USWNT downs Uzbekistan 9-0 as Catarina Macario and Rose Lavelle earn braces
CHESTER, Pa. – The U.S. Women’s National Team routed Uzbekistan 9-0 in the second meeting between the teams over the past four days, which were also the first-ever matches between the two countries.
Braces from forward Catarina Macario and midfielder Rose Lavelle led the USA’s attack as the Americans slotted nine goals past the visitors for the second straight game and extended their home unbeaten streak to 67 matches.
The USWNT got off to a flying start, opening the scoring just 25 seconds into the match after Lavelle dribbled down the right flank, rounded her defender and sent a cross into the box, which Uzbekistan defender Kamila Zaripova accidentally deflected into her own net on her attempted clearance.
Macario then doubled the lead in the 12th minute, striking a dipping free kick off the right post and into the back of the net from 20 yards out. Just two minutes later, Mallory Pugh added her name to the score sheet following a creative combination from Lavelle and Macario that found her in the penalty box, where she dribbled past a defender and buried it to make it 3-0.
Lavelle, who wore the captain’s armband for the first time in her international career, then struck twice in just 135 seconds over the 25th and 26th minutes, first pouncing on her own rebound of a driven shot that was blocked off the goal line and skillfully chipping the goalkeeper and a defender from five yards out, before following up with an impressive solo run up the middle of the field which culminated with a powerful strike from 15 yards out that bounced off the right post and across the goal line.
Macario then completed her brace just before the halftime break after an impressive display of strength in which she shielded the ball inside the box, turned on her defender and buried a low shot into the lower left corner to give the USA a six-goal lead and mark the team’s highest scoring half of 2022.
The USA came out strong again in the second half, but a few Uzbekistan substitutions which included a goalkeeper change helped hold off the hosts’ constant attacking threats, for a while. Then in the 71st minute, a USA substitution paid off as Trinity Rodman, playing in just her third cap, ran onto a ball inside the penalty area following a pass from midfielder Ashley Sanchez that deflected off a defender. The 19-year-old took a touch and placed a right-footed shot into the left side-netting for her first international goal, becoming the 31st teenager to score for the USWNT and the first since Tierna Davidson in 2018.
Another USA substitution paid dividends in the 85th minute as Margaret ‘Midge’ Purce scored following a poor clearance from the visitors after a free kick. Then Sanchez put the final touch on the night with a lobbed goal in the 90th minute.
The USA’s home unbeaten streak includes 60 wins and seven draws. During this unbeaten streak, the USA has outscored its opponents 255-28, including a 125-4 margin during its last 29 matches at home, all but two of which have been wins except for a 0-0 draw with Korea Republic on Oct. 21 and a scoreless draw vs Czech Republic on Feb. 17.
GOAL SCORING RUNDOWN:
USA – Kamila Zaripova (Own Goal), 1st minute: Rose Lavelle received the ball on the right flank and took on her defender, dribbling around her before sending a cross into the middle which Zaripova kicked into her own net on her attempted clearance. USA 1, UZB 0
USA – Catarina Macario, 12th minute: Following a foul on defender Emily Fox just outside the penalty box, Macario stepped up and fired a powerful, dipping shot toward the right post from 20 yards out that bounced off the woodwork and into the net. USA 2, UZB 0
USA – Mallory Pugh, 14th minute: Lavelle drove into the penalty box from the right wing and played the ball to Macario, whose clever dummy led to a slight deflection off a defender and into the path of Pugh. The forward then dribbled around a defender toward the heart of the box and buried it from 10 yards out with her left foot. USA 3, UZB 0
USA – Rose Lavelle, 25th minute: Mallory Pugh drove up the field on the left side and squared a low pass into the box, which a defender reached to intercept but instead deflected to Lavelle, who fired on frame but into the ‘keeper’s gloves. She then followed up the rebound and deftly chipped the ball over the goalkeeper and a defender from five yards out. USA 4, UZB 0
USA – Rose Lavelle, 27th minute: Lavelle received the ball near midfield and dribbled swiftly up the center of the field, faking twice to shake her defender before burying a shot off the right post from 15 yards out. USA 5, UZB 0
USA – Catarina Macario (Rose Lavelle), 45+2 minute: Lavelle received the ball at the top of the goal box and found Macario near the penalty spot with a clever pass. Macario impressively shielded off her defender with her back to goal, turned toward her left and fired a low shot inside the left post to beat the goalkeeper. USA 6, UZB 0
USA – Trinity Rodman, 71st minute: Ashley Sanchez played a through-ball which deflected off a defender and into Rodman’s path. The 19-year-old took a touch and placed a right-footed shot into the left side-netting from 17 yards out for her first international goal. USA 7, UZB 0
USA – Margaret ‘Midge’ Purce, 85th minute: A Kristie Mewis cross from a free kick on the right side of the field resulted in chaos in the box and a poor clearance from a defender. Purce pounced on the ball and finished from four yards out. USA 8, UZB 0
USA – Ashley Sanchez, 90th minute: Following a USA corner kick, an attempted headed clearance sent the ball toward Sanchez just outside the six-yard box. She sliced her shot into the air, but that served to lob it toward the right post, over the ‘keeper’s reach and into the net just inside the post. USA 9, UZB 0
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
- Tonight’s opening goal marked the fourth own goal in favor of the USWNT in 2022.
- Catarina Macario’s goals tonight marked her fourth and fifth goals of 2022, extending her scoring streak to three consecutive games, which is the longest streak of her international career thus far.
- Macario’s goals were also her seventh and eighth career goals for the USWNT, marking her third career multi-goal game.
- With her goal tonight, Mallory Pugh extended her scoring streak to four consecutive matches, marking the longest streak by a USWNT player since Megan Rapinoe’s four-game scoring streak in early 2021.
- Rose Lavelle’s two goals tonight marked her 19th and 20th career goals. With those two scores, she becomes the 33rd player in USWNT history to score 20 goals as she registered her third career multi-goal game.
- Lavelle also earned her 71st cap for the USWNT tonight. Lavelle, who last Saturday became the 52nd USWNT player to reach 70 caps and registered two assists in the first meeting vs. Uzbekistan, has now appeared in 35 matches under head coach Vlatko Andonovski, the most of any player in his tenure with the USA.
- Outside back Emily Fox made her eighth consecutive start and earned her 13th cap overall for the USWNT tonight. Fox has now appeared in every match the USA has played since the October 2021 FIFA window, the only USWNT player to appear in all nine matches during that span.
- With her shutout, Aubrey Kingsbury becomes the eighth goalkeeper in USWNT history to keep a clean sheet in her first cap. Kingsburry also became just the fifth player to debut for the USWNT at age 30 or older and only the second goalkeeper ever to do so.
- Defender Naomi Girma made her debut for the USWNT tonight, becoming along with Kingsbury the 246th and 247th players all-time to represent the USWNT. At 21 years and 302 days of age, Girma became the fifth player born after the historic 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup to represent the senior U.S. Women’s National Team, joining Sophia Smith, Jaelin Howell, Catarina Macario and Trinity Rodman.
- Ashley Sanchez’s goal marked the second of her career. Both of her USWNT goals have come in the 90th minute.
- Margaret “Midge” Purce’s goal marked her first in 2022 and third overall for the USWNT.
- Five of the USA’s nine goals were scored by players under the age of 25. Entering this match, 14 of the USA’s 19 goals in 2022 were scored by players under the age of 25.
- Tonight’s center referee was Natalie Simon, who is the first Black American woman to earn a FIFA badge. This was her first match as center referee for the USWNT.
-U.S. WOMEN’S NATIONAL TEAM MATCH REPORT-
Match: United States Women’s National Team vs. Uzbekistan
Date: April 12, 2022
Competition: International Friendly
Venue: Subaru Park; Chester, Pa.
Attendance: 11,373
Kickoff: 7:08 p.m. ET
Weather: 72 Degrees, Sunny
Scoring Summary: 1 2 F
USA 6 3 9
UZB 0 0 0
USA – Own Goal (Kamila Zaripova) 1st minute
USA – Catarina Macario 12
USA – Mallory Pugh 14
USA – Rose Lavelle 25
USA – Rose Lavelle (Mallory Pugh) 27
USA – Catarina Macario (Rose Lavelle) 45+2
USA – Trinity Rodman 71
USA – Margaret Purce 85
USA – Ashley Sanchez 90
Lineups:
USA: 21-Aubrey Kingsbury; 8-Sofia Huerta, 15-Alana Cook (2-Abby Dahlkemper, 60), 12-Naomi Girma, 19-Emily Fox (5-Kelley O’Hara, 60); 17-Andi Sullivan, 13-Ashley Sanchez, 16-Rose Lavelle (Capt.) (22-Kristie Mewis, 46); 11-Sophia Smith (23-Margaret Purce, 68), 20-Catarina Macario (7-Ashley Hatch, 68), 9-Mallory Pugh (14-Trinity Rodman, 46)
Substitutes Not Used: 1-Alyssa Naeher
Head coach: Vlatko Andonovski
UZB: 13-Nigora Uzganova (1-Laylo Tilovova, 46); 21-Shokhida Tojiddinova (5-Maftuna Panjieva, 37), 20-Kamila Zaripova, 3-Ugiloy Kuchkarova (17-Tanzilya Zarbieva, 37); 2-Yulduz Nabieva (9-Ziyoda Irisboeva, 37), 6-Irodahon Turdalieva, 15-Madina Vokhidova (18-Aziza Norboeva, 78), 10-Ilvina Ablyakimova; 22-Solikha Khusniddinova (7-Nilufar Kudratova, 46), 19-Nozima Kamoltoeva; 23-Diyorakhon Khabibullaeva (Capt.)
Substitutes Not Used: 12-Zarina Saidova, 4-Shakhrizoda Zaynitdinova, 8-Dildora Ergasheva, 11-Mukhlisa Mirzayorova, 14-Setora Takaboeva, 16-Diyora Juraboeva
Head coach: Midori Honda
Stats Summary: USA / UZB
Shots: 38 / 0
Shots on Goal: 15 / 0
Saves: 0 / 7
Corner Kicks: 13 / 0
Fouls: 11 / 10
Offside: 2 / 0
Misconduct Summary:
UZB – Kamila Zaripova (Caution) 62nd minute
UZB – Nozima Kamoltoeva (Caution) 84
Officials:
Referee: Natalie Simon (USA)
Assistant Referee 1: Tonia Deane (BRB)
Assistant Referee 2: Mayling Chavarria (NCA)
4th Official: Samantha Martinez (USA)
Woman of the Match: Rose Lavelle
