2 In a Row

With the rain coming down hard in Portland for the entire day, it was a seemingly bleek evening to play 90 minutes of soccer. Well, Mother Nature did not discourage any fans from coming out to support their United States Womens National Soccer Team take on Mexico - in fact, 10,000 fans were not discouraged at all.

For both teams, the 12th man of the match was the rock-hard artificial surface. Passes were not regular, and the bounces were crazy. This made for a very fast-paced game, in addition to it already being wet. However, after playing through a Typhoon in China, this was not a big headache for the USA.



The first half of the game was played steadily in the middle of the field, with a handful of breakout plays here and there. Abby had a few 1-on-2 chances to take on the Mexican defenders, but she wasn't able to power through the line by herself. Speaking of Ms. Wambach, she was honored before the game for earning her 100th career cap with the team. She also wore the coveted Captain armband throughout this game. Congratulations Abby!

Back to the game. 1st half, injury time, corner kick by Lil, slid through goalies hands, over the goal-line, confusion, goal? After a few moments of chatting between the referees, it was determined that yes, it was a goal! 1-0 USA.

The second goal emerged from a combination between our girls Cat, Tarp, and Abby. In the 76th minute, Cat hit a free kick directly onto the head of Lindsay Tarpley in which she flicked up and over everybody in the box, directly to the feet of Abby Wambach. All the work was already done, so she simply passed the ball into the net. Goal. 2-0 USA.



The floodgates opened for the U.S., and up next was a finish by our favorite Hawaiian, Natasha Kai. She was at the right place, at the right time - ready for Carli Lloyd's rebound in front of the goal. Her victory dance got the entire team off of the bench, laughing, cheering, and joining in on the dancing.

With a quick substitution off of the bench, Carli had been in for a few minutes - three to be exact - before she had her first shot on goal. From a beautiful pass fom Cat, Carli jumped to let the ball slide off her head and easily into the goal. Goal. 4-0 USA! Minutes after she scores, Carli was cracked in the face with an elbow, but kept on playing. As Abby said after the game, "You have to come out every day and you have to perform. Limping around or not, we need to get the job done.”

Can the U.S. WNT continue the winning streak against their 3-game series against Mexico? Follow Saturday's game on US Soccer's Matchtracker, live at 4:30 EST. Or, if you're lucky enough to live in Albuquerque, New Mexico, support your team and cheer them on in person!