And perhaps because of the team's successes, individuals within the organization tend to have a fairly blase attitude about personal achievements.
Take Kristine Lilly. A member of the national team since the summer of 1987, Lilly has the opportunity to surmount the 200-game plateau -- a benchmark no one, either male or female of any nationality, has ever attained -- by appearing in both games of this weekend's Nike U.S. Women's Cup tournament.
But after talking to Lilly, you'd think these matches at Portland's Civic Stadium were hardly worth mentioning, from a Kristine Lilly point of view, other than they are part of the process of getting ready for the 2000 Olympic Games.
``It's just going to be another game,'' she said yesterday. ``It's going to be nice, whatever happens, but it's just another game.''
Treating such personal milestones with a laissez-faire attitude is pretty much standard operating procedure for the U.S. Women's National team, which would rather subsume the ego and concentrate on the achievements of the program as a whole.
Coach April Heinrichs, who was a teammate of Lilly's back on the 1991 Women's World Cup champion side, doesn't expect any big bells and whistles -- at least internally -- to accompany's LLilly's topping the two-century mark other than the fact that it contributes to the boosting of the women's game. ``It's another landmark for Kristine and the game,'' Heinrichs said. "It's just another way that helps promote the game."
But Lilly, a midfielder who has scored 83 career goals, can't deny that appearing in 198 games -- 191 of which she has started -- for her national team is a pretty big honor.
``It makes me feel good,'' she said. ``It makes me feel that I've done all the right things to keep my job.''
Lilly credits good genes for her longevity (``My grandma is 89 and she still walks around like there's no tomorrow,'' she said), but it's more likely her work ethic that has been the biggest contributor.
``My focus always has been fitness; I do take pride in that," she said. "I feel as long as I'm fit, everything else will come into play.''
Staying fit is only part of it; Lilly has never been seriously injured.
``Everyone's life takes different roads,'' she said, "and I haven't had too many curves in my road."
And as it's been a long and winding road -- the 28-year-old Lilly has played in 18 different countries during her career -- she's not sure whether she can -- or wants to -- continue for much longer.
"The amount of time and years I've put in, the amount of traveling, not having a real home -- these things add up,'' she said. ``Right now, I'm just looking at the Olympics. Then we'll see what happens."
Lilly admits that the three-ring circus that was the Women's World Cup last year took a bit out of her, both mentally and physically, and it took a while for her to get motivated earlier this year.
"The same excitement wasn't in it,'' she said. "Getting up mentally was very difficult. I kept saying, `Where's that fire?' But sometimes the fire wasn't there."
Several things rekindled the blaze, not the least of which was the arrival of Heinrichs, who succeeded Tony DiCicco as national team coach in January.
"April came in . . . and enhanced everything," Lilly said. "It's been fresh."
Also, Lilly, like many of the team's other core veterans, is being revitalized by the number of younger players Heinrichs is bringing in.
``I feel the pressure, I feel their competitiveness," she said. "And I like it. They're busting their butts and we (the veterans) are trying to teach them what it takes to be successful. It helps make the team stronger."
Which at the root is what drives the individuals on this team.