A high school girls soccer team in Vermont is refusing to back down from their fight for equal pay.
The Burlington High School team came under the spotlight last week when senior Helen Worden scored a goal, edging her team to victory with just three minutes to go.
In a rush of adrenaline, she pulled off her game jersey, revealing a T-shirt emblazoned with #EqualPay — a cause she was inspired to rally her team around after watching the U.S. Women’s National Team sue their federation on the issue, just months before winning the World Cup in France this summer.
“We had planned before the game to just lift up our playing jerseys and show the #EqualPay on the front of the shirts that we were wearing underneath,” Worden’s teammate and co-captain Maggie Barlow told Know Your Value. “But in the heat of the moment we got carried away.”
Three of the players followed Worden’s lead as the crowd chanted “equal pay.” Consequently, an official handed down a yellow card for excessive celebration, forcing the four players to step off the field.
“The official came over and said, ‘Coach, I had to do it. It’s in the rules,” said Coach Jeff Hayes, who’s been coaching girls’ soccer for more than 25 years. In the confusion that followed, the other team scored, tying up the game with less than two minutes to go.
The girls had asked to bill Friday’s game as an equal pay event, wearing their #EqualPay jerseys for warm-ups and under their game jerseys (a soccer regulation bars them from wearing slogans during a game). They also had previously teamed up with the Vermont non-profit organization, Change the Story to hone their outreach, communication and fundraising skills. They’ve also been selling the #EqualPay T-shirts to spectators, parents and other sports team.
Change the Story’s Jessica Nordhaus, the mother of one of the players, told Know Your Value that the girls raised enough money from local businesses and supporters to pay off their own jerseys in 48 hours, and were able to purchase jerseys for the JV team and “heavily subsidize” jerseys for the boy’s team.
“They decided that the boys should probably pay $5, which represents about 16 percent of the cost of the jersey, which is the wage gap in Vermont,” Nordhaus said. The profits will support scholarships for the Greater Burlington Girls Soccer League, where the high schoolers played as children. As of Monday morning, then team had sold about 1,800 jerseys, totaling some $34,000 in sales.
The team is also earning praise from athletes and politicians. Over the weekend, two-time FIFA Women’s World Cup champion Brandi Chastain – who in 1999 famously tore off her jersey after scoring a championship goal — tweeted, “Thank you @bhsgirlssoccer for standing up, celebrating and taking your jerseys off for #equalpay Proud of you! #rolemodels.”
At a women’s economic opportunity conference in Vermont on Saturday hosted by legendary Sen. Pat Leahy, Leahy put up a picture of him and his wife in their #EqualPay jerseys — then posted that same photo to Twitter. “I had the chance to share the story of the game with him and he just shook his head in disbelief,” Nordhaus said.
Marcelle and I stand with you! https://t.co/katuCjSlGI pic.twitter.com/LSKj9HgFS1
— Sen. Patrick Leahy (@SenatorLeahy) October 16, 2019
And on Monday, Barlow may have had her most memorable government class to date.
“I was supposed to be looking at court cases and [champion tennis player and social justice activist] Billie Jean King tweeted about us … Me and my other captain, Maia, were together,” Barlow recounted. “We just freaked out. [The teacher] was like, ‘Guys, I know you’re famous, please get off your phone.’ [We said] we can’t! This is so cool!”
Cheers to this VT varsity soccer team for showing their support for #equalpay. A great first step toward a sustainable future for ALL women’s sports, & limitless careers for women in athletics. Bold, gutsy & brave. No risk, no reward! #GoForIt #KeepPlaying https://t.co/x5HVis84WE









