In the moments before the first whistle of the final Women’s World Cup match in soccer, few predicted what was to come in those initial minutes—that the U.S. would explode off the start and strike down Japan’s chances of winning with four goals in the first 20 minutes. Yet by halftime, it was clear that the U.S. Women’s National Team (USWNT) would clinch the final against Japan and become the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup Champion.

After a 5-2 win over Japan, the USWNT became the first three-time FIFA Women’s World Cup winner in Vancouver, Canada on July 5, 2015. Yet that was far from the team’s only first. No other women’s national team had ever scored five goals in a final World Cup match; plus, U.S. player Carli Lloyd scored the fastest hat trick – netting three goals – in Women’s World Cup history, in just 16 minutes.

Lloyd and goalkeeper Hope Solo were awarded the Golden Ball and the Golden Glove as the best player and the best goalkeeper at the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, respectively. The strength and camaraderie of the players echoed through the 2015 ESPY Awards, where the USWNT was awarded Best Team.

The game brought fans to their feet with both awe and respect, as the team fought to clinch this win after losing to Japan in the 2011 World Cup final, when Japan defeated the U.S. in a dramatic and devastating penalty shootout. The next year, Japan and the U.S. met in the final match of the Olympics, where the U.S. secured the goal. However, that was not enough for the USWNT. Carli Lloyd told ESPN after clinching the win, explaining that “to be a World Cup champion is something that will resonate with young girls in the crowd forever.”

Yet players’ backlash against the use of artificial turf for the playing fields also surrounded the matches of the 2015 Women’s World Cup. Players on the American team, lead by player Abby Wambach, even sued FIFA and the Women’s World Cup organization over a year ago for discrimination, when they found that men’s demands for grass fields were met. (The lawsuit has since been dropped.) Discrimination in soccer received even more attention recently after the USWNT refused to play a match on a field in Hawaii when they felt their safety was at risk.

American and international female soccer players are rising to challenge FIFA officials to level out the playing field between the women’s and men’s leagues for the world’s most popular sport. As soccer begins to capture a larger American audience, this World Cup win will only further the strides that women’s soccer has taken in the past few decades.