USWNT historian, and have good Google skills. The simplest answer is Michelle Akers in her heyday on the USWNT, when USWNT fans could have said that the only things that were certain in life were death, taxes, and Michelle Akers scoring a goal. But, the breakdown is below: The last one to be on a bit of a streak was Swanson. She was on a scoring streak from November 2022 through March 2023, scoring in 6 games straight. The game that unfortunately broke that streak was the game in which she was injured. That's her career best, and the most recent scoring streak, but it's not the best all-time on the USWNT. USWNT players who have had a scoring streak of 6 consecutive games or more with a goal are Abby Wambach, Carin Jennings Gabarra, Carli Lloyd, Christen Press, Mia Hamm, and Michelle Akers. Alex Morgan's longest streak was 5 consecutive games in 2012. Michelle Akers actually had 3 scoring streaks of 6 games or more in her career. The list in order: 1. Press: 6 games from the end of 2019 into 2020 2. Wambach: 6 games in 2004, 6 games in 2011 (started during the WWC) 3. Gabarra: 6 games from the end of 1994 to 1995 4. Lloyd: 7 games in 2014 5. Hamm: 7 games in 1997, 7 games in 1999 (interrupted though by 1 USWNT match in which she didn't play) 6. Michelle Akers: 6 games from the end of 1990-1991, 6 games from 1994-1995, and 9 games in 1991 (stretching all through WC qualifying that year), The crazy thing is that Michelle Akers' 6 game streak in 1990-91 and the 9 game streak in 1991 were separated by 1 match in which she didn't score a goal (The game she didn't score in was on April 3, 1991 against Hungary, and she was subbed off. Maybe Dorrance just didn't leave her on long enough to score a game in that match!) Additionally, Carli Lloyd holds the international record for most consecutive WWC games with a goal with 6 WWC games, stretching from the 2015 round of 16 to the 2nd group stage match in 2019.
I later realized that I answered the question of the longest scoring streak or most games with a goal scored instead of the most goals in consecutive games, which really are two different questions, and I realized that the post actually asked both questions. I think I answered the one that was intended, but even for the second question of most goals in consecutive games, the answer would still be Michelle Akers. During that 9 game scoring streak in 1991, Akers scored 17 goals as she had hat tricks in 2 of those games and a brace in 4 of the matches. The next scoring streak that comes close in total number of goals is Hamm's 7 game streak in 1997 in which she scored 14 goals in those 7 games.
To the OP, Hamm was the one taking corners and free kicks for the majority of her career. Hard to get on the end of one when are taking them all. Shannon MacMillan was even better, though. She took them if she was on the field. If not, Mia would. Higgins (cross) or Akers or Gabarra (shot) would also take them very early in Mia's time (early 90s). But she is the USWNT assist leader by a country mile. She has twice as many as anyone not named Kristine Lilly. And still leads her by 40+ in 80 fewer caps. And taking all those corners & FKs is a factor.
Scoring Chart: Player, Gls+Asts=Goal Contrib, Pts (2G/1A), Caps. 1. Hamm: 158 + 147= 305; 463, 276 2. Wambach: 184 + 73 = 257; 441, 255 3. Lilly: 130 + 106 = 236; 366, 354 4. Lloyd: 134 + 64 = 198; 332, 316 5. Morgan: 123 + 53 = 176; 299, 224 6. Milbrett: 100 + 64 = 164; 264, 206 7. Akers: 107 + 36 = 143; 250, 155 8. Rapinoe: 63 + 73 = 136; 199, 311 9. Parlow: 75 + 35 = 110; 185, 158 10. MacMillan: 60 + 50 = 110; 170, 177 11. Press: 64 + 43 = 107; 171, 155 12. Gabarra: 56 + 49 = 105; 161, 119 13. O'Reilly: 47 + 55 = 102; 149, 231 14. Foudy: 45 + 55 = 100; 145, 274 I think that is everyone at or over 100 USWNT goal contributions. I do not think anyone else is even that close. Heath: 36 + 42 = 78; 114, 181 Heaps: 37 + 37 = 74; 111, 165 Swanson: 38 + 31 = 69; 107, 103 Venturini: 47 + 21 = 68; 115, 134 ------------------- Wagner: 21 + 42 = 63; 84, 131 Holiday: 24 + 37 = 61; 85, 133 Chastain: 30 + 26 = 56; 86, 192 Rodriguez: 30 + 22 = 52; 82, 132 Boxx: 27 + 25 = 52; 79, 195 Fawcett: 27 + 23 = 50; 77, 241 Lavelle: 24 + 24 = 48; 72, 110 LeRoux: 35 + 12 = 47; 82, 77 Tarpley: 32 + 15 = 47; 79, 125 Heinrichs: 35 + 11 = 46; 81, 46 Dunn: 25 + 20 = 45; 70, 159 Wilson: 24 + 11 = 35; 59, 58 S. Mewis: 24 + 10 = 34; 58, 83 Ertz: 20 + 6 = 26; 46, 123
The 2nd part of that list is not meant to be comprehensive. I just pucked some notably players. There are certainly others at 20+ goals. Biyendolo, for instance.
YOu might also let those little ladies know that scoring goals at the highest requires using your head..ie, brains! Reading the game, putting yourself or teammates in the right positions to receive or pass the ball, etc..Mia was never the fastest, biggest or strongest, but her best skill was using her head, just not how your questioners are thinking.