1:59

She was a solid player, but not too flashy.

2:02

And when the NWSL draft came around in 2013, she

2:05

got passed up. So instead,

2:08

she headed to an open tryout with the Portland

2:09

Thorns. There, her future would

2:11

be decided by her new coach, soccer legend,

2:14

Cindy Parlour-Cone. Mona just

2:16

stuck out to me and she was just such a

2:18

young kid right out of college and

2:21

just such a great sense of humor,

2:23

never took herself too seriously except

2:26

on the soccer field. She

2:29

made the team, and this undrafted

2:32

rookie, somehow against the odds, found

2:34

herself starting

2:35

in her very first professional

2:37

game. To

2:41

go from an open tryout to

2:45

starting on a pro team and

2:48

not only starting, but significantly

2:50

contributing, just speaks volumes

2:53

to Mona in her personality.

2:56

She's this, like, fearless

2:59

woman. Fans loved

3:01

Mona Shim, the fearless woman.

3:05

What a ball by Mona Shim! Goal boards! The

3:07

finish this time from who

3:09

else? Mona Shim! And

3:11

there's a goal! Mona Shim for the fourth

3:13

straight game by Rebecca

3:15

De Nis! The way

3:17

the fans would come to our games and support us

3:20

felt like a dream. Portland

3:23

already had a hugely popular men's

3:25

team. The Timbers. So

3:27

the Thorns had built-in fan support

3:29

and immediately drew huge crowds. And

3:32

those Portland fans were organized. They

3:35

called themselves the Rose City Riveters. They

3:38

made elaborate banners, sang chants, and gave

3:40

goal-scores bouquets of roses. Mona

3:43

had never

3:43

experienced anything like it. Every

3:46

time I got off the field, I wanted more. I

3:48

was like, that was so fun, can we do it again? Like, right

3:50

now? The

3:52

Thorns made it all the way to the NWSL Championship

3:55

where Mona started the game and played the full 90

3:57

minutes. When the Thorns beat...

3:59

the Western New York Flash

4:02

2-0, she became a champion. It

4:06

was definitely the best year I ever

4:08

had playing soccer. It was just so fun.

4:11

Mauna exceeded all expectations

4:13

and the league exceeded hers. She

4:16

had a winning season, a competitive team,

4:18

a supportive fan base, and a great

4:21

coach. This was the promise

4:23

of 99, what we all imagined

4:26

a pro league would look and feel like. But

4:29

then after the season ended, Cindy

4:31

resigned for family reasons.

4:33

A few days later, the Thorns announced the new

4:35

head coach.

4:38

I didn't know much about him other than that

4:40

he was the coach for the Philadelphia

4:42

independence before the WPS

4:45

bowl did. Her new coach

4:47

would be Paul Riley.

4:51

I'm Brianna Scurry, and from Religion

4:53

of Sports and PRX, this

4:55

is Counter Attack. Stay

4:57

with us. The

5:00

WPS

5:09

After the NWSL's first season, the

5:12

league expanded to add another team, the

5:14

Houston Dash. Houston was allowed

5:16

to poach players from other teams to build their

5:18

roster, players who weren't protected

5:20

by their coaches, and they chose Mauna.

5:23

She loved her life in

5:24

Portland. She did not want to go to Houston.

5:28

I kind of took a firm stance and was

5:30

like, well, I'm at least going to make it known that I

5:32

don't want to go. And if I have to,

5:34

then I will. But

5:36

I might as well try to see if I

5:38

can stay in Portland. She

5:40

never spoken to the

5:41

new coach before, but she got his

5:43

phone number from a teammate and decided to call

5:45

him to ask for help. I said,

5:48

hey, will you keep me or

5:51

somehow get me back because I'd love to play

5:53

for this team. And I hear you're

5:55

a great coach. He

5:58

told her he'd try. A week later,

6:01

the Thorns gave up their first pick in the

6:03

college draft to keep Mona on the team. So

6:05

Mona Shim was staying in Portland, and

6:08

she had Paul Riley to thank. Getting

6:10

Mona back was fantastic. I know she's

6:12

excited I spoke to her already since the draft.

6:16

But under Paul, season number two was

6:18

different. Mona lost

6:21

her starting spot. Now she was

6:23

a late-game sub. Which by

6:25

itself would have been fine, but Mona says

6:27

Paul made getting benched somehow feel personal.

6:32

He was really volatile.

6:35

Like, I've never heard someone not

6:39

even yell. He would rip

6:41

players, just rip people

6:43

apart. Like, I was too

6:45

heavy that I wasn't fast enough.

6:47

And he would say really fucking

6:50

weird analogies. Like, you're slower

6:52

than my grandma and she's been dead for so

6:54

many or whatever. Like, there

6:57

wasn't any player who I think

6:59

escaped his criticism and his

7:02

lashing out, I would say. Like, he

7:04

lashed out at everyone at some point. But

7:07

he had favorites. And

7:09

Sinead was that player the first year.

7:16

Paul had traded away his first draft

7:18

pick to keep Mona on the Thorns.

7:20

He traded his second pick to reunite

7:23

with midfielder Sinead Farley.

7:25

You could just tell he was sort

7:27

of obsessed with her. He said

7:30

her name with the most frequency. Like, he

7:32

called her Shay. And so

7:34

much of it was like, be more like Shay

7:36

or do this or look at Shay. At

7:39

the same time, he was very critical of

7:41

her. And if she made a mistake,

7:43

he would make her know

7:45

that she made a mistake in front of the whole group.

7:48

I was kind of like in awe of her, but

7:51

I also didn't envy her because

7:53

he was so focused

7:55

on her, like hyper focused on her, and

7:58

also her personal life.

7:59

Like, you could tell they had a history.

8:02

He talked to her differently.

8:04

And he acted like he had this

8:06

really close relationship with her, but it was

8:08

clear to me that she was kind of like putting

8:10

up a boundary.

8:13

Of course, Mona didn't know what had happened

8:15

between Sinead and Paul. No one did.

8:18

But Mona didn't think too much about it. She

8:20

was just focused on winning her starting spot

8:22

back. He knew I wanted to

8:24

be in that position. And

8:27

he was basically like, if you take your career

8:30

seriously and in the offseason training with

8:32

Sinead and getting fit with Sinead, he could see

8:34

me being a core part of the team.

8:37

She spent the offseason doing exactly what Paul

8:39

suggested, training with Sinead. The

8:41

two of them grew close.

8:43

We trained pretty much every day in the offseason.

8:46

I'd done everything Paul asked me to do.

8:48

And so I showed up and I was ready to go.

8:51

Paul noticed. He spoke with reporters

8:54

after the first preseason practice.

8:56

We got a good group and I think in a place like Mona

8:58

Shim have come in really prepared, completely

9:01

different from 12 months ago. Paul

9:04

had gone from barely acknowledging her during

9:06

training sessions to giving her the feedback

9:08

and attention he only reserved

9:09

for his favorites.

9:11

Now he said her name alongside

9:13

Sinead's.

9:15

Mona was a starter again. Good

9:17

crossing to the box, falls for Mona Shim! It's

9:20

2-0! It's

9:23

a great finish for Mona Shim.

9:25

You were either in the in crowd or the out crowd. And

9:28

it was very clear that I was now in the in

9:30

crowd.

9:31

And being in that group was

9:34

like,

9:35

I don't know, you're proud to be in that group. You felt

9:37

like you really worked hard and earned it. And

9:39

Paul saw you in a positive light.

9:45

He wanted to talk to me all the time about film,

9:47

about our shape. Like

9:49

he would text me things that were positive.

9:52

And I saw other people

9:55

in the position I was in the previous year.

9:59

Moana felt like she was playing some of her best

10:02

soccer ever.

10:03

Paul was pushing her and it was working.

10:05

But in a lot of

10:07

ways, she missed Cindy's coaching

10:10

style. Cindy's conversations

10:12

were always related to soccer.

10:15

His check-ins were like he was prying

10:17

and just had like an interest

10:20

that went beyond what kind of a player

10:22

I was.

10:24

He started with praise and

10:26

he used that

10:28

attention as

10:31

sort of like a gateway

10:33

and then started talking to me about my relationship. It

10:36

was hard to say how he got from A to B, but

10:39

this is not comfortable and

10:41

now I'm saying things that I don't really wanna

10:43

talk to you about,

10:45

but I couldn't pinpoint exactly when that happened

10:47

because he was so good at it.

10:55

One night after a home game, Paul joined the

10:57

rest of the team at a bar.

11:00

He put down his card and bought drinks for everyone,

11:02

classic Paul.

11:04

He spent the night fixated on Moana and

11:06

Sinead, who had recently dated a woman.

11:09

He was asking us inappropriate questions the whole night.

11:11

Have you guys ever kissed? Have you ever like

11:14

hooked up? I room you together and

11:16

you're both attractive women. Are

11:18

you really lesbians? If you are, like then

11:20

you must have kissed before.

11:25

Sinead and Moana were the last players left

11:27

at the bar. They still needed to get

11:29

their gear from the stadium and Paul lived in

11:31

that direction anyway, so they walked together.

11:34

We really had to go to the bathroom because we were drinking

11:37

all night and there was nowhere

11:39

to use the bathroom along the way, so we went

11:41

up to his apartment.

11:43

Paul offered them more drinks. He

11:46

like turned on music and asked me if I would dance

11:48

with him and just

11:50

like came up behind me and put his hands on my hips.

11:54

She could overlook his comments, but

11:56

now,

11:57

just like he had with Sinead in the van. he

12:00

was crossing a physical boundary. He

12:03

wasn't that drunk, but it was like the playfulness

12:06

and the way he asked questions

12:08

that you couldn't really challenge

12:11

him on because it was like, oh no, I'm

12:13

just being playful. Come on, stop

12:15

making a big deal about it.

12:18

He put his hands on Mano when she didn't want

12:20

that. And just like Sinead, she

12:22

didn't feel like she could tell her coach to stop.

12:25

You don't really know what else to do then to

12:28

laugh it off. Like it's just very

12:30

clearly unprofessional. But at

12:32

the same time, like you don't want to make it a big deal because

12:34

if you make it a big deal, then you're

12:37

challenging him. And when you challenge

12:39

someone like that, it usually doesn't end

12:41

well for you.

12:46

Sinead and Mano had enough. When

12:48

Paul went to the bathroom,

12:50

they wanted to make a break for it. We

12:52

were like, we have to get out of here. And

12:54

we put our drinks down, went to the door and we're

12:56

kind of like, how did we walk out while

12:59

he's in the bathroom? Like, no, he'll hate us for that. We won't

13:01

be on his team anymore.

13:03

They were standing by the door, ready to attempt

13:05

a graceful exit when Paul came out.

13:07

We both had partners. So we were like, we have

13:09

to go home or tired. We were trying, you know,

13:11

whatever excuse we could come up with. He

13:14

was kind of like playing with us.

13:16

Like, oh, you're leaving already? Like you just got

13:19

here, sort of a thing. There definitely

13:21

was this understanding of

13:23

like Paul wanted more. And

13:26

it was us kind of

13:29

in whatever ways we could sending

13:31

the message of, no,

13:32

we can't.

13:36

And then he floated the idea of like,

13:38

if we kiss,

13:40

what could we get from that?

13:42

If we kissed in front of him, our team wouldn't

13:44

have to run the suicide mile.

13:48

The suicide mile is when you run back and

13:50

forth on the touch lines as fast as you can. It's

13:53

pretty brutal. So they liked the idea of skipping

13:55

it.

13:56

Kissing each other would give Paul at least some

13:58

of what he wanted.

15:59

tells you what happened and there's also obviously

16:02

alcohol involved, you just like question

16:06

yourself. You doubt yourself. You

16:08

just second-guess what your memories

16:10

were. So

16:12

Sinead stayed quiet. Paul

16:15

would always say to me, we're taking this to our grave,

16:17

Shay. I literally swore,

16:20

like within myself, I was going to die with

16:22

no one knowing about that.

16:23

I

16:25

thought not saying something was

16:27

protecting me. I didn't know that

16:30

he could get in trouble.

16:36

After Philly's missed championship, the

16:38

women's professional soccer league collapsed under

16:40

the weight of internal legal battles and financial

16:43

strain.

16:44

But Paul was still in her life. He started

16:46

a semi-pro team and invited Sinead

16:48

and all his best players from over the years to

16:50

come train and stay sharp

16:52

in the hopes that a new league would be forming again

16:55

soon. There was somewhere they could play

16:57

and at least like he could train them and

16:59

the girls could be together. At first,

17:01

Sinead said no and stayed home. She

17:04

didn't want to look at this man, much less

17:06

play for him again. I was like,

17:09

I'm done with soccer. Like I can't go.

17:11

I don't want to go do this and be

17:14

with this person. Soccer

17:17

was over. At that moment,

17:19

it felt like it was over. And the only

17:22

thing that soccer

17:25

was to me

17:26

at that time was just like these

17:28

awful memories with this coach and this like

17:31

negative, nauseating feeling.

17:34

But without soccer,

17:36

she felt totally lost.

17:38

It just felt so bad. I couldn't

17:41

like, I

17:43

didn't know how to function. I literally

17:46

just like didn't know how to function. I

17:49

went back to my parents' house and

17:51

was like really depressed and just

17:53

not okay. And

17:57

I didn't know where to go. Yeah,

18:01

I just didn't feel

18:03

like there was anywhere I could go. So

18:07

New York felt like the best option. At least

18:09

I had soccer. I just wanted to

18:11

get it back. Giving

18:13

up soccer was painful. The thought

18:15

of seeing Paul was painful. But

18:18

her old teammates kept telling her to come.

18:20

Already had a place for her to stay.

18:23

In the end, soccer won.

18:25

So she got in her car and drove to Long

18:27

Island.

18:32

But when she got there, she froze. The

18:34

reality of facing Paul again put her in a tailspin.

18:38

So she called her childhood friend Bridget. She

18:41

was so ashamed, she hadn't even told

18:43

her what had happened. I

18:44

remember you calling, and you're like, I cannot get out of my car.

18:47

And I'm like, you just need to go to

18:49

practice. And it was so not like you. Yeah, I

18:51

would never do that. You would never be late

18:53

for practice. And for you to

18:56

not be able to physically get out

18:58

of the car, I was like, OK,

19:00

something is going on.

19:03

Yeah.

19:05

I eventually got out of my car and

19:08

was just doing circles. I

19:10

never made it to practice.

19:13

And I was a fucking wreck in New York.

19:16

There was a seven-day period where I was just

19:18

out every single night. Basically,

19:20

it was like blacked out for a week. I

19:23

just didn't want to be a lot. Like, I would have rather just

19:25

been dead. If I died from alcohol poisoning,

19:27

fine. That would be better than what I'm experiencing

19:30

right now. I know. It was a really scary

19:32

time. Your mom and I and

19:35

your sister and I and my sisters, we'd

19:37

all just have phone calls being like, what

19:40

are we going to do here? Her

19:43

drinking was only making things worse, but it

19:45

was an escape. And that's what she wanted

19:47

more than anything, to

19:49

just escape. And

19:52

even though Sinead was back on the pitch, she

19:55

lost her confidence, her joy.

19:58

I was like, he's only playing.

21:59

I froze in this situation and I

22:02

didn't stand up for myself.

22:04

In college, being raped by someone

22:06

that I thought was my friend, I

22:09

did say no multiple times, it didn't matter anyway.

22:18

In 2013, Paul's semi-pro team

22:20

disbanded because a new league was forming again.

22:23

The

22:23

National Women's Soccer League was creating

22:26

yet another chance for women to go pro,

22:28

this time with a new funding model that

22:30

included support from U.S. Soccer. And

22:33

here's where Mana and Sinead's stories merge.

22:35

At this moment, Mana, the

22:37

undrafted rookie, is trying out with the Thorns,

22:40

impressing her coach as a fearless woman.

22:42

And Sinead is going to play for Kansas City.

22:45

Paul helped facilitate that too since he wasn't

22:47

coaching that year.

22:49

It was a new league, a new team, a

22:51

new coach. It was a fresh start,

22:53

but Sinead didn't feel any better.

22:56

Her mom, Janelle, picked up on it too.

22:58

I had gone out to Kansas City to see her,

23:01

but I remember thinking, what the hell happened?

23:04

Actually, it was shocking to me.

23:06

She shaved her head because she didn't want men to

23:09

be attracted to her

23:10

and she kept drinking heavily.

23:12

Her mom was worried.

23:14

And then Janelle got what, at the time,

23:16

felt like a promising phone call

23:18

from Paul. Cindy had just left

23:20

and Paul was taking over coaching the Thorns. He

23:23

floated the idea of bringing Sinead to Portland.

23:25

And Janelle was relieved. Of

23:28

course, Paul called, well, I'll get her into Portland.

23:31

You know, and me thinking, oh, well,

23:33

she played really good under him in the

23:35

independence. So from my perspective, I'm

23:37

like, oh good,

23:39

that'll definitely be better. If anybody

23:41

can bring out the best back in her again, it'll

23:43

be Paul. Everyone in league wanted

23:45

to play at Portland because of the stadium and

23:47

the fans. Like, it was the best in

23:49

the world for women's soccer at that time.

23:52

Even if it meant facing Paul again, it

23:54

felt like maybe it was worth it.

23:57

I just blamed everything on myself.

24:00

and told myself that if I really wanted

24:02

to have

24:03

a good life and a good career, Portland

24:06

was the spot.

24:08

I just had to be stronger and I

24:10

could continue pretending like nothing

24:12

ever happened and it was up to me to

24:15

suck up basically everything that happened.

24:18

At first it felt like she and Paul were on good

24:20

terms.

24:21

They joked around with

24:22

each other and he put her in a starting lineup.

24:25

She hoped no one could tell that anything was off.

24:27

I started dating this woman

24:30

on my team and he was

24:32

so weird about it.

24:35

He was like talking to other players

24:37

about that I'm not a real lesbian.

24:40

Like he would pull players aside and tell them

24:42

he was really concerned about me and that

24:45

it was affecting my performance.

24:48

Players would come tell me this and

24:50

I'd be so fucking pissed but

24:52

I never said anything to him. I

24:55

had already felt so trapped and

24:58

I was so

24:59

angry and I had nowhere to

25:02

put it. She couldn't escape

25:05

her past with Paul as much

25:07

as she tried to block it out. It

25:09

was this thing that I basically avoided and

25:11

pretended didn't exist yet

25:14

it was part of every single second of my day. I

25:17

felt like I was just on this path of decay and I was

25:19

just going to do that until I died.

25:22

Like I just didn't care

25:24

about anything and it

25:27

showed.

25:33

She was in the same place she'd been in before.

25:35

Continue facing Paul every day or give up

25:38

soccer. Ultimately

25:39

her body chose for her. We

25:42

had a player injured. See

25:46

fairly down on the ground right now.

25:48

Playing in a way game against the Chicago

25:50

Red Stars she just collapsed.

25:54

I just like went completely black.

25:56

I was just so dizzy and it just felt like

25:59

my body.

25:59

I could not do it anymore. I could not be

26:02

in this environment anymore, but

26:04

I could never go out on my own. I

26:07

just couldn't take soccer

26:09

how it was anymore. And

26:12

my body just completely gave

26:14

out.

26:14

And

26:17

Shanine Farley will come off. The

26:21

doctors checked for a concussion and did a CT

26:23

scan, but they couldn't explain it. She

26:25

was out for the rest of the season.

26:28

And then when the season ended, she

26:30

started getting back in shape. This

26:33

is when Shanine and Mano start training together.

26:35

I found a little bit of healing in

26:38

that off-season actually.

26:41

I felt like I created space, like

26:44

between Paul and also

26:46

between kind of what had happened. You

26:50

convince yourself, you're like, oh, I'm kind of like

26:52

over it. And then it was after that,

26:54

you just moved on to the next person.

26:58

And that next person was Mano.

27:07

After that kiss in Paul's apartment, he

27:10

started moving his one-on-one game tape

27:12

sessions with Mano from the stadium to

27:14

his place. And then

27:16

there was the time he asked Mano to go

27:18

to dinner with him under the guise of talking about

27:21

soccer. She met him at

27:23

his favorite Italian restaurant downtown.

27:25

He ordered a bottle of Riesling

27:27

and Acelbucco for them to share. The

27:29

whole thing just embarrassed her. I

27:32

was kind of like, are there any fans in the restaurant?

27:34

Who'd be like, why is Mano

27:36

eating dinner with her coach at

27:39

this fancy restaurant?

27:40

I remember getting up and going to the bathroom and

27:44

patting my face and looking in the mirror and being like,

27:47

what the fuck? I could not believe

27:49

that I was in that position. We're

27:51

not talking about soccer. This

27:53

is absolutely not someone I'm attracted

27:55

to, but he is taking me on a date.

27:59

Paul tried to say that.

27:59

sit next to her on flights, found reasons to

28:02

text her, assigned her personal errands.

28:05

He would boss us around and then be like, oh great,

28:07

you did it. And that's like, you

28:09

know, a check mark, good job. And

28:11

so one night on the road, he like asked

28:13

me to get him a bag of chips from the lobby.

28:16

It was annoying, demeaning really. But

28:19

when he asked Mana to bring the chips to his room,

28:22

that was an alarm bell. Mana

28:24

was rooming with Sinead that night, and

28:26

Sinead knew from her own experience that

28:28

Paul's request probably wasn't innocent.

28:31

But she couldn't warn Mana without divulging

28:34

her secret. So Sinead told

28:36

her, take him the chips, but

28:38

if you're not back in five minutes, I'm coming to get

28:40

you.

28:43

I stepped in and

28:44

he was just in his underwear and he like

28:47

closed the door.

28:48

And he stood between me and the door and

28:50

told me to get on his bed to watch film. And

28:53

I mean, I knew what he wanted at that point. He

28:55

was in his underwear. And

28:58

I just got up and was like, no, I have to go, we

29:00

can't do this right now.

29:02

I was starting the next day. So

29:04

I was kind of like, if I upset

29:06

him, I might not start. And that's a risk I'm

29:09

taking by leaving right now.

29:12

I was ashamed. Just

29:14

like,

29:15

I think frustrated with myself that I let this,

29:17

I felt like I let this happen in

29:20

my career, right? It's like, oh my God, this

29:22

is affecting my work. When really it's

29:24

like, of course it was. And I guess

29:26

he's my coach and this is what he did. But just, I

29:29

felt like I did something wrong to let

29:31

this get to this point.

29:34

About a month later, Mona wrote

29:36

Paul an email, subject line, concerns.

29:39

Paul, as you've surely noticed,

29:42

I've had a hard time in the last couple of weeks. We

29:44

both know that your interactions with me have been

29:46

inappropriate and it has negatively affected

29:49

me in my performance. And Paul punished her for

29:51

it.

29:51

I stopped playing regularly.

29:55

I wasn't a starter anymore. He

29:57

was distant,

29:59

but I think. I think

30:01

a little scared actually. I think he saw

30:04

me

30:05

taking control of the situation and

30:08

prioritizing myself and my

30:10

wellbeing over playing time

30:12

and my relationship

30:13

with him. Like

30:16

I just didn't give a fuck at that point.

30:18

Mona knew she wanted to file a formal complaint,

30:21

but she didn't know how. She

30:23

had no idea if the Thorns or even

30:25

the NWSL had an HR department.

30:27

Sinead

30:28

wanted no part of it.

30:30

When she said she was reporting, the

30:33

only thing I felt was fear. Like

30:35

I was afraid of my position

30:37

at the Thorns being done. I was

30:40

afraid that this thing that I was trying to hide

30:43

would come out. Reporting

30:45

was like one straw

30:47

being pulled and like the whole thing would crumble.

30:50

Sinead seemed afraid to rock the boat, so

30:52

Mona told her friend and Thorns teammate Alex

30:54

Morgan.

30:56

Alex also played on the national team, so

30:58

she had experience with the US Soccer Federation,

31:01

which at the time was managing the league.

31:03

Mona hoped Alex might be able to help

31:05

her figure out how to file a complaint.

31:08

She was very quickly like, fuck this,

31:10

I will support you

31:12

in any way that I can

31:14

and let me know what that looks like.

31:20

But neither of them could

31:22

find any official league policy. There

31:25

was no league HR department, no

31:27

reporting mechanisms in place. So

31:29

Mona decided to go straight to the top. First

31:32

she sent an email to the owner and the general

31:34

manager of the Thorns. She included

31:36

Paul Riley. Then she forwarded

31:39

her message to the commissioner of the league.

31:41

Her timing was deliberate.

31:43

She waited until the

31:44

end of the season to do it. I

31:46

didn't want to ruin our season. I

31:49

was really concerned about hurting the team and

31:52

felt like

31:55

they don't deserve to suffer, even though in

31:57

hindsight we were all suffering.

31:59

because Mona expected a scandal.

32:02

Mona expected Paul to get fired,

32:05

and she didn't want to leave her teammates without

32:07

a coach during

32:08

the season.

32:09

After Mona sent her email, the

32:11

Thorns conducted a short week-long investigation.

32:14

They interviewed Sinead.

32:16

They called me into the stadium.

32:18

I wasn't treated like I

32:21

had anything to do with the incident. They

32:23

wanted to know if what Mona

32:25

was saying was true. They wanted to know

32:27

who I told because it wasn't going to be good

32:29

for the club, for people to find out.

32:32

And it was like 20 minutes, and

32:34

that was it. In

32:38

September 2015, the Thorns

32:40

terminated Paul Riley's contract, but

32:43

they didn't tell the press why. Instead,

32:46

the Thorns GM simply issued a statement

32:48

thanking Paul Riley for his services.

32:52

Paul Riley hasn't responded to a request for comment, and

32:57

he hasn't been charged with any crimes. He has denied these

32:59

allegations to other news outlets. At

33:01

the time, reporters weren't

33:03

sure what to make of Paul's departure.

33:06

News coverage

33:06

of the announcement pointed out that the Thorns hadn't

33:09

made the playoffs. Maybe Paul got let go because

33:11

of results. To

33:13

Mona, it felt like the people in power were concerned

33:15

with protecting him,

33:17

and

33:17

that he was not allowed to be in the right place. They

33:20

were concerned with protecting him and not her. To

33:23

them, this was just something that needed to be managed,

33:26

swept under the rug.

33:28

I felt totally let down, and

33:32

just like

33:33

lonely and sad,

33:36

and

33:39

insignificant.

33:40

I just felt like it minimized my whole experience.

33:44

And by the time the next season began,

33:47

Paul Riley was coaching a different team in

33:49

the National Women's Soccer League.

33:56

Next time on Counterattack, women

33:58

across the country begin... speaking out. Sexual

34:01

harassers and attackers are unmasked

34:04

by the Me Too movement. The way the

34:06

hashtag exploded shows us that

34:08

while we all thought we were alone, we're not. And

34:11

Sinead starts to see her experience with

34:14

Paul very differently. I

34:16

went to therapy and they were like, it

34:18

sounds kind of like you were groomed.

34:21

I was fucking livid.

34:30

Counterattack is hosted by me,

34:32

Brianne Scurry.

34:35

Jessica Pupilvak is our senior producer. Josie

34:38

Holtzman is our lead producer. Carly

34:40

Perruccio is associate producer. Our

34:43

editors are Rachel Ward

34:45

and Michael Garofalo. Liz Boyd

34:47

is our fact checker. Merritt

34:49

Jacob is our engineer. Production

34:51

support from Megan Coyle, Sarah McCrory and

34:54

Sylvie Douglas. Special

34:56

thanks to Victor Bueller, Chelsea

34:58

Marotta, Kevin Sullivan, Joe Levin,

35:00

and Dana Hooper. Our executive

35:02

producers are Gotham Chopra,

35:05

Amit Sankaran, and Adam Schlossman.

35:13

Counterattack is a production of Religion of

35:15

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35:16

like what you hear, please follow us, subscribe, and

35:19

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