The U.S. women’s national team advanced to the semifinals of the CONCACAF W Gold Cup with a 3-0 win against Colombia on Sunday in Los Angeles.
Lindsey Horan, Jenna Nighswonger and Jaedyn Shaw scored in the first half and Alyssa Naeher made three saves for her 61st shutout. Naeher was playing in her 100th international match.
The U.S. plays Canada on Wednesday in San Diego, also the site of the final next Sunday. The Canadians advanced with a 1-0 win in extra time vs. Costa Rica on Saturday. In the other semifinal, Brazil faces Mexico on Wednesday.
The U.S. got a measure of redemption for a lethargic 2-0 loss to Mexico on Monday. The match ended a streak of 33 straight shutouts for the USWNT in official CONCACAF play.
Horan converted a penalty kick in the 13th minute after Alex Morgan was knocked down in the box by Jorelyn Carabali. Horan notched her 33rd goal of international play by planting a shot in the lower right corner.
Nighswonger doubled the score nine minutes later off a set-up by Morgan that gave the defender a clean look from the left side for her second career goal in her fifth match. She also scored in the tournament opener vs. the Dominican Republic.
Naeher, the third goalkeeper and 42nd player overall in USWNT history to reach the century mark in matches, was busy holding the two-goal lead when she stretched to make a save on Linda Caicedo in the 32nd minute. Six minutes later, she made a diving left-handed stop of Ilana Izquierdo.
The 19-year-old Shaw has five goals in eight matches after she made a run down the middle to receive a cross by Trinity Rodman to make it 3-0 in the second minute of first-half stoppage time.
Familiarity bred contempt in a chippy first half in which each team drew two yellow cards after several dust-ups. They played twice in October with a scoreless draw followed by a 3-0 U.S. win.
The U.S. is unbeaten in its past 27 matches against South American opponents.
–Field Level Media
