Women. It's easy to manipulate them. Rapinoe probably told them straight up so they're probably afraid of her.
Women in general want to “get along” more than men. They are easier to persuade into “group think”. I see this all the time on the two local town Facebook pages I belong. These are smaller suburban towns where one FB page has 7000 members and the other has 1100. The women on these pages do not ever want to disagree with the hive mentality. I would think some graduate in psychology could write their PHD thesis on this phenomena.
I find that men are more willing to go against the grain and make a public statement with what they believe to be correct. The “hive mentality” on Facebook can be absolutely toxic. This is because people on the internet will say things that they would never say in person to another member. In a way it is good because people are actually more willing to speak the truth. It can also be very damaging to vulnerably mental people. Which is why you have to establish rules like we have here on FR.