USWNT Recap: United States 5 - Dominican Republic 0
Twila Kilgore's unbeaten record extends to seven games as the US opens the Concacaf W Gold Cup group stage with a win!
The United States Women’s National Team took to the field for the first time in 2024, as they kicked off their Concacaf W Gold Cup run against the Dominican Republic in their group stage opener.
Terrible news came out the morning of Tuesday’s match, as rising star Mia Fishel suffered a torn right ACL during training the day prior. With Fishel out, veteran Alex Morgan took her place on the roster.
Interim head coach Twila Kilgore rolled out a 3-4-3 formation on Tuesday, with veteran Alyssa Naeher in goal with Abby Dahlkemper, Becky Sauerburnn, and Jenna Nighswonger providing the defense. Korbin Albert, Sam Coffey, Emily Sonnett, and Olivia Moultrie were in the midfield, while Sophia Smith, Midge Purce, and Lynn Williams provided the attack.
It didn’t take long for the United States to find their first dangerous chance of the night. After earning a corner kick just two minutes in, Jenna Nighswonger curled the ball into the box, where Williams headed the ball past the keeper to give the United States a 1-0 lead. A lead that evaporated after a VAR review found that an offside Smith impeded the view of Dominican Republic’s goalkeeper Paloma Pena.
It was a special moment for Moultrie in the eighth minute as she netted her first goal for the Red, White, and Blue. It all started when Purce found herself one-on-one with a DR defender, broke free, and ran to the goal line. Purce proceeded to cut the ball centrally, where it took a deflection that fell right to the feet of Moultrie, who tapped the ball into the back of the net to give the US a 1-0 lead.
Purce again found herself in a one-on-one situation and broke free of her defender. Purce then cut the ball centrally to Williams, who tapped it in to extend the US lead to two 30 minutes in.
Albert came close to netting her first United States goal in the 33rd minute as a deflected shot landed at her feet atop the box. Albert attempted to slot the ball in the upper half of the net, but her shot had too much on it as it narrowly sailed over the crossbar. She nearly found the net again in the 44th minute, but the crossbar had other ideas as her shot towards the upper half of the net reverberated off the pipe and away from danger.
Twila Kilgore’s first change came before the start of the second half, as Emily Fox replaced Sonnett.
Moultrie’s first start for the U.S. continued to be a good one in the 58th minute after some intelligent play from Purce yet again. Purce found herself alone atop of the box and proceeded to fake a shot and send the ball forward to Moultrie. who tapped the ball into the net to extend the United States’ lead to three.
A trio of substitutions came in the 66th minute as Trinity Rodman, Alex Morgan, and Jaedyn Shaw came on for Purce, Smith, and Moultrie. Another change came in the 77th minute as Rose Lavelle came on for Albert.
A golden opportunity came the United States way in the 83rd minute as the referee was sent to the monitor to review a possible foul. After a quick review, the referee awarded the United States a penalty kick after Brianne Reed stepped on Jaedyn Shaw’s foot.
Jenna Nighswonger stepped to the spot and looked to net her first international goal for the United States. Nighswonger slotted the ball past Pena and into the lower-left corner of the net to give the US a four-goal lead.
Another VAR check came in the 90th minute as the referee looked at another potential foul from Reed. After review, the referee determined Reed swept Rodman’s leg inside the box and awarded the US a penalty kick.
Morgan stepped up to the spot as she looked to tally another goal to her resume. She whipped a shot to the right side of the goal and passed a diving Pena to net her 122nd goal with the U.S.
The United States will return to Concacaf W Gold Cup group stage action on Friday, February 23rd, as they face Argentina inside Dignity Health Sports Park at 10:15 PM ET.