In their final match of the of the Send-Off Series, the United States Women’s National Team and Utah Royals FC players DF Kelley O’Hara, FW Christen Press and DF Becky Sauerbrunn defeated CONCACAF rivals Mexico 3-0 to cap off a perfect run to France.
For the third time in this series O’Hara and Sauerbrunn started for the States at rightback and centerback, respectively. Meanwhile Press started the morning off on the bench and substituted on at the start of the second half, scoring the third and final goal on the day. The match marked the 118th appearance for O’Hara, 158th for Sauerbrunn and the 115th time in a USA jersey for Press.
The Red White and Blue started off strong with several opportunities for the go-ahead, and in the 11th minute, following a miscommunication between Mexico’s goalkeeper and defender, Portland Thorns FW Tobin Heath found herself with the ball inside the box and easily maneuvered it into the back of the net to find the lead.
The match slowed down quite a bit following the opening score and it remained 1-0 until the 76th minute when Sky Blue FC FW Carli Lloyd drove the ball towards the endline just before cutting it back to find Washington Spirit FW Mallory Pugh in the box. Pugh buried it to double the lead for the Stars and Stripes.
With the final moments of the match dwindling down, Press put the icing on the cake for the Red, White and Blue when she scored the third goal of the match from the top of the 18-yard-box in the 88th minute.
With the Send-Off Series in the rearview mirror the United States will now look forward to France as they prepare for their opening match of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup tournament on June 11 against Thailand. They will then face Chile on the 16th and Sweden on the 20th to finish out the group stage of the tournament.
