USWNT: U.S. Women Debut in San Francisco with a 4-1 Win

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(October 27, 2013)-After winning easily last Sunday against Australia the U.S. Women's national team made quick work this afternoon over the neighboring country of New Zealand. The 4-1 victory was played before 16, 315 fans and marked the first time that the U.S. Women played at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.  

Coach Tom Sermanni utilized the endless depth of his team and started a lineup that was quite different from last week. Hope Solo earned the start in goal but Sermanni's backline saw some changes with Ali Krieger, Rachel Buehler, Becky Sauerbrunn, and Meghan Klingenberg earning the starts on defense. 

The midfield saw some familiar faces with Megan Rapinoe, Heather O'Reilly, Carli Lloyd and Lauren Holiday starting the game. Abby Wambach and Christen Press were the starting forwards.

Fresh off the plane from France where she plays for her club team Olympique Lyonnais, Rapinoe led off the scoring with a beautiful free kick from twenty yards out only seven minutes into the first half.

Lloyd added her 46th career international goal only five minutes later and Press added another goal to finish off the first half in the 42nd minute.

Press who earned her 11th cap with the national team currently plays overseas for the Swedish club Tyreso and led the Swedish league in scoring this past season with 23 goals. Press who was a standout at Stanford has finally gotten a serious look this year with the national team and has impressed every time she has taken to the pitch. A minor ankle injury kept Alex Morgan out of today’s game and Press continues to give coach Sermanni reason to put her somewhere in his starting lineup.

Nicole Barnhart who subbed in for Solo in the second half allowed the lone goal for New Zealand in the 54th minute when Hannah Wilkinson was able to catch her own rebound and send the ball past a scampering Barnhart. 

Veteran defender Christie Rampone who has been recovering from minor knee surgery entered the game halfway through the second half for Sauerbrunn. Despite the goal allowed early in the second half the backline played with more consistency then last week with huge efforts coming from Krieger who appeared in peak form as she is also currently on loan to Tyreso and has been playing alongside Press in Sweden. 

Sydney Leroux and Kristie Mewis replaced Rapinoe and Holiday in the 80th minute. And O'Reilly broke up the scoring drought of the second half when she added the fourth goal of the day for the Americans with an assist from Press. 

The two teams will meet again in just a few days when they face off in Columbus, Ohio on October 30th. The game will be live streamed on ussoccer.com at 7:30pm ET. The national team will then end their 2013 season with a match against Brazil on November 10th in Orlando. That game will be nationally televised on NBC at 3:30pm ET.

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