The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Heath, Rapinoe score as US women tie with England
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tobin Heath scored off her own rebound in the 67th minute, and the United States tied England 2-2 on Saturday in the SheBelieves Cup for the Americans’ second draw in two games in the tournament.
Megan Rapinoe, who also scored the 43rd goal of her career in the 33rd minute, started the tying goal with a corner kick. Alex Morgan passed the ball to Heath whose first kick was stopped by defender Rachel Daly, and Heath scored off the rebound for her 26th career goal.
The Americans nearly pulled out a victory. Julie Ertz’s header went off the bar at the end of the 77th minute, and they had a flurry of passes deep in the 90th minute without a shot on net.
Steph Houghton tied it up on a free kick in the 36th minute, and Nikita Parris gave England a 2-1 lead.
The U.S. now is 10-4-2 all-time against England, though the teams avoided the 1-0 score of their last four meetings. The Americans had won three of those, and Saturday they wore the names of women who have inspired them on the back of their shirts, including Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Beyoncé and Mia Hamm.
Japan beat Brazil 3-1 in the opening match of Saturday’s doubleheader in the second part of this round-robin tournament featuring four of the world’s top 10 teams. This tuneup for the Women’s World Cup, which starts June 7 in France, concludes Tuesday night in Tampa, Florida, where the United States will play Brazil, while England plays Japan.
The Americans are 3-0-1 at Nissan Stadium, home of the NFL’s Tennessee Titans, this time in front of a crowd of 22,125 on a cloudy, chilly day.
Kelley O’Hara passed the ball into the box where Daly tried to clear with a header. Rapinoe corralled the ball, then boomed a volley over the head of keeper Karen Bardsley for a 1-0 lead.
Houghton tied it up on a free kick , curling the ball past the outstretched arms of goalkeeper Adrianna Franch in her first cap for the Americans.
Alex Morgan came up just shy of her 100th goal late in the first half.
Fran Kirby found Parris with a pass, then she dribbled once before beating Franch in the 52nd minute to give England the lead, putting the pressure on the Americans who won their first three visits to this stadium.
U.S. coach Jill Ellis started substituting soon after, sending in Christen Press for Mallory Pugh, and defender Becky Sauerbrunn, who sat out the Americans’ 2-2 tie against Japan in the opener of this tournament with an injury, replaced Rose Lavelle in the 61st minute. Ellis said Friday that Sauerbrunn was “highly unlikely” to play in Nashville.