Hi everyone! We hope everyone is staying safe and healthy. Before we get started we would like to congratulate Carli Lloyd on playing her 300th cap with the USWNT!! She joins the 300 cap club with Kristine Lilly and Christie Pearce Rampone.
A lot has happened this past week for women soccer in the US. The NWSL Challenge cup has officially started and the USWNT played Sweden in an international friendly.
Chicago Red Stars v Houston Dash, April 9th
This game was a pretty back and forth game. Both teams played well but neither teams was able to score. There were some amazing shots and saves but neither team was able to finish their opportunities. The game ended in a 0-0 tie.
Portland Thorns v Kansas City, April 9th
Portland came out of the gate fast in this game. Raquel Rodriguez capitalized on a free kick just eight minutes into the game, heading the ball right into the goal! No one scored for the rest of the first half. The second half was a good half. In the fifty-eighth minute Tyler Lussi scored a beautiful header goal! Portland was winning 2-0! A few minutes later in the sixtieth minute Amy Rodriguez scored an amazing goal making the score Portland 2 Kansas City 1. Neither team scored again so the final scored ended up being Portland 2 Kansas City 1. However this is not the end of the story, four people in this game got a red card. Here is a list of the people who got them and why:
Simone Charley in the ninetieth minute- mistimed challenge
Mark Parson (Portland Thorns coach)- Challenging Simone Charley call
Kristen Edmond ninety-forth minute- Fighting with Morgan Weaver
Morgan Weaver ninety-third minute- Fighting with Kristen Edmond
USWNT v Sweden, April 10th
It might come as a surprise but Sweden seemed to be doing better than the US. Sweden was looking overall better and were able to capitalize on it right before the end of the first half. In the 38th minute Lina Hurtig for Sweden was able to get up on a corner kick and head the ball into the back of the net. Alyssa Naeher made a great save to finish off the first half. The first half ended with Sweden up 1-0. It was looking like Sweden was going to take the win but when Kelly O'Hara was taken down inside the box and the US got a penally kick! Megan Rapinoe stepped up and put the ball into the bottom left corner of the net! The game ended and the US tied Sweden 1-1.
Racing Louisville FC v Orlando Pride, April 10th
With people in the stands, this game was an intense one. From the start both teams were taking shots, and in the twelfth minute, Racing Louisville capitalized. Cece Kizer got on a break away and scored a perfect goal right into the bottom left corner! This was the first goal in Racing Louisville history! Than later on in the forty-forth minute Taylor Kornieck scored a beautiful header near post tying up the game! Neither team scored again in the first half. In the eightieth minute Abigail Kim scored an amazing goal. The ball went in right below the cross bar putting Orlando in the lead. It seemed like that would be then end of this game, but it wasn't. In the third minute of extra time, Savannah McCaskill served a beautiful free kick into the box where the ball got bobbled around, but Brooke Hendricks capitalized on it scoring a great goal into the bottom left corner! She tied up the game with three minutes left! Neither team scored again. Even though it wasn't a win, we think it was still a great first game for Racing Louisville FC!
North Carolina Courage v Washington Spirit, April 10th
This game started off fast! With in the first five mins North Carolina turned the ball over to the spirit, Kumi Yokoyama received a pass and shot the ball into the bottom left corner of the net! The spirit was starting off strong! North Carolina was not going to give up though. Six minutes later in the tenth minute Kristen Hamilton dropped back to the top of the 18 yard box, received the ball and shot it into the bottom left corner of the goal. The game was all tied up! Later in the twenty-eight minute Jessica McDonald had a one on one with Aubrey Bledsoe, Bledsoe was able to get a piece of it but wasn't able to keep it out of the goal. North Carolina was up 2-1! The score held out till half time but North Carolina didn't take long to get going after wards, Merritt Mathias received the ball wide, dribbled, and chipped Aubrey Bledsoe to score North Carolinas 3rd goal of the game! The Spirit wasn't just going give up though. Ten minute later in the sixtieth minute Trinity Rodman, trapped a chip beautifully, then passed the ball into the bottom right corner of the net! The score held till the end of the game and North Carolina took home the win!
Stay safe and healthy and don't forget to check out our other blogs!
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