View source for Danielle Fotopoulos

{{Short description|American soccer coach and former player}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox football biography
| name           = Danielle Fotopoulos
| image          = Danielle fotopoulos picture.jpg
| image_size     = 
| alt            =
| caption        = Fotopoulos with the United States national team
| fullname       = Danielle Ruth Fotopoulos
| birth_name     = Danielle Ruth Garrett<ref>{{cite news |location=York, Pennsylvania |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106910139/fotopoulos-earns-time-to-shine/ |title=Fotopoulos earns time to shine |newspaper=[[York Daily Record]] |volume=209 |number=13 |page=1B |department=Sports |date=January 13, 2005 |access-date=August 4, 2022}}</ref>
| birth_date     = {{Birth date and age|1976|3|24|mf=y}}
| birth_place    = [[Camp Hill, Pennsylvania]]
| height         = {{height|ft=5|in=11}}
| currentclub    = [[Eckerd College]] (coach)
| years1         = 1998
| years2         = 2001–2003
| years3         = 2005
| clubs1         = [[Tampa Bay Extreme]]
| clubs2         = [[Carolina Courage]]
| clubs3         = [[Central Florida Krush]]
| position       = [[Forward (association football)|Forward]]
| youthyears1    = 1990–1993
| youthclubs1    = [[Lyman High School (Florida)|Lyman High School]]
| collegeyears1  = 1994–1995
| college1       = [[SMU Mustangs women's soccer|SMU Mustangs]]
| collegecaps1   = 44
| collegegoals1  = 52
| collegeyears2  = 1996–1998
| college2       = [[Florida Gators women's soccer|Florida Gators]]
| collegecaps2   = 48
| collegegoals2  = 66
| caps1          = 4  
| caps2          = 53
| goals1         = 6
| goals2         = 27
| nationalyears1 = 1996–2005
| nationalteam1  = [[United States women's national soccer team|United States]]
| nationalcaps1  = 35
| nationalgoals1 = 16
| manageryears1 = 2004
| managerclubs1 = [[LSU Tigers women's soccer|LSU]]
| manageryears2 = 2010–2022
| managerclubs2 = [[Eckerd Tritons|Eckerd]]
}}
'''Danielle Ruth Fotopoulos''' ({{nee|'''Garrett'''}}; born March 24, 1976) is an American [[Association football|soccer]] coach and former player. Fotopoulos holds the all-time [[National Collegiate Athletic Association]] (NCAA) [[NCAA Division I|Division I]] records for goals and points, and was a member of the [[University of Florida]] team that won the 1998 NCAA women's soccer championship, and also the [[United States women's national soccer team|United States national team]] that won the [[1999 FIFA Women's World Cup]]. She was the head coach of the [[Eckerd Tritons|Eckerd]] women's soccer team until 2022.

==Early life==
Fotopoulos was born in [[Camp Hill, Pennsylvania]] in 1976, the daughter of Bill and Donna Garrett.  She grew up in [[Altamonte Springs, Florida]], and attended [[Lyman High School (Florida)|Lyman High School]] in [[Longwood, Florida]] from 1990 to 1994.  While in [[high school]], she was a varsity [[letterman (sports)|letterman]] in six different sports—[[basketball]], [[cross-country running|cross country]], soccer, [[tennis]], [[Swimming (sport)|swimming]] and [[track & field]].  Her high school soccer team won three Florida state championships during her four years on the team.

==College career==
Fotopoulos initially attended [[Southern Methodist University]] (SMU) in [[Dallas, Texas]], where she played for the [[SMU Mustangs]] soccer team from 1994 to 1995. After her [[Sophomore year|sophomore]] year, she transferred from SMU to the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where she played for coach [[Becky Burleigh]]'s new [[Florida Gators women's soccer]] team for two seasons. She suffered an [[Anterior cruciate ligament|ACL]] injury before the start of the 1997 season and returned to the Gators for her [[senior (education)|senior]] year in 1998. She helped the Gators win the 1998 [[NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship|NCAA Women's Soccer Championship]], scoring the winning [[goal (sport)|goal]] against [[North Carolina Tar Heels|North Carolina]] in the final of the NCAA soccer tournament.  During her 1996 and 1998 seasons with the Gators, the team also won both the [[Southeastern Conference]] (SEC) regular season and tournament championships, and she was twice recognized as the SEC Player of the Year.  Fotopoulos finished her college career as the NCAA's all-time leader in goals (118) and points (284).  She was the 1998–99 recipient of the [[Honda Sports Award]] for Soccer, recognizing her as the outstanding collegiate women's soccer player of the year.<ref>Collegiate Women Sports Awards, [http://www.collegiatewomensportsawards.com/archives/soccer  Past Honda Sports Award Winners for Soccer].  Retrieved December 21, 2014.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://floridagators.com/news/2016/12/26/floridas-fotopoulos-wins-honda-award-for-soccer.aspx|title=Florida's Fotopoulos Wins Honda Award for Soccer|website=Florida Gators|language=en|access-date=2020-03-20}}</ref>

She graduated from Florida with a bachelor's degree in 1999, and was inducted into the [[List of University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame members|University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame]] as a "Gator Great" in 2008.<ref>F Club, Hall of Fame, [http://www.gatorfclub.org/hall-of-fame/greats  Gator Greats].  Retrieved December 15, 2014.</ref><ref>"[http://www.gatorzone.com/story.php?id=13818  Nine Members Inducted Into University of Florida Athletics Hall of Fame]," GatorZone.com (April 11, 2008).  Retrieved May 23, 2011.</ref>

==Professional career==
Fotopoulos played professionally with the [[Carolina Courage]] of the [[Women's United Soccer Association]], winning the league championship in 2002. She was also a member of the United States Women's National Soccer team.

==Coaching career==
Fotopoulos is married to former [[LSU Tigers women's soccer|Louisiana State University]] (LSU) women's soccer team head coach [[George Fotopoulos]]. In 2004, she served as co-head coach with her husband at [[LSU Tigers women's soccer|LSU]].<ref name="LSU">{{cite web|url=http://www.lsusports.net/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=5200&ATCLID=211140901|title=LSU History|publisher=lsusports.net|page=19|access-date=2018-07-29|archive-date=2018-07-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180730140308/http://www.lsusports.net/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=5200&ATCLID=211140901|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lsusports.net/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=5200&ATCLID=174103|title=Danielle Fotopoulos|publisher=lsusports.net|access-date=2018-07-29|archive-date=2018-07-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180730110922/http://www.lsusports.net/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=5200&ATCLID=174103|url-status=dead}}</ref> They finished with an 8–11–1 overall record (2–8–1 in the SEC).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://247sports.com/college/lsu/Article/LSU-Soccer-coaches-step-down-104139896/|title=LSU Soccer coaches step down|publisher=247sports.com|access-date=2018-07-29}}</ref> In 2006, she became an assistant coach for the [[Florida Gators women's soccer|Florida Gators soccer]] team at the [[University of Florida]], her [[alma mater]].  She currently lives in [[Tampa, Florida]] with her husband and their four children.  She coached multiple teams at the [[Tampa Bay United Soccer Club]] and currently coaches at Florida Premier FC where she is the GIRLS ECNLR Director.  She is also a partner for the semi-pro team, [[Tampa Bay Hellenic]]; her husband is currently the head coach.  From 2010 to 2022, Fotopoulos was the head of coach of the [[NCAA Division II]] women's soccer team at [[Eckerd College]] in [[St. Petersburg, Florida]] from 2010 until stepping down in August 2022.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://eckerdtritons.com/news/2022/8/8/fotopoulos-steps-down-as-womens-soccer-head-coach.aspx|title=Fotopoulos Steps Down as Women's Soccer Head Coach|website=Eckerd College Athletics|accessdate=11 March 2023}}</ref>

==Honors==
===Individual awards and honors===
* WUSA All-Star team selection: 2003
* Second-team All-WUSA: 2002
*[[Honda Sports Award|Honda Award]]: 1998<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.collegiatewomensportsawards.com/archives/soccer|title=Soccer|website=CWSA|language=en|access-date=2020-03-29}}</ref>
* [[NSCAA]] National Player of the Year: 1998
* ESPN.com/''Soccer Times'' National Player of the Year: 1998
* Soccer America Player of the Year: 1998
* NCAA Final Four Offensive MVP: 1998
* [[Southeastern Conference]] Player of the Year: 1996, 1998
* [[All-American]]: 1995, 1996, 1998
* SEC Tournament MVP: 1996

===Team honors===
* [[FIFA Women's World Cup]] ([[1999 FIFA Women's World Cup|1999]])
* [[Women's United Soccer Association]] Founders Cup (2002)
* [[NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship|NCAA Women's Soccer Championship]] (1999)

==Statistics==
===College===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Year
!Team
! GP/GS
! Goals
! Assists
! Total Points
|-
| 1994
| SMU
| 20/19
| 20
| 5
| 45
|-
| 1995
| SMU
| 24/23
| 32
| 19
| 85
|-
| 1996
| Florida
| 22/22
| 34
| 13
| 83
|-
| 1997
| Florida
|colspan=4 align=center| ''did not play''
|-
| 1998
| Florida
| 26/26
| 32
| 11
| 75
|-
| colspan=2|'''Totals'''
| '''92/90'''
| '''118'''
| '''48'''
| '''284'''
|-
|}

===WUSA===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Year
!Team
! GP/GS
! Goals
! Assists
! Total Points
|-
| 2001
| Carolina Courage
| 21/21
| 9
| 5
| 23
|-
| 2002
| Carolina Courage
| 21/20
| 11
| 10
| 32
|-
| 2003
| Carolina Courage
| 12/12
| 7
| 6
| 20
|-
| colspan=2|'''Totals'''
| '''54/53'''
| '''27'''
| '''21'''
| '''75'''
|-
|}

===W-League===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Year
!Team
! GP
! Goals
|-
| 1998
| Tampa Bay Extremes
| 4
| 6
|-
| 2005
| Central Florida Krush
| 
| 9
|-
| colspan=2|'''Totals'''
|
| '''15'''
|-
|}

===National team===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Year
! GP/GS
! Goals
! Assists
! Total Points
|-
| 1996
| 2/1
| 3
| 2
| 8
|-
| 1997
| 6/0
| 1
| 1
| 3
|-
|1998
|1/0
|0
|0
|0
|-
|1999
|17/1
|7
|4
|18
|-
|2000
|colspan=4 rowspan=2 align=center|''did not play''
|-
|2001
|-
|2002
|4/0
|1
|0
|2
|-
|2003
|colspan=4 rowspan=2 align=center|''did not play''
|-
|2004
|-
|2005
|5/1
|4
|0
|8
|-
|'''Totals'''
| '''35/3'''
| '''16'''
| '''7'''
| '''39'''
|-
|}

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography}}
* [[Florida Gators]]
* [[List of Florida Gators soccer players]]
* [[List of University of Florida alumni]]
* [[List of University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame members]]
{{clear}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*"[https://web.archive.org/web/20010522105630/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/womens/news/1999/02/11/spotlight/  Danielle Fotopoulos, Soccer], ''Sports Illustrated'' (February 11, 1999).  Retrieved May 6, 2010.
*USSoccer.com, "[https://web.archive.org/web/20110611002355/http://www.ussoccer.com/News/Womens-National-Team/2007/02/Danielle-Fotopoulos-Retires-From-International-Soccer.aspx  Danielle Fotopoulos Retires from International Soccer]," press release (February 22, 2007).  Retrieved May 6, 2010.
*[http://www.soccertimes.com/usteams/roster/women/fotopoulos.htm ''Soccer Times'' profile]
*[http://www.gatorzone.com/soccer/coaches.php?coach=fotopoulos_coach.html University of Florida coach bio]
*[https://floridagators.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=5797 University of Florida player bio]

{{United States squad 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup}}
{{LSU Tigers women's soccer coach navbox}}
{{Honda Sports Award}}
{{Soccer America Women's Player of the Year navbox}}
{{Southeastern Conference Women's Soccer Player of the Year navbox}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fotopoulos, Danielle}}
[[Category:1976 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:1999 FIFA Women's World Cup players]]
[[Category:American soccer coaches]]
[[Category:American women's soccer players]]
[[Category:Carolina Courage players]]
[[Category:Eckerd College people]]
[[Category:American female sports coaches]]
[[Category:FIFA Women's World Cup–winning players]]
[[Category:Florida Gators women's soccer coaches]]
[[Category:Florida Gators women's soccer players]]
[[Category:LSU Tigers women's soccer coaches]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Altamonte Springs, Florida]]
[[Category:People from Camp Hill, Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:SMU Mustangs women's soccer players]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Cumberland County, Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:United States women's international soccer players]]
[[Category:Women's association football forwards]]
[[Category:Women's United Soccer Association players]]
[[Category:20th-century American sportswomen]]