Minneapolis, MN, 23 Oct 2016 – The US Women’s National Team threatened from the very beginning of their second friendly with Switzerland. It was the visitors, however, who scored first. USA got back on track with a golazo from Carli Lloyd. T he team cruised to a 5-1 victory as US head coach Jill Ellis continued to evaluate new players.
The US was dangerous early, getting off several shots in the first couple minutes of the match. Switzerland had other ideas. They caught the US off guard, counter-attacking down the right flank. US goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris made a difficult save on Laura Dickenmann’s initial shot, parrying the ball toward the penalty mark. Switzerland’s Sandrine Mauron managed to get to the ball-side of her defender and buried the rebound putting the Swiss up 1-0 in the 7th minute.
Carli Lloyd expressed her emphatic disagreement with the scoreline, scoring with a rocket of a shot that may well have carried the Swiss goalkeeper into the net had she been able to get in front of it. The bit of combination play that led to Lloyd’s equalizer in the 25th minute was rather nice too. Lloyd played the ball to Andi Sullivan at the edge of the center circle, then continued her run forward. Sullivan passed to Kelley O’Hara drawing the defender out of the central space. O’Hara one-touched the ball to Lloyd as she entered the now-vacant space. Lloyd fired a swerving shot into the right upper corner of the Swiss net. The goal is Lloyd’s 95th of her career. Coach Ellis had high praise for the goal and for the captain’s play as well, “[Lloyd’s goal was] massive. I mean, unreal. Hopefully it’s on SportsCenter tonight. It was great. … I think that it’s not just about the finishing. I thought, actually, her play was very very good today, her decision-making, her positioning, her passing.”
The 1-1 draw didn’t last long in the second half. Carli Lloyd was at it again in the 51st minute. This time, she used the outside of her foot to chip a little diagonal pass behind the Swiss defense for Christen Press to run onto. Press gathered the ball at the edge of the penalty area and fought off her defender, but the goalkeeper blocked her shot. Lloyd had followed the play and caught the rebound on the volley for her second goal of the night.
Press waited only two minutes to add her name to the scoresheet. Andi Sullivan saw Press streaking across the field, into Switzerland’s backline and played a perfect ball over the top for Press. The ball bounced once before Press cheekily chipped the hapless Swiss goalkeeper, 3-1. The pass was Sullivan’s first assist with the national team.
Lynn Williams and Crystal Dunn combined for the US’ fourth goal in the 63rd minute. Casey Short did the hard work to keep possession near midfield, getting a pass off to Lloyd who then found Williams breaking down the left side. Williams dribbled into the penalty area and crossed to the on-rushing Dunn on the far side. Dunn made no mistake, putting the US up 4-1.
The fifth US goal and final goal of the match came from Kealia Ohai, who joined the first-cap-first touches-first-goal club. Ohai replaced Dunn in the 81st minute and scored a scant 48 seconds into her debut. The tally bested Lynn Williams’ record for fastest goal in a debut of 49 seconds set against Switzerland the previous Wednesday. Christen Press had the assist on the play, passing to Ohai in the middle of the Swiss penalty area. Ohai grappled with a defender, finally getting her shot off to score her first goal for the national team. She joked about beating Williams’ record, “[Lynn Williams] said, ‘You can have this one because I won the Golden Boot for the NWSL.’”.
The US lined up in their new 3-5-2 formation for the second time and made very good use of the angles the formation provides. However, coach Ellis didn’t want to commit to the specific system, “In terms of the system, I’m not tied to a specific system. I like this because it gives us a lot of numbers centrally in the midfield. We have designated players giving us maximum width. They are very good isolated 1v1. I do like it.”
Those players in the central midfield great great on the day, combining to create most of the US’ goals and many other opportunities. The chemistry between the veterans and the new players was obvious. Ellis praised the efforts of several of the new players in particular, “I think Lynn Williams… She’s impressive. She’s got a lot to her game, attitude, effort, and then a refinement. She’s impressed me, actually, how well she’s done back to pressure… just always a willingness to run and look for movement.
I think Andi Sullivan has played like a veteran; been superb in the midfield, composed, calm.
I give a lot of credit to Allie Long. I think our passing game gave us a lot today and I think Allie and Andi have done really well, one being in a new position and one being a new player. I think they’ve done exceptionally well.
I think Casey Short, she’s never played in a three back before and here she is playing across the back line. I thought she was solid defensively and made some good decisions.
Without a whole lot of input and information, I think the whole group has done remarkably well. They’ve been very coachable and very willing to embrace whatever we ask them.”
The future is bright for the Americans.
Make sure to look through our photo gallery from the game here.
Lineups:
USA:
1-Ashlyn Harris; 4-Becky Sauerbrunn, 20-Allie Long, 8-Casey Short; 5-Kelley O’Hara, 19-Andi Sullivan, 6-Morgan Brian, 16-Crystal Dunn, 17-Tobin Heath; 10-Carli Lloyd (C), 13-Lynn Williams
Subs: 1-Alyssa Naeher, 3-Samantha Mewis, 7-Kealia Ohai, 9-Lindsey Horan, 12-Emily Sonnett, 14-Abby Dahlkemper, 23-Christen Press
Head Coach: Jill Ellis
Substitutes used:
46’ 3-Sam Mewis in for 6-Morgan Brian
46’ 23-Christen Press in for 5-Kelley O’Hara
67’ 14-Abby Dahlkemper in for 4-Becky Sauerbrunn
74’ 9–Lindsey Horan for 10–Carli Lloyd
81’ 7–Kealia Ohai for 16–Crystal Dunn
Switzerland:
1-Gaëlle Thalmann, 5-Noelle Maritz, 6-Selina Kuster, 8-Cinzia Zehnder, 11-Lara Dickenmann, 14-Rahel Kiwic, 15-Caroline Abbé (C), 18-Viola Calligaris, 19-Eseosa Aigbogun, 20-Sandrine Mauron , 22-Vanessa Bernauer
Subs: 2-Patricia Willi, 3-Melanie Müller, 4-Fabienne Bangerter, 7-Martina Moser, 12-Stenia Michel, 16-Fabienne Humm, 21-Seraina Friedli, 23-Barla Deplazes
Head Coach: Martina Voss-Tecklenburg
Substitutes used:
46’ 12-Stenia Michel in for 1-Gaëlle Thalmann
59’ 7-Martina Moser in for 8-Cinzia Zehnder
71’ 4–Fabienne Bangerter in for 19-Eseosa Aigbogun
85’ 2–Patricia Willi in for 20–Sandrine Mauron
88’ 3–Melanie Müller in for 14–Rahel Kiwic
Goals:
7’ SUI – Sandrine Mauron (Lara Dickenmann)
25’ USA – Carli Lloyd (Kelley O’Hara)
51’ USA – Carli Lloyd
53’ USA – Christen Press (Andi Sullivan)
63’ USA – Crystal Dunn (Lynn Williams)
82’ USA – Kealia Ohai (Christen Press)
Misconduct:
20’ SUI – Sandrine Mauron
21’ SUI – Viola Calligaris
Officials:
Referee: Margaret Domka (USA)
Assistant Referee 1: Chantal Boudreau (CAN)
Assistant Referee 2: Marie-Han Gagnon (CAN)
4th Official: Danielle Chesky (USA)
Venue: U.S. Bank Stadium, Minneapolis, MN
Attendance: 23,400
