CARY, N.C. – The U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team faced Switzerland in the two teams’ first-ever meeting in front of a record sold out crowd of 9,992 at WakeMed Soccer Park on Wednesday.
Megan Rapinoe, Carli Lloyd, Christen Press and Abby Wambach scored a goal apiece in pacing the top-ranked American squad to a 4-1 win, its eighth of the year, while continuing to prepare for upcoming CONCACAF Women’s World Cup qualifying in October.
U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo made her 11th start and could have surpassed Brianna Scurry’s all-time mark of 71 shutouts, but Swiss forward Ana-Maria Crnogorcevic denied her that opportunity on a penalty kick.
“For me, the record is going to come when it comes,” Solo said.
“I’m not going to chase it. It’s always disappointing to get scored on whether it’s a game with a record-breaking opportunity or not. Of course I’d like to get the record so I can move on and focus on other things, but it’s not the end-all-be-all for me to have it happen here in Cary or against Mexico in the next two games, or whenever it happens.”
U.S. head coach Jill Ellis, who led the team for only the third match since being officially named to her position, called the lone goal against “a tough one”.
“She (Hope) said that she should have just gone with her instinct, but we kind of scout the PK’s and kind of gave her that information,” Ellis said.
“We have her for at least for another game and hopefully it will happen then.”
While Solo didn’t earn an individual all-time record, the U.S. improved to 8-2-3 against a Swiss team that marked them aggressively in accumulating 11 foul calls that included three yellow cards to the Americans’ one.
As Switzerland pressed early on, it was Rapinoe who took advantage of the open midfield to open the game’s scoring in the third minute for the U.S.
She initiated the play with time and space, and dribbled forward unmarked before passing it to Sydney Leroux just outside the box on the left side.
Leroux then waited long enough and returned the pass and set Rapinoe up to unleash a 20-yard boot from the top-center of the box that beat diving Swiss keeper Gaelle Thalmann.
The U.S. goal total could have been far greater if not for Thalmann’s exceptional positioning during the opening half as she made seven saves on the barrage of eight shots she faced.
Carrying their 1-0 lead into the next half, it didn’t take the American side long to pressure the Swiss defense again, forcing it to give up a penalty kick opportunity in the 56th minute.
Facing new Swiss keeper Stenia Michel, Lloyd made no mistake in beating her with a low shot that put the U.S. ahead 2-0.
Then in the 71st minute, in a similar fashion leading to the U.S. penalty kick, Switzerland’s Ramona Bachmann crossed from the left side and the ball struck Rapinoe’s arm as she was trying to protect her face in a reflex action on the play as she described it.
While Solo leaned to her right to attempt to stop the kick, Crnogorcevic went the other way and ended Solo’s shutout record bid and pulled Switzerland back to within one, trailing 2-1.
Feeding off the record crowd’s energy, the Americans then began to put the finishing touches on the match with an impressive 25-yard volley strike from Press in the 77th minute that arced high before catching the underside of the cross bar on the way down and landing behind the goal line.
Ten minutes later, Wambach was fouled in the box and ended the game’s scoring with a penalty kick conversion past Michel that wrapped up the Americans’ 4-1 victory.
Many of the thousands in attendance stayed following the final whistle as players from the victorious squad including Rapinoe, Press, and Solo paraded around and signed autographs.
Press even gave away her cleats, autographed of course, to a few lucky admirers amongst the screaming hundreds.
“We definitely feel that appreciation, “Rapinoe said.
“It doesn’t get lost on us. Driving up to the stadium and everybody was already here and going nuts. That’s special for us. It doesn’t get lost on us. It feels very personal here…This place feels like a place that we’ve all played in before. Some of us have played here before in college. It was definitely a comfortable environment.”