By Shawn Stinson

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Contributed by Brittany Hudson Former Richmond Senior standout soccer player Brittany Hudson, upper right, attended the first two U.S. games in this year’s World Cup as well as the championship match with Japan.
https://www.yourdailyjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_image3.jpgContributed by Brittany Hudson Former Richmond Senior standout soccer player Brittany Hudson, upper right, attended the first two U.S. games in this year’s World Cup as well as the championship match with Japan.

ROCKINGHAM — When Carli Lloyd scored three times in the opening 16 minutes of the Women’s World Cup championship match, Rockingham native Brittany Hudson was yelling along with the rest of the country.

Hudson was doing her screaming along with 53,341 fans at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver, Canada.

“I think I lost my voice something like 10 minutes into the match,” Hudson said. “The noise level was like being at a VCU (Virginia Commonwealth University) basketball game. My ears were ringing.”

For Hudson it was a year-long dream come true to not only attend the tournament, but watch the United States Women’s National Team lift the trophy after defeating Japan 5-2.

The former Richmond Senior soccer standout started her journey to the World Cup in March of 2014. That is when Hudson decided it was a “once in a lifetime opportunity” that she couldn’t pass up and started to save money for the trip.

Before Hudson could purchase airline tickets, game tickets or book any hotel rooms, she had to wait to see what group the U.S. was going to land in and where the matches would be played. The draw sent the USWNT to Group D along with Australia, Nigeria and Sweden.

The team’s first contest was scheduled for June 8 at Winnipeg Stadium in Winnipeg, Canada against Australia. Its next match versus Sweden was also going to be in Winnipeg on June 12. The final game of group play was going to send the U.S. to Vancouver, the site of the championship match, against Nigeria on June 16.

Then it would come down to the Round of 16 at various stadiums across Canada. Contests were being played at Ottawa’s Lansdowne Stadium, Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium, Moncton’s Moncton Stadium, Montreal’s Olympic Stadium as well as BC Place Stadium. The quarterfinals were scheduled for Edmonton, Montreal, Ottawa and Vancouver with the semifinals in Edmonton and Montreal.

Hudson told her mother she wanted to follow the U.S. team from venue to venue, but ran into a problem.

“I knew it wasn’t financially possible,” Hudson said. “So I rolled some dice.”

Hudson decided to purchase tickets for the first two matches in Winnipeg as well as the championship contest. To help with expenses, Hudson found three other VCU students, two who play on the school’s club soccer team with her, to head to Winnipeg to help cut expenses.

After returning to Richmond, Virginia following the game with Sweden, Hudson was forced to sit and hope the U.S. would make it through pool play and advance to the championship. Hudson remained confident her gamble would pay off until the semifinal round. That was when the U.S. was matched with Germany, the world’s No. 1 team.

“It was going to be a great experience regardless,” Hudson said. “I couldn’t breathe, not until we scored that first goal.”

The U.S. punched its ticket to the finals with a 2-0 win over Germany, giving Hudson what she wanted.

“The fact it was the U.S. made it better,” Hudson said. “And it was a rematch with Japan which made it even better.”

Reach managing editor Shawn Stinson at 910-817-2671 and follow him on Twitter @scgolfer.