AUSTIN — The U.S. women’s national team shook off some rust and defeated Iceland 3-1 on Thursday night at Q2 Stadium in an international friendly.
The U.S. shook off a shaky start in the 39th minute when Alyssa Thompson put the ball home into the upper netting to put her team up 1-0, marking the first-ever international goal for the 19-year-old.
“I just froze because that has been a dream of mine for so long, and I couldn’t think of a better way to score,” Thompson said of her goal. “I’ve been working on that shot for a while, too. And in club I get to those positions a lot, so being able to have those reps and stuff has been nice.”
Despite the lead, the Americans struggled in the box but would take the one goal lead into the locker room and the second half.
Things did not get better for the U.S. in the second 45 minutes as Iceland leveled the match in the 56th minute when Selma Magnúsdóttir’s shot beat goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher to make it 1-1.
The Americans took a 2-1 lead in the 84th minute thanks to Shaw’s goal after getting a ball from Casey Krueger and putting the shot through the Iceland goalkeeper’s legs. The USWNT made it 3-1 just five minutes later with a goal from Sophia Smith near the top of the box.
“We haven’t played together since the Olympics,” Manager Emma Hayes said. “I thought we looked like a team with players at the back end of a season. I liked our short passing game, I thought we did that well. But that final pass into the final third in the first half wasn’t big enough. And I think when the spaces were there on the outside, we didn’t switch the ball quick enough, but we addressed that at halftime. It’s up to us to inject that urgency into the game. And I thought the players that came from the bench did that.”
