USWNT soccer icon Carli Lloyd pregnant with first child

May 1 (UPI) -- Soccer legend Carli Lloyd, who won two World Cup titles and two Olympic gold medals with the United States Women's National Team, is pregnant with her first child, she announced Wednesday on social media.

"It has been a rollercoaster of a journey to get to this point," Lloyd wrote on Instagram and X. "We are beyond excited to be parents. I couldn't have gotten through this without my amazing husband, Brian. He truly kept me going."

Lloyd and Ryan Hollins married in 2016. The soccer legend attended Delran High School (Delran, N.J.,) with the golf pro. They announced that their baby is expected in October.

Fellow soccer stars Sam Kerr, Kelly O'Hara, Aitana Bonmati and Clint Dempsey congratulated Lloyd on her Instagram post.

Lloyd, 41, also posted photos from a stay at a hospital, where she received fertility treatments. She detailed her pregnancy journey in an article for Women's Health magazine, published Wednesday.

Lloyd, who retired from soccer in 2021, said she underwent multiple rounds of in vitro fertilization treatments, starting in April 2023.

"I felt all the emotions during my career -- stress, worry, fear, anxiety -- but I'd never felt all the emotions that IVF brought on," Lloyd wrote in Women's Health. "I felt completely out of control."

Lloyd retired with the second-most caps -- 316 international appearances -- in the history of the United States Women's National Team, trailing only Kristine Lilly (354). Her 134 goals trail only Abby Wambach (184) and Mia Hamm (158).

She ranks fifth in assists (64), trailing only Hamm (147), Lilly (106), Wambach (73) and Megan Rapinoe (73).

She served as captain from 2016 to 2020. Lloyd won gold medals with Team USA at the 2008 Summer Games and 2012 Summer Games. She won bronze in the 2020 Summer Games. Lloyd won World Cups with the Americans in 2015 and 2019.

She received the 2015 Golden Ball -- given to the best player of the World Cup -- after becoming the first player to score a hat-trick in the finale of the women's tournament.

Lloyd also was on the second-place and third-place American teams at the respective 2011 and 2007 tournaments.