USWNT reaches Gold Cup semifinals with shutout win
LOS ANGELES »
The first 20 minutes resembled more of a high-speed chase with a wrestling match thrown in as the United States and Colombia women’s national teams kicked off their CONCACAF Gold Cup quarterfinal match.
After the dust-ups and crunching tackles subsided, the USWNT had put forth the perfect response to last Monday’s loss to Mexico.
“I think we kind of knew it was going to be like that going into this game,” USWNT forward Jaedyn Shaw said. “We knew it was going to be a battle and we were up for the challenge.
Lindsay Horan, Jenna Nighswonger and Shaw scored in the chaotic, yet productive first half for the USWNT, leading the way to what would eventually be a 3-0 win in front of 16,746 at BMO Stadium on Sunday.
USWNT will face rival Canada in Wednesday’s semifinal at Snapdragon
Stadium in San Diego.
“This was just a different type of match, it’s our third game against them and they’re a tough team to play against,” USWNT interim coach Twila Kilgore said. “The players did an amazing job carrying out the plan. The job was to advance and we’re thrilled to do that and we have a lot more football left in us.”
The USWNT set a “we’re not backing down” tone early as Alex Morgan and Trinity Rodman were involved in face-to-face disagreements with members of the Colombian team. Both received yellow cards in their separate incidents, but the line had been drawn.
In the 12th minute, Alex Morgan was taken down, leading to a penalty kick. Lindsay Horan stepped up and converted for an early 1-0 lead.
“We knew it would be a big physical battle,” Kilgore said. “We did a good job early matching their physicality.”
The USWNT continued pressing Colombia, lead to the second goal. Nighswonger scored in the 22nd minute, assisted by Morgan for a 2-0 lead. It was Nighswonger’s second goal in the tournament.
“We’re pleased with Jenn,” Kilgore said. “She’s filled different roles in the past, we’ve ask her to play higher up and the goal she scored was indicative of that.”
The final piece in the scoring puzzle came in the second minute of first-half stoppage time. Rodman beat her defender on the right and set up Shaw for the tap-in and the 3-0 lead.
The loss to Mexico was last Monday, giving the USWNT plenty of time both on the training field and in meetings to figure out what went wrong and how to avoid it happening again.”
“I think we’re always ready,” Kilgore said. “In this environment, you have to be locked in and sharp and steady, so it was genuinely not anything different. You have to be able to show up, execute and it was all about regrouping for the tough moment.”
USWNT and Colombia met twice in October for a pair of friendlies. The first ended in a scoreless draw and the second was a 3-0 win for the U.S. thanks to three second-half goals.
“Anytime you come off of a loss, I think for us, we’ve also saw it as an opportunity,” USWNT goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher said. “You don’t normally ...when you lose in a tournament, you don’t the opportunity to come back right away and kind of right that wrong.
“I’m proud of the group for good trainings this week and regrouping. We talked about wanting to get more energy and intensity from start to finish and I thought that what’s you saw on the field tonight and we obviously got a better result.”
The game was the 100th career appearance for Naeher. She was credited with three saves.
“It means a lot to get 100 and to do it on a night and in a game like this and to get a huge win for the team, it means a lot,” she said.