Rose Lavelle celebrated her 100th start with a goal and an assist to help the U.S. women’s national team to a 2-1 win in San Jose, Calif., on Saturday to open a three-match series against Japan.<\/p>\n
Lavelle, in her 119th match, scored in the 9th minute off a set piece then set up Lindsey Heaps in the 48th for the 2-0 lead.<\/p>\n
Riko Ueki stunned the Americans in the 61st minute to cut in the deficit in half on their first goal allowed in nine matches.<\/p>\n
The friendlies continue Tuesday in Seattle and Friday in Commerce City, Colo.<\/p>\n
The Americans got the early advantage after Sophia Wilson drew a foul. She played her first USWNT match since Oct. 27, 2024, and made her first start since the gold medal match in the 2024 Paris Olympics. Wilson gave birth to a daughter in September 2025.<\/p>\n
On the ensuing restart, Trinity Rodman was to the left of the goal when she sent a flighted ball to the middle of the box. Lavelle used her left foot to flick it past goalkeeper Ayaka Yamashita for her 28th goal with the national team.<\/p>\n
The U.S. failed to double the lead 14 minutes later when an unmarked Alyssa Thompson at the left post couldn’t convert a cross from Wilson.<\/p>\n
Alyssa and Gisele Thompson broke the USWNT record for sisters starting in the same match with four. Samantha and Kristie Mewis started in the same match three times.<\/p>\n
It didn’t take long after the break to gain some breathing room thanks to the high pressure from Gisele Thompson which created a turnover. She sent Lavelle down the left channel but Lavelle’s service to the box was blocked.<\/p>\n
Fortunately for the U.S., the ball deflected to Lavelle and she found Heaps on the run for a left-footed shot and her 40th goal.<\/p>\n
The USWNT’s scoreless streak ended at 865 minutes as Ueki, who entered at the start of the second half, took a headed pass from Honoka Hayashi to score with a header from the center of the box.<\/p>\n
Ueki almost tied it on the 78th minute with an 8-yard shot that forced a reactionary save by Claudia Dickey, who made four saves; Yamashita had one.<\/p>\n
–Field Level Media<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rose Lavelle celebrated her 100th start with a goal and an assist to help the U.S. women’s national team to a 2-1 win in San Jose, Calif., on Saturday to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":449727,"template":"","news_cat":[36,4384,4388,4383],"class_list":["post-449726","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news_cat-friendly","news_cat-news","news_cat-recap","news_cat-story"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n