On June 20, 2013, Abby Wambach entered a U.S. women’s national team friendly against South Korea needing goals to surpass the international scoring record long held by Mia Hamm. Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey, became the stage for a remarkable first half: Wambach scored four times before the break as the Americans won 5–0. Her third goal of the evening was her 159th for the senior national team and took her beyond Hamm’s total of 158. The fourth lifted her to 160 by halftime. Those two numbers are often confused in short summaries: 159 was the record-breaking goal, while 160 was her total at the end of that particular match.

Mia Hamm’s international career was closely connected to the growth of American women’s soccer. She won the 1991 and 1999 Women’s World Cups, helped popularize the sport and retired with 158 senior goals. To surpass her record meant more than replacing a number in a table. Wambach belonged to the generation that followed Hamm into the national-team program and had played alongside established veterans in her early years. Her different style — greater emphasis on headers, strength and attacking crosses — showed how the team’s forward line had evolved. The record became a story about continuity between generations as much as an individual statistical milestone.

Wambach scored in quick succession against South Korea, bringing her level with Hamm and then beyond. Her 159th goal came in the twenty-ninth minute on a header, an appropriate way for a striker whose aerial timing had long been a trademark to set the new mark. Megan Rapinoe supplied the set-piece delivery. Wambach added another before halftime, turning a night built around one potential milestone into a dominant scoring display. The match ended 5–0 and the four-goal performance quickly entered USWNT history. It should not be confused with the 122nd-minute header Wambach scored against Brazil at the Women’s World Cup in 2011; that was a different match, tournament and dramatic circumstance.

Record totals require definitions. Wambach’s 159th and subsequent 184th were goals in recognized senior international matches for the United States, not a combination of youth tournaments, college soccer, club competition and national-team appearances. A player can lead a club’s scoring table without approaching the international list, and vice versa. Records also depend on the football authorities’ identification of full internationals. For Footballopedia, each record article should keep a date, competition, opponent, milestone number and source. That creates a reusable factual reference which can link to the player biography, the preceding record holder and the next player to surpass the mark without reproducing entire biographies on each page.

Wambach remained a prolific international goalscorer after the South Korea friendly. She led the line through the 2015 Women’s World Cup campaign and ended her U.S. career in December that year with 184 goals in 255 appearances. It is wrong to call 159 her final total, just as it is wrong to say she scored 184 goals in 2013. The 2013 number marks when she passed Hamm; the 2015 number measures her complete career. Her place in the USWNT scoring hierarchy has remained exceptional even as later generations became more visible through NWSL and World Cup broadcasts. Putting the milestone and career total side by side allows readers to understand both the moment and its outcome.

Wambach’s international record survived her retirement for more than four years. On January 29, 2020, Canada’s Christine Sinclair scored twice against Saint Kitts and Nevis in a Concacaf Olympic qualifier in Edinburg, Texas. Her first goal of the match drew level with Wambach on 184, and the second took her to 185. Sinclair eventually retired from international soccer with 190 goals. The 2020 moment already has a separate Footballopedia child story, so this article should not reproduce its entire narrative. Instead, the reciprocal link traces the statistical sequence Hamm 158 → Wambach 159/184 → Sinclair 185/190. Each number refers to a different point in that chronology.

Milestone nights make excellent entry points for readers who are unfamiliar with the wider history of the sport. The 2013 event connected Wambach’s physical style and Rapinoe’s crossing ability with the preexisting public memory of Hamm. It also took place during the inaugural NWSL year, when American professional women’s soccer was trying to establish a durable league after two previous national leagues had folded. Wambach’s fame gave viewers another reason to follow the club game, though league goals and international goals remained separate statistical categories. The story’s ongoing appeal lies in explaining how a famous record was surpassed, rather than presenting a standalone page with little more than the final score.

When did Abby Wambach pass Mia Hamm? June 20, 2013. Against whom? South Korea, in a 5–0 U.S. win at Red Bull Arena in New Jersey. What was Hamm’s previous record? 158 senior international goals. Which Wambach goal broke it? Her third goal in the match, giving her 159; she scored a fourth to finish the match on 160. What was Wambach’s career total? 184 goals in 255 U.S. games. Who subsequently passed her? Christine Sinclair, with her 185th goal in January 2020; Sinclair eventually finished on 190. Are these NWSL goals? No: they are national-team records in senior internationals.