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The US women’s soccer team got a much needed bounce-back victory Saturday evening in Tokyo, securing a 6-1 win over New Zealand to gain its first points of the Olympic soccer tournament.
Rose Lavelle got the USWNT on the board in the ninth minute on an assist from Tobin Heath. The team had several goals disallowed due to offsides before getting its second goal on the board in the 45th minute on a Lindsey Horan header.
A thing of beauty, those @LindseyHoran headers
— U.S. Soccer WNT (@USWNT) July 24, 2021
@NBCOlympics pic.twitter.com/pV4c70aXoB
New Zealand hurt their cause in the 63rd minute when Abby Erceg headed a ball into her own goal to give the USWNT a 3-0 lead. The Kiwis managed to get on the board in the 74th minute on a Betsy Hassett goal, but the US scored a pair of late goals to send it home 6-1.
The win was expected, but getting the four-goal differential was a big help as the US looks ahead to its group finale against Australia. The two squads are tied with three points and sitting three points back of first place Sweden. The USWNT enters the match with a +2 goal differential while Australia has a -1 goal differential. The first tiebreaker is goal differential so Australia needs to win to secure second place in the group.