Carli Lloyd Tallies Second Straight Hat Trick As WNT Pushes Unbeaten Streak On U.S. Soil To 100 Games
Soccer News: The World Cup Champion U.S. Women’s National Team continued its Victory Tour with an 8-0 win against Haiti in front of a record crowd of 35,753 at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama. The crowd was the largest ever for a stand-alone WNT match in the southeastern United States.
It only took a minute for the U.S. to find the net as Kelley O’Hara took a short corner and crossed it in to Julie Johnston, who converted for the match’s first goal. The goal was one of five that would come for the WNT in the first half. Lloyd scored her first on a penalty kick in the 16th minute and one minute later Crystal Dunn put in her second goal in as many games after receiving a brilliant through ball from Megan Rapinoe.
Lloyd would close out the half with two goals to complete her hat trick and in doing so became just the fifth American player with five international hat tricks (Hamm, Parlow, Wambach, Akers), three of which she has earned in the WNT’s last five games.
The USA continued to dominate possession and produced a number of chances in the second half. Amy Rodriguez converted the sixth goal of the game six minutes into the second frame, while Alex Morgan and Heather O’Reilly each tallied in the final five minutes of regulation to bring the WNT scoring total to eight and seal the win for the USA, which pushed its unbeaten streak at home to 100 consecutive games (88-0-12).
It will be a month before the WNT takes the field again when they will match up with Brazil for a pair of matches that continue the Victory Tour.
Goal Scoring Rundown:
USA – Julie Johnston (Kelley O’Hara) 1st minute: Before a full minute of soccer had even been played, the U.S. found its first goal. It came from a short corner that O’Hara took from the right. The Haiti defense was slow to get into position, and O’Hara capitalized on the mistake and smashed in a low hard cross that found Johnston. Johnston directed in the cross with a confident touch that found the back of the net for the game’s first score. USA 1, HAI 0
USA – Carli Lloyd (penalty kick), 16th minute: After making a cutting move on the left hand side of the box, Alex Morgan was brought down, which set up the WNT with a penalty kick. Carli Lloyd stepped up to take it and calmly tucked it into the left corner to double the U.S. lead. USA 2, HAI 0
USA – Crystal Dunn (Megan Rapinoe), 17th minute: Just a minute after scoring its second goal, the WNT put the finishing touches on the third. After Haiti lost possession from the kickoff, Megan Rapinoe played a hard through ball up to Crystal Dunn. Dunn raced past the defense and ran onto the ball taking a controlling touch before smashing into the bottom left corner. USA 3, HAI 0
USA – Carli Lloyd (Alex Morgan) 22nd minute: Alex Morgan jetted down the left had side and attacked to the end line, where she blasted a cross in front of goal. The ball just got by Crystal Dunn, but Lloyd had run in behind and was there to bury for her second goal of the game. USA 4, HAI 0
USA – Carli Lloyd (Megan Rapinoe) 39th minute: Megan Rapinoe took the free kick from 35 yards out and looped a ball into the top of the box. Lloyd outmuscled her defender and rose for a header. She flicked on toward the goal and the ball dipped in over the jumping goalkeeper, clipping the cross bar and falling in. USA 5, HAI 0
USA – Amy Rodriguez (Kelley O’Hara) 51st minute: With little pressure on the ball for Amy Rodriguez, she took a few settling touches near the top of the box before ripping a blast from 20 yards out that beat the diving goalkeeper for a score. USA 6, HAI 0
USA – Alex Morgan (Whitney Engen) 85th minute: After producing a number of chances throughout the match, Morgan was finally rewarded for her efforts, scoring the matches seventh goal on a header in the 85th minute. It started from a short corner. O’Hara took the ball and attacked the box whipping in a cross that Engen got a touch to. The ball floated up and Morgan headed it into the net. USA 7, HAI 0
USA – Heather O’Reilly 88th minute: The U.S. did the work to get the ball down near the goal. After a deflection and a missed clearance the ball ended up at the feet of O’Reilly, who capitalized and kicked in for the eighth goal of the game. USA 8, HAI 0 FINAL
Next on the Schedule: The WNT continues the 2015 Victory Tour with a stop in Seattle, Washington. on Oct. 21 where it will face Brazil at CenturyLink Field.
Broadcast information: ESPN2, WatchESPN (7 p.m. PT; Oct. 21)
Social: Twitter (@ussoccer_wnt; @ussoccer_esp); Facebook; Instagram
After that the team will travel back across the country for the second match at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida, on Oct. 25. For more information on tickets, click here.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
