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10/26 17:21 CDT Moultrie has 2 goals in 3-1 USWNT victory over Portugal
Moultrie has 2 goals in 3-1 USWNT victory over Portugal
EAST HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) --- Olivia Moultrie scored two goals and the U.S.
women's national team bounced back against Portugal with a 3-1 victory on
Sunday after honoring former goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher.
The United States was coming off a 2-1 loss to Portugal in the first game of
the international window on Thursday in Chester, Pennsylvania. It was
Portugal's first victory over the U.S. and just the third loss for the national
team under coach Emma Hayes.
Moultrie scored just 45 seconds into the game to give the United States the
early lead. Portugal leveled in the fifth minute on Jessica Silva's header off
a cross from Beatriz Fonseca.
Moultrie added her second in the 10th to put the Americans back in front. The
20-year-old has a pair of two-goal games in 10 international appearances.
Sam Coffey, who came into the game as a substitute in the 77th minute, put the
game away with a goal in the 82nd. Coffey and Moultrie are teammates on the
Portland Thorns in the National Women's Soccer League.
Hayes made eight changes to the starting lineup from the group she started on
Thursday.
Before the match at Pratt & Whitney Stadium, the United States honored Naeher,
a Connecticut native, who retired from the national team late last year after
winning a gold medal at the Paris Olympics.
Naeher was the starting goalkeeper for the U.S. team that won the Women's World
Cup in 2019 and the 2024 Olympics. She's the only U.S. goalkeeper to earn a
shutout in both a World Cup and an Olympic final.
The team was without some of its star players. Trinity Rodman was nursing an
MCL sprain in her right knee that she sustained Oct. 15 during a CONCACAF W
Champions Cup match with her club team, the Washington Spirit.
Defender Naomi Girma remained sidelined with a calf injury that occurred before
the start of Chelsea's season in September.
Forward Lynn Biyendolo, who was left off the U.S. roster because of a knee
injury, announced on Saturday that she and her husband are expecting their
first child. Other prominent national team players who have taken maternity
time off this year include Sophia Wilson and Mallory Swanson.
Hayes said that U.S. Soccer was developing more comprehensive "pre- and
post-pregnancy" protocols to be announced in the future.
The United States has one more match during the current international window,
against New Zealand on Wednesday at CPKC Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
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