CHESTER, Pa.– It was a tale of 2 halves for the U.S. Women’s National Team in its last match of the October window.
Second-half objectives from Ashley Sanchez and Mallory Swanson assisted Emma Hayes’ team rally to connect No. 1-ranked Spain 2-2 at Subaru Park. It was a bounce-back outcome for the Americans, who suffered a 2-0 loss to the ruling Women’s World Cup winners simply 3 days prior.
“Great battle, fantastic decision from the group being 2-0 to return and get something from the video game,” Hayes stated postmatch in her interview about the outcome.
Hayes made 4 modifications to her starting lineup from the Saturday defeat, generating goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce, fullback Gisele Thompson, midfielder Claire Hutton and the abovementioned Sanchez.
Tullis-Joyce was evaluated early by Spain’s Clara Pinedo in the 14th minute, punching away the Athletic Bilbao winger’s angled shot.
In spite of increased belongings for the USWNT, Spain discovered an advancement objective in the 27th minute through its long time midfielder Alexia Putellas. Clara Serrajordi was exposed on the extreme right and provided a low cross that Pinedo let go to Putellas for a one-time surface.
It marked Putellas’ 42nd-career global objective in her 150th cap.
5 minutes after breaking the deadlock, Putellas ended up being supplier for Spain’s 2nd objective of the very first half. A bad clearance from Tullis-Joyce was up to Putellas, who raced upfield and fed winger Salma Paralluelo for a bar-down surface.
4 minutes into the 2nd half, the USWNT cut their deficit thanks to a superb surface from Sanchez. The 27-year-old ultimately cut into package from the left wing before curling a right-footed shot into the bottom best corner.
It was Sanchez’s 4th global objective and initially because 2022.
Hayes made 8 alternatives as the 2nd half went on and 2 of those gamers would link for the USWNT’s equalizer.
Michelle Cooper raced onto an upfield ball and spun around in belongings to discover Swanson with some area within the Spain box. Swanson took one touch before drilling a half-volley into the bottom left corner for her 39th worldwide objective.
It was Swanson’s very first objective considering that scoring in the 2024 Olympic Gold Medal match.
Lily Yohannes came close to winning the match for the USWNT in blockage time however Spain goalkeeper Misa made a brave save, diving to her left and punching away Yohannes’ deflected effort.
The top-two ranked groups would end up even on the night as the USWNT prevented a 4th defeat of 2026.
“They are World Class, I didn’t find out anything about them, that I didn’t currently understand,” Hayes stated. “We’re still in development. They are been worthy of world champs and our task is to hunt that. You see the value of the team depth. Our strength is the size of our pack.”
The USWNT will go back to action this November at the CONCACAF W Championship, taking on with El Salvador in the quarterfinal round.
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